Forum Discussion
HarrisonBeck
Mar 31, 2021Copper Contributor
Get DB Data From Folder
Hello, Is there a way to do this? Power BI and excel can both get data from a folder, not just a file. I'd like to be able to get the data from the most recent file added to a folder when the DB ...
George_Hepworth
Apr 01, 2021Silver Contributor
What do you mean "...get data from a folder..."?
In Windows, data is in files, files are in folders.
If you can explain more clearly what it is that you have in that folder, we could attempt some suggestions.
That said, Access is very powerful in importing data from a large variety of data sources, so I would imagine what you want is highly doable, we just need a clearer picture of that data....
- HarrisonBeckApr 01, 2021Copper Contributor
Hello George_Hepworth,
Thanks for getting back to me. What I am trying to do, is connect to the folder and use Power Query Editor in order to load into Access the most recent file regularly dropped into that folder. Both PowerBI and Excel have the functionality in the picture below.
From what I was googling, you can use SQL to do this, but I'd like to avoid that if possible. I'm trying to show my co-workers they can do this instead of copying and pasting data. Currently, I have a linked table set-up (Access to Excel), and I am pulling data from a folder in Excel.
Let me know if you need additional info.
Thank you,
Harris
- George_HepworthApr 01, 2021Silver Contributor
What FILES are in that folder to which you are referring. You are importing FILES, not FOLDERS. I imagine they are .csv or .xls or .xlsx FILES, are they not?
Or to put it more accurately, that dialog points you to a FOLDER containing FILES, and once you identify the FOLDER, the next dialog offers you a choice of the FILES in that folder.
And that is exactly the same thing Access does, albeit the dialog is slightly different. It looks like you are already doing it, in fact.
"I have a linked table set-up (Access to Excel), and I am pulling data from a folder in Excel." To be more accurate, that data is coming from an .xls or .xlsx FILES in that folder.
- HarrisonBeckApr 01, 2021Copper ContributorHello,
Our IT team dumps .CSV files into a folder (or multiple different folders) regularly. I'd like to connect to the folder so that I can pull the most recent .CSV file dumped into the folder. This is exactly what I'm trying to do, but in Access: "dialog points you to a FOLDER containing FILES, and once you identify the FOLDER, the next dialog offers you a choice of the FILES in that folder."
The linked tables I am pulling in is data set as a table within a .xlsx file. This works, but I'd like to connect directly into the source folder instead of using Excel as a bridge via a linked table.