Going Deeper›Extra· 35 min read

Connect to Excel, Databases, the Web & Folders

Real BI work pulls from databases, Excel files, web pages and whole folders — not just one CSV.

What you will learn

Connect to an Excel workbook, a SQL database and a web table
Combine many files at once with the Folder connector
Pick the right connector for each kind of source

Beyond a single CSV

So far you connected to one .csv file. On a real job the data almost never sits in a single tidy CSV. It lives in company databases, in Excel workbooks people email around, on web pages, or spread across many files in a folder. The good news: every one of these uses the same Get Data button you already know — only the connector changes.

A quick reminder of two words you will see a lot. A database is an organised store of data that a server manages for a whole team (often queried with SQL, Structured Query Language). A connector is just Power BI’s built-in plug for one kind of source — there is a Text/CSV connector, an Excel connector, a SQL Server connector, and so on.

The four connectors a beginner needs most

Source	Get Data choice	You pick it when
Excel workbook	Excel workbook	Your data is in an `.xlsx` file, maybe across several sheets
SQL database	SQL Server database	A team database holds the data on a server
Web	Web	A table sits on a web page or behind a URL
Folder	Folder	Many files of the same shape (e.g. one CSV per month) live in one folder

Worked example 1 — an Excel workbook

Say HR sends you staff.xlsx with two sheets, Employees and Departments. Excel files can hold many sheets, so the connector lets you pick which ones to bring in. Here is exactly what you click:

Click Home → Get Data → Excel workbook.
Select staff.xlsx and click Open.
A Navigator window lists every sheet and table inside the file.
Tick the Employees and Departments boxes, then click Load (or Transform Data to clean first).

The Navigator lets you choose which sheets to import from one Excel file

Navigator  (staff.xlsx)
  [x] Employees     30 rows  preview ->
  [x] Departments    5 rows
  [ ] Sheet3  (empty - left unticked)

Note: Output: Two tables, Employees and Departments, land in the Data pane from a single file. The empty Sheet3 was left unticked, so it is ignored. One Excel workbook can give you several tables at once — pick only the ones you need.

Worked example 2 — a SQL Server database

A database connector asks for two things: the server (the computer’s address) and the database (the named data store on it). It then lists the tables, exactly like the Navigator did for Excel.

Click Home → Get Data → SQL Server database.
Type the Server name (e.g. sql.mycompany.com) and, optionally, the Database name.
Choose how to sign in (usually Windows or a database username/password), then Connect.
In the Navigator, tick the tables you want (e.g. Sales, Customers) and click Load.

Connecting to a shared database: give the server, then pick tables

Get Data -> SQL Server database
  Server:    sql.mycompany.com
  Database:  RetailDB
  Navigator: [x] Sales   [x] Customers   [ ] Logs

Note: Output: Power BI connects to RetailDB on the server and loads the Sales and Customers tables straight from the database — no exported file needed. Because it is a live connection, clicking Refresh later re-pulls the newest rows the database holds.

Worked example 3 — a table from the web

You can pull a table that lives on a web page just by giving its address. This is great for public data like exchange rates or population figures.

Click Home → Get Data → Web.
Paste the page’s URL and click OK.
The Navigator shows each table it found on that page; tick the one you want and Load.

Note: Output: If the page has a table of, say, country populations, Power BI lists it as “Table 1”. Tick it and Load, and those rows arrive as a normal table you can chart — pulled straight from the live web page.

Worked example 4 — a whole folder of files

This one is a quiet superpower. Imagine you get one sales file every month: jan.csv, feb.csv, mar.csv … all the same columns. Instead of importing twelve files by hand, the Folder connector reads them all at once and stacks them into one table.

Put all the matching files in one folder, e.g. C:\sales\.
Click Home → Get Data → Folder and pick that folder.
Click Combine → Combine & Load; Power BI stacks every file into a single table.

The Folder connector stacks many same-shaped files into one table

Folder  C:\sales\
  jan.csv  (100 rows)
  feb.csv  (120 rows)   --Combine-->   Sales  (340 rows, one table)
  mar.csv  (120 rows)

Note: Output: The three monthly files become one Sales table with 340 rows. Better still, drop a new april.csv into the folder next month, click Refresh, and those rows appear automatically — you never edit the report again.

Tip: When several files share the same columns, always reach for the Folder connector instead of importing them one by one. It saves hours and updates itself as new files arrive.

Watch out: Database and web sources may ask for credentials the first time (a username/password or sign-in). Power BI remembers them, but if a password changes, Refresh will fail until you update the saved credentials under File → Options → Data source settings.

Q. You get one CSV with the same columns every month, all saved in one folder. What is the easiest way to load them?

Answer: The Folder connector reads every same-shaped file in a folder and stacks them into a single table — and it picks up new files automatically on Refresh.

✍️ Practice

Connect to an Excel file that has two sheets and load both tables using the Navigator.
Put two same-shaped CSVs in a folder and combine them with the Folder connector.

🏠 Homework

List three real data sources you could use (an Excel file, a database, a web table or a folder) and write which connector each one needs.