How to add data directly to power bi desktop which will automatically populate the visuals

To add data directly into Power BI Desktop, you can follow these steps:

1. Open Power BI Desktop: Launch the application on your local computer.
2. Select Enter Data: From the Home ribbon, click on Enter data. This allows you to create a new table by entering data directly.
3. Input Your Data: You can manually input your data or copy it from another source (like a workbook or web page) and paste it into the data entry dialog.
4. Shape Your Data: If needed, you can select Edit to open the Power Query Editor and shape or transform your data before importing it.
5. Load the Data: Once you are satisfied with the data, select Load to import it into Power BI Desktop. This creates a new table that will be available in the Fields pane.
6. Automatic Visual Population: After loading the data, you can create visuals using the fields from your new table. Power BI will not automatically populate visuals upon data entry; you will need to create visuals based on the data you entered.

Regarding your colleagues adding data, they can also use the same method to enter data directly into their own instances of Power BI Desktop. However, note that any updates made to the data must be done in Power BI Desktop and published; they cannot be made directly from the Power BI service.

References:

• Enter data directly into Power BI Desktop
• Quickstart: Connect to data in Power BI Desktop

Hi Mildred,

Power BI Desktop does not support true multi‑user data entry inside the PBIX. The Enter data feature is only for small manual tables and it is not collaborative or auto‑refreshing from colleagues. The easiest Microsoft way to let several people add data without Excel, and have visuals update, is to keep the data in a Microsoft List, which is a SharePoint list your team can edit in a browser, then connect that list to Power BI.

Create a list in Microsoft Lists or in your SharePoint site. Add the columns you need and set their data types, for example text, number, date. Share the list with your colleagues so they can add and edit rows in the browser.

In Power BI Desktop, connect to the list. Go to Home, select Get data, choose More. Open Online Services, pick SharePoint Online List. Paste the site URL, not the list URL. Authenticate, then select your list in the Navigator. Set proper data types in Power Query if needed, then Load. Build your visuals on top of that table.

When anyone adds or edits items in the list, open your PBIX and click Refresh. The visuals will recalculate immediately with the latest rows. If you want the report to update for your colleagues without you opening Desktop, publish it to the Power BI service, then either schedule refresh or use a Power Automate flow that triggers on When an item is created or modified in SharePoint and calls Refresh a dataset in Power BI. That keeps the same single source of truth while allowing simple data entry for the whole team without Excel.

If you need help wiring the list connection or the refresh, tell me your SharePoint site URL pattern and whether you plan to keep working in Desktop or publish to the Power BI service.