Power BI stops refreshing old Excel and CSV service imports on July 31
Reviewed by Helen Jones
Microsoft will stop refreshing semantic models built with the legacy Excel and CSV import experience in the Power BI service after 31 July 2026. Those same models stop loading after 31 August 2026. New models could no longer be created that way after 31 May 2026. The old path was the Create-page upload in the service. Affected models usually cannot be edited in the browser, cannot be downloaded, and have no scheduled refresh controls. Microsoft says there is no way to keep them refreshing. You rebuild with current Excel or CSV connectors, a OneDrive or SharePoint connection, or Power BI Desktop. Admins can spot leftovers through the Power BI REST APIs by checking datasets whose ContentProviderType is Excel or CSV, and through the workbooks admin API for related Excel inventory.
For years, a common path for Excel-strong report owners was to drop a workbook or CSV straight into the Power BI service and treat the resulting model as good enough for a shared dashboard. That path looked simple, skipped Desktop, and quietly became the backbone of monthly packs that leadership still opens every week. After 31 July those models freeze on last successful refresh. After 31 August the reports stop opening. The failure mode is not a polite warning in the UI. It is stale numbers in a meeting, then a blank report, with no in-place fix. Current Excel and CSV support remains. Only the old service Create experience is gone, and recreation is manual.
Analysis
Treat this as a hard inventory job, not a nice-to-have cleanup. List datasets with ContentProviderType Excel or CSV, mark which ones still feed live reports, and rebuild those first in Desktop or from OneDrive or SharePoint so refresh keeps working past 31 July.
Source note
Pulse published by Collab365 Spaces, reviewed by Helen Jones on . Cite as "Power BI stops refreshing old Excel and CSV service imports on July 31", Collab365 Spaces. 2 sources referenced.