Get Data - Web

Connecting to Web Data (Get Data – Web)

Connecting to Web Data (Get Data – Web)

When connecting to web data (Get Data – Web), connecting to a web URL does not imply any specific format. The file being accessed via the web may be in any format: CSV, XML, JSON etc.

Connecting to Web Data (Get Data - Web)

However, be aware that accessing web data using its native connector (instead of using Get Data > Web) will cause Power Query to download the file and then import the downloaded file.

Connecting to Web Data (Get Data - Web)

This means that an on-premises data gateway will be required to refresh the data source.

On-Premises Data Gateway

By contrast, when data is imported using Get Data > Web, no data gateway is required to access and refresh the data (provided that all data sources in the dataset are web-based).

Scheduled refreshes are created in dataset settings in the Power BI service.

Scheduled Refreshes

You can add up to 8 scheduled times in a Power BI Pro workspace, and up to 48 in a premium capacity workspace.

Scheduled Refresh Frequency

Web Page Scraping

As well as connecting to a web URL, Power BI also allows you to “scrape” data directly from a web page and import any tabular data the page contains.This operation uses the standard web connector: Get Data > Web.

Get Data - Web

The Navigator window displays a preview of the tables retrieved from the web page and lets you specify the required table.

Web Scraping Preview Page

The Navigator also lets you switch between the standard “Table View” and a useful “Web View” which provides a preview of the web page.

Table View and Web View

The same data refresh rules apply to web page data as to any other web-based data source.
No data gateway is required to access and refresh the data (provided that all data sources in the dataset are web-based).