Excel for Windows (Desktop Application)

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How can we improve Excel for Windows (Desktop Application)?

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Add support for custom data connectors (Power Query M extensions)
Custom Data Connectors mechanism is being developed by Power BI Desktop team:
- https://github.com/Microsoft/DataConnectors
- https://github.com/Microsoft/DataConnectors/blob/master/docs/m-extensions.md
Excel's Get & Transform engine (Power Query) should have support for .mez/.pqx extensions too.
91 votes

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8 comments · Data Import · Flag idea as inappropriate… · Delete… · Admin →

Accepting Votes · AdminExcel Team [MSFT] (Product Owner, Office.com) responded

This is a great idea and we know that a lot of customers are asking for it. Please contnue voting! Your votes help us to priritize the investments.

Guy Hunkin
Principal PM
Excel Team
"Power BI Service" as a data source in "Get & Transform"
It would be awesome if "Power BI Service" is added as a data source under "Get Data" in "Get & Transform Data" in Excel. Though the source availability is already there with "Power BI Publisher Add-in" but it is buggy and hard to deploy on large number of laptops/desktops. Also, it is practically very difficult to educate down the line users about re-enabling this add-in via COM Add-ins in case it disappears from the ribbon which is very frequent in case of this add-in. We have been struggling with this for a long period of time now.

Considering "Power BI Service" as a data source is already available inside Power BI Desktop, this should not be a big challenge for developers to bring the same inside "Get & Transform Data" in Excel.

If Power BI Service as a data source comes to Excel, it will lead to the following incredible benefits:

There will not be any need for Publisher Add-in for users who just want to access the dataset sitting in Power BI Service via Excel.

Simplification of landscape leading to further affirmation of "Excel and Power BI are better together" tagline which is frequently used by Microsoft.

No need to train users on installing publisher add-in in 1000s of laptops and desktops.

Nil technical support and maintenance because add-in itself is not required.

An incentive for big organizations to move to Excel 2016 due to Power BI Service integration within excel without any need to deploy add-in which is so buggy.

Win-win situation for both Microsoft and the clients, as Microsoft will get sales boost in terms of upgrade of Office and clients will save cost on deployment of Publisher add-in, related technical support and user training on installing and using Power BI Publisher.

This is such a low hanging fruit for Microsoft that it should be given priority.
It would be awesome if "Power BI Service" is added as a data source under "Get Data" in "Get & Transform Data" in Excel. Though the source availability is already there with "Power BI Publisher Add-in" but it is buggy and hard to deploy on large number of laptops/desktops. Also, it is practically very difficult to educate down the line users about re-enabling this add-in via COM Add-ins in case it disappears from the ribbon which is very frequent in case of this add-in. We have been struggling with this for a long period of time now.

Considering "Power BI…
- Power_BI_Service_As_A_Data_Source.jpg 167 KB
38 votes

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5 comments · Data Import · Flag idea as inappropriate… · Delete… · Admin →

Accepting Votes · AdminExcel Team [MSFT] (Product Owner, Office.com) responded

Hi Deepak,

Thanks for logging this issue. I agree this would be quite useful, especially as Power BI is emerging as a hub for business data.

This request is slightly different than what PBI Desktop does. PBI Desktop essentially provides a Live Connect essentially deferring the model to the service and limiting the experience to visualizations so it’s not importing data into the report. So there’re two possible outcomes you could be looking for:
1. Allow users to import data into Excel as query tables, just like one can from an external store like SQL Server or Oracle. This provides fine grained data retrieval.
2. Create a new PivotTable that summarizes data on PBI service.

The PBI Publisher addin performs #2. Is that what you’re looking for? Or would you rather have #1 if you had to choose?

Others coming new to this suggestion, please be sure to add your votes and provide your feedback to help us prioritize this higher.

thanks

Ashvini Sharma
Lead Program Manager
Excel

Hi Deepak,

Thanks for logging this issue. I agree this would be quite useful, especially as Power BI is emerging as a hub for business data.

This request is slightly different than what PBI Desktop does. PBI Desktop essentially provides a Live Connect essentially deferring the model to the service and limiting the experience to visualizations so it’s not importing data into the report. So there’re two possible outcomes you could be looking for:
1. Allow users to import data into Excel as query tables, just like one can from an external store like SQL Server or Oracle. This provides fine grained data retrieval.
2. Create a new PivotTable that summarizes data on PBI service.

The PBI Publisher addin performs #2. Is that what you’re looking for? Or would you rather have #1 if you had to choose?

Others coming new to this suggestion, please be sure to add your…
Add Fiscal Month and Fiscal Year to the Query Editor "Add Column " Date Button

The Query Editor allows you to easily create Year, Month, Month Name etc, but many people need Fiscal Month Number and Fiscal year

45 votes

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4 comments · Data Import · Flag idea as inappropriate… · Delete… · Admin →

Accepting Votes · AdminExcel Team [MSFT] (Product Owner, Office.com) responded

Thanks for logging this useful suggestion, Wyn.

Others browsing this, please be sure to add your vote to help us prioritize this item in our product backlog.

thanks

Ashvini Sharma
Lead Program Manager
Excel

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Excel for Windows (Desktop Application)

How can we improve Excel for Windows (Desktop Application)?

Add support for custom data connectors (Power Query M extensions)

"Power BI Service" as a data source in "Get & Transform"

Add Fiscal Month and Fiscal Year to the Query Editor "Add Column " Date Button

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