Microsoft sets deadline for old Excel and CSV imports
Microsoft is retiring the old Excel and CSV import experience in the Power BI service Create page. New semantic models can no longer be created through that legacy path after May 31, 2026. Existing semantic models made with the old experience stop refreshing on July 31, 2026 and stop opening reports on August 31, 2026.
Excel and CSV files are still valid Power BI sources, so this is not Microsoft telling analysts to abandon spreadsheets. The risk is narrower: reports created through the old service import path may look fine today while sitting on a model that cannot be refreshed or downloaded. That matters for Excel-first report builders because these legacy imports are exactly the kind of quick dashboard shortcut people used before they had a proper Power BI workflow. If one of those reports feeds a weekly manager dashboard, the failure will not feel like a deprecation notice. It will feel like trusted numbers freezing without warning.
Analysis
Audit reports built from Excel or CSV in the Power BI service. If a semantic model cannot be edited in the browser, downloaded, or scheduled for refresh, rebuild it with the current Excel/CSV connector before July 31, 2026.
Citation
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