Multiple data sources in one report in Power BI - Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

This feature lets you bring data from different places into one Power BI report. It helps you combine information from various sources to get a complete view without switching reports.

When you want to see sales data from your Excel file and customer info from a database in one report.

When your marketing team uses Google Analytics but finance uses SQL Server, and you need both data sets together.

When you have product data in a CSV file and inventory data in a cloud service and want to analyze them side by side.

When you want to compare data from last year stored in one system with this year's data in another.

When you need to create a dashboard that shows data from multiple departments using different tools.

Steps

Step 1: Click

- Home tab > Get Data button

The Get Data window opens showing a list of data source options

Step 2: Select

- Choose your first data source type (e.g., Excel, SQL Server)

A file picker or connection window appears to connect to the first data source

Step 3: Load

- Navigator window after selecting tables or sheets

The selected data loads into Power BI and appears in the Fields pane

Step 4: Repeat

- Home tab > Get Data button

You can add another data source; the new data also appears in the Fields pane

Step 5: Go to

- Model view

You see tables from all data sources and can create relationships between them

Step 6: Create

- Drag fields between tables in Model view

Relationships are created to connect data from different sources for combined analysis

Step 7: Build

- Report view

Use fields from all data sources to create visuals on the same report page

Before vs After

Before

Report has data only from an Excel file showing sales numbers

After

Report shows sales from Excel combined with customer details from SQL Server, all in one dashboard

Settings Reference

Data source credentials

📍 Home tab > Transform data > Data source settings

Manage how Power BI connects securely to each data source

Default: Depends on data source

Data refresh schedule

📍 Power BI Service > Dataset settings

Set how often Power BI updates data from each source

Default: Manual

Relationship cardinality

📍 Model view > Relationship editor

Define how tables from different sources relate to each other

Default: One to many

Common Mistakes

Not setting up relationships between tables from different sources

Without relationships, visuals may not combine data correctly, showing incomplete or wrong results

Always create relationships in Model view to link tables logically

Using different data types for matching columns across sources

Power BI cannot create relationships if the data types do not match, causing errors

Ensure columns used for relationships have the same data type before linking

Ignoring data refresh settings after adding multiple sources

Data may become outdated if refresh is not configured properly for all sources

Set up refresh schedules for each data source in Power BI Service

Summary

You can add many data sources into one Power BI report to see all your data together.

Create relationships between tables from different sources to combine data correctly.

Remember to manage credentials and refresh settings for each data source.