Excel Version 2311

[cassidy]

For those of you who use BI via connected PivotTables, the latest Excel version of 2311 is preventing both refreshes of existing connections as well as creating new connections.

Please vote for the Issue I posted if you experience the same.  We only have a few users with the update rolled out so far, 2310 is still functional

https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Issues/Excel-version-2311-broken/idi-p/3566713

[DHayes]

@GilbertQ @cassidy I was able to fix this issue by creating a new Excel document from PowerBI online (I assume the same source) and then saving that as a copy to my PC.  This Excel document works with no problem but I noticed that the connection string is different than my original Excel documents so I copied the new connection string and overwrote the existing connection strings. This fixed my issue.

Change Connection String

OLD connection string (renamed GUIDs for privacy)

Provider=MSOLAP.8;Integrated Security=ClaimsToken;Persist Security Info=True;Initial Catalog=sobe_wowvirtualserver-<GUID>;Data Source=pbiazure://;Location="https://wabi-us-north-central-redirect.analysis.windows.net//xmla?vs=sobe_wowvirtualserver&db=<GUID>&app=PBIAddin";Extended Properties="DataSource=pbiazure://";MDX Compatibility=1;Safety Options=2;MDX Missing Member Mode=Error;Identity Provider=https://login.microsoftonline.com/common, https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api, <GUID>;Update Isolation Level=2

New connection string

Provider=MSOLAP.8;Integrated Security=ClaimsToken;Persist Security Info=True;Initial Catalog=sobe_wowvirtualserver-<GUID>;Data Source=pbiazure://api.powerbi.com;MDX Compatibility=1;Safety Options=2;MDX Missing Member Mode=Error;Identity Provider=https://login.microsoftonline.com/common, https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api, <GUID>;Update Isolation Level=2

The error we got for searchability:

"Microsoft Excel
COM error: COM error. Microsoft.AnalysisServices.AzureClient, Authentication failed; we cannot locate Azure Active Directory in your environment. This could be because your client application does not currently have the required components. Install the latest version of your client application or contact technical"

[GilbertQ]

Yeah agreed, glad you have a workaround!

[GilbertQ]

Hi @cassidy 

As a workaround what happens if you create the pivot table in Excel online and then open it in the Desktop App, that MIGHt work?

[cassidy]

@GilbertQ , yes that does work and I've instructed users to do so as a solution.  We also have at least have of users on the older version, so people are literally using their neighbor to refresh a workbook for them.

Excel updates break BI functionality far too often, it'd be real nice if they included it in their testing.