How to Find Data Source in Power BI

When you inherit a Power BI report or need to troubleshoot an old one, your first question is often, "Where is this data actually coming from?" Locating the original data source is a fundamental skill for any Power BI user. This tutorial will walk you through several easy and advanced methods to find the data source for any Power BI file (.pbix).

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Why You Might Need to Find a Data Source

There are several common scenarios where you'll need to play detective and track down the data's origin:

• Taking Over a Report: You’ve inherited a dashboard from a colleague and need to understand how it's built and where the data is updated.
• Troubleshooting Refresh Errors: The scheduled refresh is failing, and you need to check the connection details or credentials to fix it. This is one of the most common reasons for needing source information.
• Data Validation: You see a strange number in a report and want to go back to the source file (like an Excel sheet or SQL database) to verify its accuracy.
• Updating or Changing a Source: The source data has moved. For example, a shared folder path has changed, or a database has been migrated to a new server. You’ll need to find the old path to point Power BI to the new one.

Whatever your reason, knowing how to quickly identify data sources is essential for managing your reports effectively.

Method 1: Use the "Transform data" Button in Power BI Desktop

The most direct way to see your data sources is through the Power Query Editor, the engine inside Power BI used for data transformation. This method works perfectly when you have the .pbix file and can open it in Power BI Desktop.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Open your report in Power BI Desktop. Double-click the .pbix file to load it.
2. Navigate to the Home Tab. Once the report is open, make sure you're on the "Home" tab in the main ribbon at the top of the window.
3. Click "Transform data." This button will open a new window: the Power Query Editor. This is where all the connections and data-shaping steps are stored.
4. Examine the "Source" Step for a Query. In the Power Query Editor, you'll see a list of your queries (data tables) in the left-hand pane. Click on any query you're interested in.
5. On the right side of the screen, look for the "Query Settings" pane. Here, you will see a list of "Applied Steps." The very first step is almost always named "Source." Click the little gear icon next to it.

When you click that gear icon, a dialog box will pop up revealing the details of that specific data source. The contents of this box will vary depending on the source type:

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Example 1: Excel or CSV File

If the source is a file on your computer or a network drive, the dialog box will show you the exact file path. It will look something like this:

<pre><code>C:\Users\YourName\Documents\SalesData\Monthly_Sales_Report.xlsx</code></pre>

This tells you precisely which file is being used to populate this query.

Example 2: SQL Server Database

If you're connected to a database, you'll see the server and database names.

• Server: prodsql01.yourcompany.local
• Database: SalesDW

You can also click "Advanced options" here to see the specific SQL query used to pull the data, if one was written.

Example 3: SharePoint Folder

For data from SharePoint, you'll see the site URL.

• Site URL: <code>https://yourcompany.sharepoint.com/sites/Marketing/</code>

This method is foolproof for finding the source of a specific table within your report.

Method 2: Check "Data source settings"

If your report pulls from multiple sources and you want a high-level overview of all of them at once, this is the quickest way.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Open your Report in Power BI Desktop.
2. Look for "Transform data" Again. On the "Home" tab, instead of clicking the main "Transform data" button, click the small dropdown arrow right next to it.
3. Select "Data source settings."

A new window will appear, listing every single data connection in your Power BI file. This gives you a complete inventory of everything the report is connected to, whether it's an online service, a local file, or a database.

From this window, you can:

• View the Source: Select any source from the list, and its details (like a file path or URL) will often be shown at the bottom of the window.
• Change the Source: This is incredibly useful when a file path or server name has changed. Select the data source and click the "Change Source..." button to update it.
• Clear Permissions: If you're having login issues, you can clear the saved permissions for a source and try reconnecting.

This is my go-to screen for a quick diagnosis of a report's data origins.

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Method 3: The Advanced "Unzip" Technique (When You Can't Open the File)

What if you can't open a .pbix file because it's corrupted, or you don't have Power BI Desktop installed on your current machine? There’s a clever trick you can use because a .pbix file is actually just a compressed archive file (like a .zip file).

Important: Always perform this on a copy of your file, not the original, to avoid accidental corruption.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Make a copy of your .pbix report file.
2. Change the file extension. Rename the copied file and change the extension from .pbix to .zip. For example, MyReport.pbix becomes MyReport.zip.
3. Unzip the file. Use your computer's built-in tool or an application like 7-Zip to extract the contents of the zip file into a new folder.
4. Navigate to the right location. Open the extracted folder and look for a file that contains connection information. This is often stored within a Connections file or in a deeply nested folder like \DataMashup.
5. Open the file in a text editor. Open this file using a text editor like Notepad, Notepad++, or Visual Studio Code.
6. Search for the source details. The content will look like code (often JSON or XML), but it’s searchable. Use Ctrl + F to search for keywords like Path, Server, Database, Url, or hostname. You'll soon find a plain-text reference to the data source.

This method feels a bit like hacking, but it’s a lifesaver when you can’t use the Power BI interface.

What If The Source Is a "Power BI Dataset"?

Sometimes you’ll open a Power BI report and find that you can't access the "Transform data" button at all - it's grayed out. In the bottom-right corner of the window, you'll see a message like: “Connected live to the Power BI dataset [Dataset Name]”

This means your report is using what's called a Live Connection. The data and a data model don't actually live inside your .pbix file. Instead, the file is just a set of visuals connected to a centralized, published dataset that resides in the Power BI Service (the cloud version of Power BI).

In this scenario:

1. The "source" for your report is the Power BI dataset itself. To find the original source behind that dataset, you need to log into the Power BI Service.
2. Find the dataset in the Power BI Service. Navigate to the Power BI workspace where the dataset is hosted.
3. Use the Lineage View. Hover over the dataset and click the three dots (...), then select "View lineage." This gives you a visual map showing the dataset, the reports connected to it, and, most importantly, the original data sources feeding into it (like a SQL database or a SharePoint site).

Understanding live connections is critical, as many organizations use them to build standardized, reusable data models.

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Final Thoughts

Knowing how to trace back a report's data to its origin is a non-negotiable skill for maintaining and troubleshooting Power BI reports. Whether you use the friendly Power Query interface, the quick "Data source settings" menu, or even the advanced method of unzipping the file, you now have the tools to uncover where your data lives. Mastering this makes you more self-sufficient and infinitely better at managing your analytics.

While mastering Power BI's capabilities is valuable, the preliminary challenge is often just handling the sheer number of data sources in the first place, like Google Analytics, your CRM, ad platforms, and sales databases. We found that manually preparing these sources before they even get to Power BI is tedious. With Graphed, we help you automate that entire process by connecting to all your business tools, giving you the ability to create real-time, cross-platform dashboards simply by asking questions in plain English - letting you focus on the insights, not the technical configuration.