Reporting - Add 'database last refresh date and time' to a report

*** Please note, this article refers to Reporting and Analytics with Power BI. View the FAQ for more details. ***

In this article, we'll show how to add a Card visualisation to a custom report showing the date and time the database was last refreshed. This makes clear to any report viewer, exactly how current the data is.

How often does the reports database refresh?

• The report database refresh twice a day
• A time stamp showing the most recent database refresh is shown in every fixed report
• The 'database refresh' time stamp can also be added to a user-created report
• Each Dataset is refreshed individually, so the time stamp may differ between reports using different Datasets
• Where a fixed report and a user-created report are built using the same dataset, the time stamp will be the same

Steps to add 'database last refresh date and time' to a report

1. Start a new User-created report or open an existing report
2. From the Visualisations panel, select 'Card visualisation'. An empty Card will be added to the report:
3. Check that the Card visualisation is still the selected item on the page. Add the data 'Last refresh date & time with text':
4. Select 'Format visual':
5. Select 'Callout value'. Use the formatting options to amend the text as required:
6. Toggle the 'Category label' to 'Off':

Discover more about User-created reports

For a hands-on learning experience, explore our Deep dive courses in The Academy, and watch as Gary builds reports from scratch to meet specific briefs. 

If you prefer to start at the beginning, check out Get Started: Reporting and Analytics with Power BI. You'll begin with Power BI’s top five features, then dive deeper into each one with step-by-step guidance.

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