The following content goes through the process of creating and accessing the resources needed to connect Power BI to retrieve submitted form data for a specific form template.


There are three main steps:


Some of these steps can only be completed by a high level user (Administrator or above) of the account.


The end of this article also includes common issues and questions encountered while setting up the connection.



Getting the API Link for a Form Template

First, create a form report using the Form Reporting function. 


You can get to the Form Reporting page by using the dropdown menu to navigate to Forms => Form Reporting:



Here you can select the form template you wish to report on, the columns it should include, and any filters. 


The report that this creates are often referred to as “CSV Reports” as their original function was to create an easy CSV export of form data.



Creating a CSV Report in more detail:


Once your report is configured, you can view it on the Manage CSV Reports page, found by clicking the “Manage CSV Reports” button near the top-right of the page.




The Manage CSV Reports page lists all of your available reports, and exposes an API link that can be used to access data from that report from an external service (such as Power BI).




Getting your API Token

To access existing API tokens or to create a new one, navigate to Tools => API and select the “API Tokens” tab.



If you do not have any existing tokens, click the “New Token” button to the right of the screen.



Creating a new API token

Use the checkboxes to set the permissions that your new API token should have.


For form reporting, the token will require READ access for form data as shown:




Once the permissions have been set, click “Add Token”. This will generate the new API token and display it on the page:




You can view this token at any time by going back to the API Token list, and clicking “View” next to the token you would like to view:



Security note: This token now has access to read and write the Formitize data selected during setup. It must be kept secure. Do not publish this token to any public documents, or to persons who are not authorised to access the data this token gives access to. 


We recommend only giving a token access to the data it requires to complete its function.



Connecting to Power BI

  • In PowerBI, select “From Web” as the data source.

  • Select the “Advanced” radio button to show further options.

  • In “URL Parts”, paste the API link for the report data that can be found on the Manage CSV page.

  • Under “HTTP request header parameters”, add a new header called “Authorization”.
    Note: that it must begin with a capital A, and be spelled with a “z” to be accepted.

  • As the value for this Authorization header, type “Bearer ” and then paste your API token.

    It should look something like:
    Bearer 17813-c964b6be-ea9b-44ab-b2b7-287e57d6c500

    Note: “Bearer” must have a capital “B”, and there must be a single space between “Bearer” and the token.

  • Press “OK” to finalise and connect the data source.