Power BI ends old browser Excel and CSV uploads in mid-2026
Reviewed by Helen Jones
Microsoft is retiring the legacy Power BI Service path that let people upload Excel or CSV files in the browser and create a semantic model without Power BI Desktop. After 31 May 2026 you cannot create new models that way. Existing models built on that path face further impact around 31 July and 31 August 2026. The supported fix is to open Desktop, connect to the same Excel or CSV with Get Data, publish a fresh semantic model, and rebind the reports that used the old one. Desktop and current Get Data connections stay supported. Only the old service import experience is ending. Exact break behaviour for every legacy model still needs a check against Microsoft service messages.
For years the browser upload was the quiet default when someone needed a quick model from a spreadsheet sitting in SharePoint or a shared drive. Many live reports still rest on those models, often with no note that Desktop was never involved and no clear owner for refresh. Once the path closes, those models can stop refreshing or disappear from the service without a loud error in the report itself. Totals that used to match the Excel file start failing at the worst time: the monthly pack, the leadership review, or the handoff when the original builder has already moved on.
Analysis
This is a hygiene deadline, not a reason to redesign your whole stack. Open your workspaces, list semantic models still fed by browser-uploaded Excel or CSV, and rebuild any that still feed a live report in Desktop with Get Data, then republish and rebind before the May cutoff so ownership and refresh stay under your control.
Source note
Pulse published by Collab365 Spaces, reviewed by Helen Jones on . Cite as "Power BI ends old browser Excel and CSV uploads in mid-2026", Collab365 Spaces. 2 sources referenced.