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    Use Power BI Desktop as a Local Server on a PC

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    Matt Allington's profile image

    Matt Allington on 10 Nov 2016 08:25:30

    It is possible to open Power BI Desktop, detect the port number, open Excel, connect to the running local instance of Power BI Desktop as a local SSAS instance and then build a pivot table over the local server. You can do this using DAX Studio.

    This is very useful and as more people build Power BI Desktop files as the main data model, this will become more important. There is an "Analyze in Excel" feature in the Power BI Service and I would like to see the same for Power BI Desktop.

    As a suggested approach to a solution, you could enhance the Power BI Ribbon in Excel. There is already a "Connect to Data" button that connects to the service. You could enhance this to include a button that connects to a local instance of Power BI Desktop running on the PC.

    Comments (20)
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    27d625fe 43a0-4e6a-a0a2-b30a7f246d87 on 05 Jul 2020 23:50:49

    RE: Use Power BI Desktop as a Local Server on a PC

    I would be tempted to change the title to make it clearer for other voters - this is about connecting Excel to a Power BI Desktop file. - there are another 20 votes here:
    https://ideas.powerbi.com/forums/265200-power-bi-ideas/suggestions/13532169-connect-excel-to-power-bi-desktop-non-cloud-versi

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    beef9ae2 052b-4d6a-baec-118f33de21f1 on 05 Jul 2020 23:38:50

    RE: Use Power BI Desktop as a Local Server on a PC

    This will really aid in reverse engineering and cleaning up reports that can be optimised

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    073f59e8 06ca-4133-bb62-d522ff0059fa on 05 Jul 2020 23:38:40

    RE: Use Power BI Desktop as a Local Server on a PC

    Please add this to Excel

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    aa4bf481 5afe-4c21-8f23-003354d570e3 on 05 Jul 2020 23:34:49

    RE: Use Power BI Desktop as a Local Server on a PC

    I would like to see this happen!

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    8175331a 3c5d-4d74-b43c-82e26abe741e on 05 Jul 2020 23:34:11

    RE: Use Power BI Desktop as a Local Server on a PC

    Would love this feature

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    23309802 5327-4608-9a85-757be45ca59b on 05 Jul 2020 23:25:09

    RE: Use Power BI Desktop as a Local Server on a PC

    I have many scenarios where I'd use this.

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    44bde86e e6a8-4ccc-b7a7-2bcd20784d99 on 05 Jul 2020 23:25:09

    RE: Use Power BI Desktop as a Local Server on a PC

    Yes, wonderful feature, please apply.

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    c451c89e 745b-46a1-8cbd-31b2b272254c on 05 Jul 2020 23:24:31

    RE: Use Power BI Desktop as a Local Server on a PC

    yes please

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    1fad95f0 d749-4ef0-9ea0-e0724d6f967d on 05 Jul 2020 23:21:28

    RE: Use Power BI Desktop as a Local Server on a PC

    Yes, please!!

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    1e9f2d73 d9cf-4788-9b0f-936d54b52b47 on 05 Jul 2020 23:01:23

    RE: Use Power BI Desktop as a Local Server on a PC

    I would love such a feature!

    I'm working in the bundu and often don't have internet access.

    At the moment I'm building the data models twice - once in PowerBI once in Excel 2016