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Power Query Updates in Power BI Desktop November 2021 Release

This content applies to: Power BI Desktop

The Power BI Desktop November 2021 Release contains many Power Query-related updates, summarized below for easy reference. To view the full list of feature releases in Power BI Desktop November 2021, read the full Power BI blog post here.

Azure Synapse Analytics (New Connector) 

We are excited to announce the launch of the Public Preview of the Azure Synapse Analytics Workspace (Beta) connector for Power BI Desktop that enables users to work with all Synapse Databases. The connector automatically discovers Synapse Workspaces that users have access to (via ARM). With the support for related tables and auto import of relationships from Synapse to Power BI Desktop, users can now use their Synapse data to speed up the time to results!

For scenarios which need leveraging features such as direct query and native query on the SQL DBs, users should continue to use the existing Synapse Connector (Azure Synapse Analytics (SQL DW)), as these functionalities aren’t supported in this Public Preview version of Azure Synapse Analytics workspace (Beta) connector.

Google Sheets (New Connector) 

Connecting to Google Sheets is the most upvoted connector-related idea on the Power BI Ideas forum. We have understood the strong community need for this connector and are excited to announce the release of the Google Sheets connector!

The Google Sheets connector is built on top of the Google Sheets API and enables out-of-box connectivity to Google Sheets.

After selecting “Google Sheets” in the Power BI Get Data experience, you will be prompted to enter a Google Sheet URL.

Simply copy paste in a Google Sheet URL that you have access to into the input and select OK.

Authentication for the connector is done through standard Google OAuth. When you select “Sign in”, an external browser window will open, and you will need to log in to your Google Account and give permission for Power BI Desktop to access your Google Sheets. Once authenticated, you will be shown the Navigator experience showing all the individual Sheets within the specified Google Sheet.

You can select the Sheet(s) to import to the Power Query Editor experience and continue to transform your data there.

The Google Sheets connector supports access to Shared Drives and will require you to authenticate to every Google Sheet you connect to.

We hope you will be able to use this connector for your scenarios and look forward to hearing your feedback!

Azure Cosmos DB V2 (New Connector) 

The Azure Cosmos DB V2 connector release has been delayed. We recommend continuing to use the Azure Cosmos DB V1 connector.

Delta Sharing (New Connector) 

We are also excited to announce the release of the Delta Sharing connector! Here are some comments from the Delta Sharing team:

Delta Sharing is an open protocol that enables secure exchange of datasets across products and platforms by leveraging proven and scalable technologies such as REST and cloud storage.

The Power BI Delta Sharing connector is an implementation of a Delta Sharing client, which can connect to any Delta Sharing server so users can discover, analyze and visualize datasets shared with them via the Delta Sharing protocol.

To Power BI users, the connector is a route for gaining instant, visual insight on live datasets shared with them through Delta Sharing and leveraging the rich and familiar functionality of Power BI with Delta Shares.

To Data Providers, the connector opens up their data products (as distributed via Delta Sharing) for frictionless and secure BI to any Power BI user, which makes their datasets much more actionable to their customer base.

Google BigQuery (Connector Update)

This release includes performance improvements for the Google BigQuery connector. We have reduced metadata calls in the connector required to load the Navigator experience, so users should see improved loading times for the Navigator experience.

Cognite Data Fusion (Connector Update)

We have updated the Cognite connector – here are notes from the Cognite team:

Fixed multiple issues related to custom queries and Organizational Account login

Fixed issue with aggregating time-series when using tags containing special characters

Dremio Cloud (Connector Update)

We have also updated the Dremio Cloud connector to Version 1.1.0. Here are the update notes from the Dremio team:

Add support to connect to regions in Dremio Cloud. Region is supported as a drop-down box and is mandatory. The Project identity is now changed to optional. All other features remain the same.

Download Power BI Desktop

The full list of updates for the November release of Power BI Desktop can be found in the Power BI blog post. To access these features, and more, use the link below to download Power BI Desktop!

Desktop Download button

Feedback

The Power Query team is interested in your feedback! Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts.