How to Record Data in Power BI

Updated on:

May 12, 2026

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Use this interactive demo to learn how to import and load Excel data into Power BI Desktop.

Quick summary

This tutorial shows how to record data in Power BI by importing an Excel file into Power BI Desktop and loading it into your data model. Once imported, your Excel data is ready to use for building reports and visualizations.

Steps

Open Power BI Desktop and click Blank report to start a new project.
Select Import data from Excel as your data source.
Navigate to your .xlsx file, select it, and click Open to access the data.
Power BI displays all available tables and sheets — check the boxes next to the ones you want to include in your report.
Click Load to bring your selected data into Power BI.
Your Excel data is now recorded in your Power BI model and ready for creating visualizations.

📌 Why this matters

Knowing how to import and record data in Power BI Desktop is a foundational skill for any analyst or business intelligence professional. By connecting Power BI directly to Excel files, teams can quickly transform raw spreadsheet data into interactive dashboards and visual reports without manual re-entry. This workflow eliminates data silos, reduces errors, and accelerates the time from raw data to actionable insights. Mastering the Excel-to-Power BI import process enables organizations to unlock the full reporting and analytics capabilities of Microsoft Power BI.

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