SharePoint files in your Azure data warehouse and Power BI
Files from SharePoint document libraries
Yres retrieves files from SharePoint Online through Microsoft Graph. You register an app in Microsoft Entra ID, grant it the Sites.Read.All application permission with admin consent, and enter the tenant, client ID and client secret. For each file you point to the site, the document library and the path. Yres first copies the file to the storage of your own environment, reads it from there and removes the intermediate copy. The content then sits as a table in your Azure SQL database, ready for Power BI.
At a glance
- Connection
- Microsoft Graph, using an app registration in Microsoft Entra ID (app-only, no signed-in user)
- Required permission
- Sites.Read.All application permission on Microsoft Graph, with admin consent. The old appinv.aspx route no longer works
- Kind of source
- File source: you select files in a document library; there is no table list for Yres to fetch
- How a file is located
- Site → document library → path. The first part of the file location must be the library name, for example "Shared Documents/Finance/"
- Kinds of sites
- Sites under /sites, /teams and /personal, or an address without a suffix
- Where it runs
- SharePoint Online is publicly reachable, so the Azure Data Factory cloud runtime is sufficient. A self-hosted integration runtime is only needed on a restricted network
- Secrets
- Client ID, client secret and tenant details are kept in the Key Vault of your own Azure environment; the web application does not store them
What you arrange yourself
- 1Register an app in Microsoft Entra ID (App registrations → New registration) and note the Application (client) ID and the Directory (tenant) ID.
- 2Create a client secret under Certificates & secrets and copy the value straight away; it is shown only once.
- 3Under API permissions, add the Microsoft Graph application permission Sites.Read.All and have an administrator grant admin consent.
- 4Add the SharePoint source in Yres with the tenant name, the kind of site (sites, teams, personal or empty), tenant ID, client ID and secret.
- 5Pick the files and enter a location that starts with the name of the document library.
When you need this — and when you don't
A standalone connector is enough if…
If one report reads one Excel file from SharePoint, Power BI's own SharePoint connector does the job. That does not call for a data warehouse.
Yres adds value if…
Yres earns its place when the business maintains budgets, targets or mapping tables in SharePoint and those figures have to sit next to your ERP data. The file then becomes an ordinary table in the data warehouse, scheduled and monitored like your other sources.
Frequently asked questions: SharePoint
My SharePoint connection used to work and now fails. What is going on?
Most likely the permissions. Up to version 1.55 the app was granted access through appinv.aspx and Azure ACS. Microsoft has switched off that app-only flow. From version 1.56 Yres works through Microsoft Graph. The fields you fill in are unchanged, but the app now needs Sites.Read.All on Microsoft Graph, with admin consent.
Why can't Yres find my file when the folder is correct?
Yres treats the first part of the file location as the name of the document library. If you only enter a folder name, without the library in front, no library can be found and the step fails. So start the path with, for example, "Shared Documents/" followed by the folders.
Can I also load files from a Teams site or a personal site?
Yes. When adding the source you choose the kind of site: sites, teams, personal or empty. Yres uses that to build the site address from your tenant name and applies the same distinction when fetching the files.
Is a copy of my SharePoint file left behind anywhere?
No. Loading happens in two steps: first a binary copy to the Blob Storage of your own environment, then reading it into the staging tables. Afterwards Yres removes that intermediate copy automatically. The original in SharePoint is untouched, because the app only has read access.
Full technical description in the knowledge base →·Last reviewed:
Data warehouse automation that runs in your own Azure
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