Auto Refresh disabled incorrectly

[andrewsimmans]

 I have a dataset that is refreshed each night and then is used by Excel for Analysis - there are no reports or dashboards. After 2 months it looks like the refresh is automatically disabled - is there any way to stop this or to get the usage by Excel included in the checks? 

[v-shex-msft]

Hi @andrewsimmans ,
I'd like some sample data to help us clarify your scenario. (e.g. detailed error message, refresh history, gateway log...)
In addition, you can also check your gateway if it not compatible with old version features.

Regards,

Xiaoxin Sheng

[andrewsimmans]

Hi @v-shex-msft,

I believe that the disable of refresh is as designed functionality in that Power BI (quite reasonably) says if noone has "done anything" for 2 months, then the refresh disabled.

However - Power BI does not recognise where people have used the "Analyse in Excel" function to create an Excel spreadsheet which they are then using as a Management Report and are regularly refreshing. But no-one is going in via the web service to look at Reports or Dashboards.

I include a shot of the message you get in the Refresh log below the refresh stopped - it then took us some time to realise it had stopped and by going in today it kicked off again. I have had this occur in several of my client's organisations so it is not specific to just one Organisation. 

[v-shex-msft]

HI @andrewsimmans ,

Yes, document also mentioned power bi will pause the schedule refers if your datasets are inactive over two month:

Configuring scheduled refresh

Spoiler

Note

After two months of inactivity, scheduled refresh on your dataset is paused. A dataset is considered inactive when no user has visited any dashboard or report built on the dataset. At that time, the dataset owner is sent an email indicating the scheduled refresh is paused, and the refresh schedule for the dataset is displayed as disabled. To resume scheduled refresh, simply revisit any dashboard or report built on the dataset.

Maybe you can consider to use connection directly or onedrive refresh to handle your datasource.

Data refresh in Power BI

Regards,

Xiaoxin Sheng