Power Query - New UI previews default query, blocking UI

Hi andyclap​ not sure where you are facing this issue, however best way to go to a query which you want is, right click on the table from the Data section and go to edit query. That will take you directly to the query you want.
Hope this helps to resolve you problem. If it does, then please mark it as solution.

Thanks - Samrat

Hi andyclap​ 

You’re almost certainly hitting a documented limitation of the New Power Query experience (still Preview), and Microsoft’s own workaround is to turn it off.

Microsoft’s known-limitations page has an entry titled “Preview results can be delayed by other query work” — the new editor can hold up a data preview while it processes other query work, including work that produces no visible result. The listed workaround is to return to the legacy experience.

To switch back:

File → Options and settings → Options → Preview features → clear New Power Query experience

No restart required. It only affects Desktop — it won’t switch Power Query Online in web modeling back to the legacy UI.

As of the October 2026 threads here, Microsoft was reported to be working on the slowness in the new experience but hadn’t committed to a release for the fix. So there’s currently no setting that stops the default query from previewing inside the new UI — reverting to legacy is the fix, and it also gives you back the ability to click straight to the query you actually want.

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/power-query-new-
experience-limitations

If this post helps, then please consider Accepting it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

Hi andyclap​,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Fabric Community.

Thank you Ritaf1983​, Khashayar​, Prince0011​ and gopinathtk​ for the prompt response.

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided by the user's for the issue worked? or let us know if you need any further assistance.

Thanks and regards,
Anjan Kumar Chippa

Hi,

This is a known limitation of the new Power Query experience in Power BI Desktop. Microsoft has acknowledged that the editor can become unresponsive while evaluating queries during initial loading.

Recommended solution:

1. Go to File > Options and settings > Options.
2. Select Preview features.
3. Uncheck "New Power Query experience".
4. Reopen Power Query Editor to return to the legacy interface. No application restart is required.

You can also try enabling "Allow data preview to download in the background" under Options > Current File > Data Load, although this may not resolve the UI blocking issue.

My recommendation: For now, use the legacy Power Query Editor until Microsoft improves the performance of the new interface.

Microsoft has documented this limitation here:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/power-query-new-experience-limitations

Khashayar

https://www.linkedin.com/in/khashayary/

Hi,

I haven’t found a setting that turns off the preview for the first query. The editor opens on whichever query is at the top of the list, so the simplest workaround is to put a lightweight query there. A blank query or a small parameter table works, and you can drag it to the top.

I’d also check File > Options > Query Editor, and under Current File > Data Load, try toggling “Allow data previews to download in the background”. The effect varies by build, so test it both ways.

If it only started after an update, rolling back is worth a try.

If this helped, feel free to give it a kudos or mark it as solution, helps others find it too.

Hello andyclap​

You're not alone in experiencing this. The new Power Query experience has some known performance limitations, particularly when opening reports containing multiple queries or large mashups.

Microsoft has acknowledged that preview results can be delayed while other query operations are being processed, sometimes leaving the editor temporarily unresponsive.

My suggestion would be to try disabling the new experience:

1. Go to File → Options and settings → Options.
2. Open Preview features.
3. Uncheck "New Power Query experience".

This should take you back to the legacy Power Query Editor, where you can switch between queries without the same new-UI behaviour.

You can also experiment with the background data preview settings under Data Load, although this may not completely resolve the issue.

Hopefully Microsoft will improve the initial loading and preview performance in future updates.