How to Get Extracted Data into Power BI

Turn a PDF report, scanned document, or photographed table into a Power BI-ready dataset, without manually retyping it first.

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  • Need to import data into Power BI from a PDF, scan, or photographed table? Power BI reads CSV and Excel files natively, but it can't read a PDF, a scan, or a photo directly. Datafromfile is the step that turns those into the CSV or Excel file Power BI actually wants.
  • The actual steps
  • 1. Extract your source document with Datafromfile, a report, invoice batch, or table exports to a clean XLSX or CSV. 2. In Power BI (Desktop or the online service), select Get Data, then choose Excel workbook or Text/CSV depending on your export format. 3. For an Excel import, Power BI requires the data live in a table or a data model, Datafromfile's export already comes as a flat table, so this works without extra formatting. 4. For a CSV import via the Power BI service, files up to 1 GB are supported directly from your computer, OneDrive, or SharePoint.
  • Keeping it repeatable
  • If you're extracting the same kind of report regularly, exporting to a consistent file location (like a synced OneDrive folder) lets Power BI's scheduled refresh pick up each new extraction automatically, rather than re-importing by hand every time.
  • Getting column types right before building visuals