Is there a workaround for Power BI Desktop to automatically refresh data without publishing pbix to Power BI Service?

Question

Is there still no way for Power BI Desktop to automatically refresh data without publishing pbix to Power BI Service? Due to threat of private information leakage, we want to maintain our data only via Power BI Desktop (not using Power BI Service first). We have been looking for ways on how to work around the automatic refresh in PBI Desktop for over a day already but all pointing us to publishing pbix to Power BI Service, which will allow us to schedule the refresh after. Any feedback will be much appreciated.

Thank you!

Answer 1

There is no supported way to do this. The easiest workaround is to teach your users to click on Refresh button. Second easiest thing could be to use DirectQuery instead of import mode.

There are some attempts for workarounds from the community, but you should use them with caution:

• PBIXRefresher and pbixrefresher-python scripts by Michal Dúbravčík
• Write some code that starts opens the .pbix file in Power BI Desktop, finds its PID, then finds the port on which the child Tabular process listen and use Tabular Object Model (TOM) to refresh it
• Use Power Update (paid) tool

But leaving workarounds aside, Power BI is compliant with a lot of security standards. Data leaks of data from the cloud in most (all?) of the cases will be caused by a human factors, which is also possible with on-premise data. But if it is a no-go for your organisation, then either use Power BI Server on-premise, or another reporting tool (e.g. SSRS).

Answer 2

There is no way to automate the refresh in PowerBI desktop. You have to manually click the refresh button. Many organisations trust PowerBI Service with their data. However, in the case that you have some serious data residence restrictions, then you can deploy PowerBI Report Server on premises and publish to this without your data leaving your network.