Power BI Error: Information is needed in order to combine data

I had this happen to me on a dataset that was refreshing OK in the Power BI Desktop application but not refreshing in the service. The service was giving the error: “Information is needed in order to combine data”

The dataset was a very simple combination of 2 tables. The 2 tables were a result of 2 API calls done with an API key on a cloud website.

Error

The error “Information is needed in order to combine data” was only happening on the Power BI service. When I was trying to refresh the dataset, it would not do it.

If I checked the permission levels in Power BI Desktop, the credential are set to to Anonymous as they should be since the authentication is done through an API key. The privacy level can be set to anything in the Desktop application, the refresh will work. However, if setup to anything other than Organizational, the dataset would error out when trying to refresh in Power BI Service.

Solution

First, set the permissions to Organizational in Power BI desktop. Then publish the report.

Next, go to the Power BI service, where the report is published, go to settings and go to Data Source Credentials.

Click on “Edit Credentials” for all your data sources and make sure that the Privacy Level is set to Organizational. Once I set that, I was able to refresh the dataset in the Power BI Service as well.

This fixed it for me. I hope it will fix it for you as well.