DataSource.Error: SharePoint Request Failed

[Anonymous]

Hi there, 

Recently i've been having this error a lot of times which makes it almost impossible to refresh my data:

I've been researching here for similar problems but i just can't fix it. I've tried to edit credentials, reset them and log on again and it still gives me this error.

My data sources are SharePoint folders and excel files.

 I want to understand what is causing this and a possible solution.

Thank you

[Syndicate_Admin]

I found a bypass. Try the solution at: Using the wait-retry pattern in Power Query connectors - Power Query | Microsoft Docs

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

So to answer to both of @009co and @Daryl-Lynch-Bzy , in my M Query i had a parameter where the user would choose which SharePoint folder powerbi would import data from. Today was the first time i was able to refresh data (i deleted some tables and relationships) and it turns out it was importing 20 MILLION rows (and counting). So i deleted the parameter and put the path by hand, like i always do, on the navigation step and it worked perfectly after. I assumed it was because of the parameter but never would've thought it was pulling all the files from my O365 Team. This most likely caused A LOT of calls to SharePoint and thus the error.

Thank you both 

Edit: it was actually pulling more than 100M rows, so clearly this could've triggered something.

[009co]

That is an impressively large number of records! 

Interesting, I am also using a parameter for the SharePoint url.

I am using a parameter for the folder because I was doing dev on local machine and dataset, and testing on different SharePoint sites. It was easier to change parameter value than updating url manually in a bunch of queries and functions.

However, my parameter is hardcoded eg doesn't require anyone to choose it. But will try hardcoding the url and see what happens.

Although this still doesn't explain why it works most of the time, but randomly fails.

[009co]

This is happening for me too.

My error is something like:

Error: DataSource.Error: SharePoint: Request failed: https://mysite.sharepoint.com/personal/my_name/Documents/my_csv/_api/contextinfo Request ID: xxx Activity ID: xxx

It seems to happen randomly.  After error happens, I can immediately manually refresh this dataflow successfully.

This is a fairly common error message. Here is search on the error on this forum:

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?advanced=false&allow_punctuation=fals...

People suggest clearing and resetting authentication credentials, some people are getting error using incorrect connector. However, there is nothing definitive about this error message.

My process is to using following to get SharePoint site root folder:

SharePoint.Files(SharePointPath, [ApiVersion = 15]) to retrieve csv files.

I am authenticating using Organization credentials which work fine. I then filter to the files or folder I want and then do the rest of the transformations. I have a bunch of similar Dataflows, Power BI queries and Exel Power Query queries. There is nothing different from what produces the error.

I am wondering if there are some limits being hit behind scenes? Perhaps limit on # hits to SharePoint folder by either SharePoint or by Power BI dataflow? Or time limit or rate limit on # csv files per x unit of time, or per connection instance?

Is there anywhere I could get more details about the error other than the scheduled refresh log?

It is a troublesome issue with no obvious cause and it does stop scheduled refreshes from time to time.

[Daryl-Lynch-Bzy]

Hi @Anonymous  - could you please share the advanced editor (M Query) steps.  Please replace the URL ("xxx") without hiding all the detail.  My thinking is that you are using the wrong path in the SharePoint function you are using.