Power BI has many connectors that allow you to pull data into the visualization tool. This allows users to have a higher chance of getting their data into Power BI without any additional tools. Today, we’ll be covering one of the most common connectors used in Power BI, Excel.
What is Google Sheets?
Google Sheets is a spreadsheet application that allows users to store, sort, and manipulate data. It is very similar to Microsoft Excel, but a slight difference in terms of features and formula formatting. As a data analyst, I highly recommend understanding how to use Google Sheets but have a heavier emphasis on understanding Microsoft Excel. This is because bigger companies tend to still use Microsoft Excel to work with their day-to-day tasks. Hence, having a good understanding of Microsoft Excel is still more sought after in today’s market.
How to Connect Google Sheets to Power BI?
Step #1: In your Google Sheet, click on “Share”
Step #2: Click on “General Access”, then select “Anyone with the link”
Step #3: Click on “Copy Link”
Step #4: Open up Power BI, and select “More…” under “Get Data”
Step #5: Search for Google Sheets, and click “Connect”
Step #6: Paste Google Sheets link and hit “OK”
Step #7: Sign in to your Google account, and click on “Connect”
Step #8: Select the sheets you want to upload to Power BI and click “Transform Data”
Step #9: Apply any data transformation, and hit “Close & Apply” when ready
Step #10: You should be able to see your dataset in the data panel
Pros & Cons of connecting Google Sheets as a data source in Power BI
As Google Sheets is very similar to Excel, the pros and cons are very similar too. However, there are slight variations to them (in fact, they are the opposite of one another) as the prerequisites to use each of these spreadsheet tool is different. Let’s discuss more.
Pros of using Google Sheets as a data connector
- Updating your dataset is extremely easy as you can do it anywhere with an internet
- Lower risk of losing your dataset as it is stored on the cloud rather than locally.
Cons of using Google Sheets as a data connector
- Requires Internet access to update your dataset
- People will have access to your dataset (i.e. You should not be using this connector if your dataset is confidential.)
Personal Thoughts
I actually use Google Sheets as a data connector for some of my passion projects on Power BI. This includes things like Goal Trackers, Habit Trackers, and many more dashboards relating to personal development. However, the only concern I have with this is the security of my data since it is available on Google Sheets. However, as the data that I’m using the build my dashboards is not sensitive information, I am comfortable with using Google Sheets as a connector for the ease of data refresh and losing my dataset if I were to store it locally. What do you guys think? Are you guys fans of using Google Sheets as a connector after my breakdown? Let me know in the comments section below!