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Excel as Data Source in Power Apps

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Posted on by janiceXcruz

Hello again, consolidated geniuses! I have this one (1) xls file placed in a network folder. This file is overridden/updated by the system every 30 minutes. The file is not in a table format. I want that to be a Data Source (just for lookup) in my Power Apps. I tried to make an xls file with Power Query in it and save it in a Share point document folder, then make a flow but It failed many times.

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UshaJyothiKasibhotla 225 Moderator on at

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Hi @janiceXcruz

You're trying to use a non-table Excel file (XLS format), updated every 30 minutes in a network folder, as a read-only lookup source in Power Apps. You're running into problems because:

Power Apps only supports Excel files in .xlsx format and table format stored in cloud locations like OneDrive or SharePoint.

Then You can Use create table action and create table dynamically then you can use that table in Power Apps.

Hope this Helps,

Usha Jyothi

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Power Platform 1919 2,205 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi @janiceXcruz,
Using Excel directly as a data source is not reliable for Power Apps in this scenario. Even though the file has the same name, every time your system recreates it the internal file ID changes. That means your Power Apps/Flow connection can break unexpectedly.

A better approach is to remove Excel from being the live source and instead use an intermediate SharePoint list or Dataverse table:

Power Automate flow runs whenever the file is updated.

Parse the Excel rows (using Office Script/Power Automate parsing).

Upsert into a SharePoint list or Dataverse table.

Use that list/table as the stable data source for your Power App.

This way you don’t depend on a file that’s being constantly recreated — your app always points to a consistent backend (SharePoint/Dataverse) with proper delegation support.

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Power Platform 1919 2,205 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Update 2 :
when pointing to the Excel file in Flow, don’t pick it from the dropdown (that hard-codes the internal file ID). Instead, use Custom value and manually enter the file path/name — this ensures the Flow will continue to work even if the file is recreated.

if that fails try this steps mentioned in the link : Workarounds needed to use the Excel Connector in Microsoft Flow — John Liu .NET

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