Forum Discussion
Synonyms button missing in Q & A visual
I have two machines with the same installation of the PBI Desktop, but for one, when I click the Q & A visual, in the upper-right corner of the visual, a button "Add synonyms now" appears but for the other machine (with the same data model) the button does not come up. I know I can click the gear, but can anyone tell me why there is a variation?
Thank you.
Hi WillBee,
The difference you are seeing can be expected because the “Add synonyms now” banner is not a permanent part of the Q&A visual UI.
Microsoft’s Q&A tooling documentation says that the banner can vary depending on factors such as whether you are signed in and whether organization-shared synonyms are available.
So even with the same PBIX and Desktop version, one machine/session can show the banner while another does not.
The important thing is whether the Synonyms configuration itself is still available.
You can check it through:
Q&A visual -> gear icon -> Synonymsor from the model by selecting a table/column and using the Synonyms property in the Modeling/Properties pane.
Microsoft documents both approaches in the Q&A tooling guidance.
If the banner is missing but the Synonyms page is still available, you are not losing the underlying functionality.
I would compare these between the two machines:
signed-in account organization synonym-sharing availability Q&A setup -> Suggestion settings Desktop version/buildOne other thing to keep in mind is that Microsoft has announced that Power BI Q&A experiences are being retired in February 2027, with Copilot for Power BI becoming the recommended natural-language experience.
So I would not spend too much time troubleshooting the banner itself unless the actual Synonyms functionality is also missing.
AI-assisted drafting: AI was used to help structure and phrase this response. I reviewed and validated the technical content before posting.
5 Replies
- v-csrikanth
Community Support
Hi WillBee
We would like to inquire whether have you got the chance to check the solutions provided by other users in community to resolve the issue. We hope the information provided helps to clear the query. Should you have any further queries, kindly feel free to contact the Microsoft Fabric community.
- ShivekMaharaj
Community Champion
Hi WillBee,
The difference you are seeing can be expected because the “Add synonyms now” banner is not a permanent part of the Q&A visual UI.
Microsoft’s Q&A tooling documentation says that the banner can vary depending on factors such as whether you are signed in and whether organization-shared synonyms are available.
So even with the same PBIX and Desktop version, one machine/session can show the banner while another does not.
The important thing is whether the Synonyms configuration itself is still available.
You can check it through:
Q&A visual -> gear icon -> Synonymsor from the model by selecting a table/column and using the Synonyms property in the Modeling/Properties pane.
Microsoft documents both approaches in the Q&A tooling guidance.
If the banner is missing but the Synonyms page is still available, you are not losing the underlying functionality.
I would compare these between the two machines:
signed-in account organization synonym-sharing availability Q&A setup -> Suggestion settings Desktop version/buildOne other thing to keep in mind is that Microsoft has announced that Power BI Q&A experiences are being retired in February 2027, with Copilot for Power BI becoming the recommended natural-language experience.
So I would not spend too much time troubleshooting the banner itself unless the actual Synonyms functionality is also missing.
AI-assisted drafting: AI was used to help structure and phrase this response. I reviewed and validated the technical content before posting.
Thank you for the several things to check. I did check and the versions and licensing seem to be identical between the machines. I guess it is a mystery, but at least there is an easy workaround.
I’ve seen this happen in Power BI Desktop, and it can sometimes be related to differences in the Power BI version or preview feature settings between machines. I’d suggest checking that both machines are running the same version and that the Q&A-related settings are enabled in Options. If everything matches, try updating Power BI Desktop to the latest version, as it may resolve the issue.
- rajendraongole1
Super User
Hi WillBee - The "Add synonyms now" banner isn't part of the core Q&A visual. It's the Copilot prompt that offers to generate synonyms for your table and column names, so it only appears when Copilot is available in that Desktop session. on the machine without the banner, open Q&A setup (the gear) > Synonyms. If the Copilot synonym option is there, the banner was just dismissed and you're not missing any functionality. If it isn't, it points to sign-in or Copilot availability.
https://learn.microsoft.com/power-bi/natural-language/q-and-a-copilot-enhancements
Hope this helps. If it resolves your question, please mark it as the solution so others can find it.
