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Scheduled Refreshes
As you know, you can click the "Refresh" button in the Home ribbon to refresh your data in Power BI Desktop. But when you publish your report to the Power BI Service, you can also set up an automatic refresh schedule. This keeps your reports current without the need to manually open Power BI Desktop and click refresh.
Why Scheduled Refreshes Matter
Dashboards are only useful if the data is current. Imagine a sales dashboard that shows last month's numbers when stakeholders expect to see yesterday's results. They'll lose trust in the dashboard quickly.
Scheduled refreshes solve this by automatically pulling fresh data at regular intervals.
Just remember, your data source must be accessible from the cloud for scheduled refreshes to work. If your data lives on a local file or behind a firewall, you'll need a data gateway.
How to Schedule Refreshes
Again, you don't need to do this now, but just so you know the process:
- Go to your dataset in the workspace.
- Click the schedule refresh icon (or go to Settings → Schedule refresh).
- Choose how often and at what times to refresh (daily, weekly, etc.).
- Configure data source credentials if needed.
Common Refresh Frequencies
| Data Type | Typical Refresh |
|---|---|
| Real-time metrics | Every 15-30 minutes |
| Daily sales data | Once per day (overnight) |
| Weekly reports | Once per week |
| Historical analysis | Monthly or on-demand |