Case Study: Connecting a Simple Excel File to Power BI (Minimal, Smart, and Clean)

Overview

You’ve got one Excel file. One sheet.

You don’t need automation, fancy folders, or a deep Power Query chain.

But you also shouldn’t do it the sloppy way. Even for a simple file, there’s a clean, no-headache method — and that’s what this is.

Case: One Excel File, One Sheet

File: SalesData.xlsx

Sheet: Sales

The Smart Way (Minimal):

Step 1 - Go to Get Data

Step 2 → Excel

Step 3 - Select the Excel File path

Step 4 - Select the sheet

Step 5→ Click Transform Data is transformation needs to be done or directly click Load.

Pro Tip - Always assume the worst and always do a sanity check by Clicking on Transform first. Clicking on Load directly, that is the lazy and unprofessional move here.

- You can skip creating Z Source if there’s no chance of adding sheets later.

Just rename the query to Fact - Sales, clean up your columns, and Load.

Final Word

If you know the project will never expand, and the client has no strong preference, consider this:

Move the Excel file to Google Sheets.

Then:

- Publish it to web. Use the link of Excel.

- Use the Web connector in Power BI

- No login required

- Works even in scheduled refresh

- No “file moved” headaches

- No gateway setup

If the data isn’t too heavy, this is actually the cleanest cloud-based setup you can have for a small one-sheet project.

Simple. Clean. Transfer-proof. :)