📂 Get Data from Excel or CSV in Power BI Desktop – A Beginner’s Guide
One of the first steps in your Power BI journey is importing data—and the most common formats are Excel and CSV files.
✅ The good news? Power BI Desktop makes this process super easy!
Whether you’re analyzing sales records, survey results, or customer databases, importing your dataset is just a few clicks away.
🧠 Why Use Excel/CSV with Power BI?
- 🟢 Widely used in companies for storing tabular data
- 🧹 Easy to clean and transform in Power BI
- 📊 Perfect for building your first dashboards
- ⚙️ Supports formulas, tables, and structured ranges (in Excel)
🔽 Step-by-Step: Import Excel File into Power BI
🟡 1. Open Power BI Desktop
Launch Power BI Desktop and click “Get Data” from the Home ribbon.
🟡 2. Select “Excel” as Your Data Source
In the pop-up:
- Choose Excel
- Click Connect
💡 Shortcut: Home tab → Get Data → Excel
🟡 3. Browse and Select Your Excel File
Navigate to the file location, select it, and click Open.
🟡 4. Navigator Panel Appears
Power BI will show all sheets and named tables in the Excel file.
- Check the checkbox next to the sheet or table you want to import
- You can preview the data before loading
🟡 5. Choose Load or Transform
- 🔄 Load: Directly brings data into Power BI
- 🔧 Transform Data: Opens Power Query Editor (ideal for cleaning or shaping)
📁 .xlsx, .xls, and .xlsb formats are supported.
🔽 Step-by-Step: Import CSV File into Power BI
🟠 1. Open Power BI Desktop
Click “Get Data” → “Text/CSV” from the Home tab.
🟠 2. Browse and Select the CSV File
Locate the file (e.g., salesdata.csv) and click Open.
🟠 3. Review the Auto-Preview
Power BI automatically detects:
- Column headers
- Delimiters (e.g., comma, tab, semicolon)
- Encoding (UTF-8, ANSI, etc.)
You can adjust these in the preview window if needed.
🟠 4. Click Load or Transform Data
Same as Excel: Load for quick import or Transform to clean the data first.
🛠️ Common Issues and Fixes
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| File not loading | Check if Excel file is open in another app |
| Column headers missing | Enable “Use first row as headers” in Power Query |
| Data type mismatch | Manually set the correct data type (e.g., Date, Currency) |
| Special characters in CSV | Change encoding to UTF-8 or ANSI during import |
📌 Pro Tips
- Use named tables in Excel instead of just ranges for more reliable imports
- Avoid merged cells—they break Power BI’s data recognition
- Format your data cleanly in Excel: headers in the first row, no gaps, consistent types
- Save files in a dedicated folder if you plan to create a folder-based data source (e.g., for monthly uploads)
🔗 Quick Navigation Summary
| Task | Path |
|---|---|
| Import Excel | Get Data → Excel |
| Import CSV | Get Data → Text/CSV |
| Clean Data | Transform Data (opens Power Query) |
| Refresh Dataset | Home → Refresh |
| Load to Model | After preview → Load |
🏁 Conclusion
Importing data from Excel or CSV is your first practical step in Power BI. Once your data is in, the possibilities are endless—from data cleansing to interactive dashboards to powerful storytelling.
👉 Master this skill and you’ll already be ahead of most beginners in the BI space.