How do I connect Power Query to Dropbox in 5 minutes?
Execute the following steps to connect Power Query to Dropbox. You only need knowledge of Power Query, your own business and the Dropbox administration.
Dropbox is an online file storage service with integrated collaboration features. It integrates into many platforms such as Windows and MacOS.
No technical knowledge is needed nor knowledge on the Dropbox APIs to connect Dropbox to Power Query. This step-by-step plan will tell you exactly which steps you need to go through on Invantive Cloud to create your own dashboard with data from Dropbox.
The steps to connect Power Query to Dropbox are:
- Register an Invantive Cloud account.
- Create a Dropbox database.
- Make the Dropbox database available through the Microsoft OData connector.
- Connect Power Query to Dropbox through the connector.
- Load data from Dropbox into Power Query.
- Build your dashboard.
Invantive Cloud offers a Dropbox connector to download data from Dropbox into Power Query, but there are over 75 other connectors available also for SQL, Power BI Desktop, Power BI Service, Power Query and/or Azure Data Factory.
With the Dropbox connector for Power Query you will by default fetch the data from all connected Dropbox companies in your dashboard. You can limit the number of Dropbox companies that are retrieved in Power Query through the Database settings. For example, you can also limit the connector for Power Query to the data from exactly one Dropbox company. Of course, you can also filter the data by a specific Dropbox company using a filter step in Power Query. The Dropbox connector for Power Query has advanced optimizations for great real-time performance with both a single Dropbox company as well as with hundreds of Dropbox companies.
When you are having questions, please check the forums for Dropbox.
Register Account on Invantive Cloud
Skip this step when you already have an account on Invantive Cloud. Otherwise execute the following steps one time to register an account on Invantive Cloud:
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Go to Invantive Cloud start page.
Select the Log on-button.
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Select the Sign Up-button.
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Enter your business email address.
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Select the Next-button.
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Enter your personal data.
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Select the Next-button.
Enter your password and repeat the password you entered.
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Select the Next-button.
You will receive a six-digit verification code by email within 2 minutes.
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Enter the six-digit verification code.
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Select the Sign Up-button.
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Log on now.
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Make sure you have an authentication app installed on your phone. Select the Next-button.
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Add the displayed QR code to the authentication app, enter the current verification code, and choose "Finish".
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Skip registration of the organization.
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Complete your personal information and choose "Save".
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Go to the dashboard.
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The Invantive Cloud dashboard will be shown.
You now have a login code on Invantive Cloud with which you can set up the connection with Dropbox and numerous other platforms. You will use the same Invantive login code and workflow for all other platforms.
Create Dropbox database
In this step, we set up a database with data from Dropbox. The database is "virtual" because it is not a traditional database, but is fed real-time from Dropbox. Invantive Cloud provides Power Query with a real-time link to Dropbox. The database will be used for all your Dropbox reporting with Power Query. So you only need to perform these steps once.
You now have a login code on Invantive Cloud with which you can set up the connection with {0} and numerous other platforms. You will use the same Invantive login code and workflow for all other platforms.
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Click the Add Database button.
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Select Dropbox from the list.
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Please fill out the form with login information for Dropbox.
Select the OK-button.
Congratulations! You can now process data from Dropbox within the Invantive Cloud website. You can do this for example with the interactive SQL editor.
Grant connection from Power Query access to Dropbox
To retrieve the data from Power Query we create a link via Invantive Bridge Online. This creates a "bridge" between the cloud of Invantive and the standard OData connector that is available in every version of Power Query. You do not need to install anything locally: no connector, no ado.NET provider and no Power Query add-on neither.
Execute the following steps to safely use the data from Dropbox outside of Invantive Cloud:
Next to the database you will find an orange text requesting you to allow access from your current location (IP address). Select the nearby orange button.
If you want to use the data through the web versions of Power Query, you must completely disable IP address checking by entering an asterisk ("*").
You are now ready to import the Dropbox data into Power Query.
Configure Power Query connector for Dropbox
You will now pull in Power Query data from Dropbox through the established link.
Execute the following steps:
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Start Microsoft Power Query and click on "Get Data".
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Choose "OData Feed."
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Enter the Bridge Online URL of the Dropbox database in the window. Select the OK-button.
Sometimes Power Query does not accept the URL and a yellow warning sign appears. If so, add a '/' to the end of the URL and remove it again. Select the OK-button.
A message about missing authentication will appear if you have not previously recorded your login credentials in Power Query.
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Select the "Basic" tab on the left.
Enter the user name for Invantive Cloud.
Enter the password that you have set for Invantive Cloud.
You do not need to change the "Scope" under the "Choose which Level" menu unless you have specific reasons.
Select the OK-button.
You only need to perform these steps for linking Dropbox with Power Query once. From now on, you will find the linked data source in Power Query beneath "Recent Sources" in the menu.
Load Data in Power Query from Dropbox
A list of Dropbox tables appears for use in your dashboard. You can find these tables and their meaning on documentation.invantive.com. A limited number of tables from the Dropbox documentation of Invantive are not visible from Power Query because they have parameters.
Execute the following steps to load data into your dashboard:
Select the table you want to use in the Navigator. You can also select multiple tables at once.
A preview of the data from Dropbox appears to the right when you select a table.
Select the OK-button.
All data from all selected tables are loaded directly by the connector into Power Query.
Loading can take a short or long time depending on the amount of data. The first time it takes noticeably longer anyway because the data is not yet in the "cache".
Advanced Power Query users can use the "Transform" button to increase the loading speed from Power Query by applying filters.
The Dropbox connection will cache the data. Your data will be stored encrypted. Power Query, especially during dashboard development, often retrieves the same data again. This cache provides a noticeable acceleration. The cached data is refreshed according to the duration you set at the virtual Dropbox database. By default, the duration is set to 4 hours; therefore, you will receive the same data for 4 hours via the connection.
Build a Dropbox Dashboard
In Power Query the data is now ready for use in the dashboard.
Now build your reports or dashboards.
Click "Refresh" to refresh the Dropbox data from Invantive Bridge Online.
Additional features
After an initial success with new insights through a custom report or analysis on Dropbox, you are going to create multiple dashboards on your Dropbox data. It is then more efficient to use Microsoft data flows so that the data is shared between the different dashboards within the online Power Query platform.
You might also use other Invantive connectors for a report or analysis. For this you can follow the steps described above. All Power Query connectors of Invantive work identically; only the registration of the database depends on the data source.
Finally, using Invantive Cloud you can also build software in the form of small web applications. This software can use the data in your database.