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Hi,
Does anyone know of list of recent DAX functions that do not work in Direct Query mode?
Does it only take one of your tables in the model to be Direct Query and lets say rest are left as Import for the DAX to stop working?
Thanks
Solved! Go to Solution.
Conceptual questions like this can be answered by chatgpt or google 🙂
✅ Answers to Your Questions
Microsoft does not maintain a complete public list of non-supported DAX functions in DirectQuery mode as of 2025, but here’s a list of functions and constructs that are known to be restricted or partially supported in DirectQuery (and often fail silently or return wrong results):
❌ DAX functions/features with known limitations in DirectQuery:
Category |
Examples |
Notes |
Iterator functions |
SUMX, AVERAGEX, FILTER inside calculated columns |
Allowed in measures, but usage is restricted or sub-optimal in calculated columns or calculated tables |
Time intelligence |
SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR, PARALLELPERIOD, DATESYTD, DATESMTD, DATEADD, etc. |
Only work if a proper Date table is marked and fully imported. |
Calculated tables |
Any ADDCOLUMNS, GENERATE, CROSSJOIN, etc. |
Not supported when dependent on DirectQuery tables |
Relationship functions |
USERELATIONSHIP, TREATAS |
Work in many cases, but sometimes break with composite models |
Ranking functions |
RANKX |
Can fail or give poor performance in DirectQuery-only context |
Advanced math / stats |
MEDIANX, PERCENTILEX.INC, GEOMEANX, etc. |
Often unsupported or returns errors |
Custom aggregations |
VAR, complex nested IF/SWITCH logic |
Might get rewritten poorly or result in "Can't display visual" |
IN operator |
'Table'[Col] IN { "A", "B" } |
This is not supported in DirectQuery to most sources (especially SQL Server) |
Virtual tables in measures |
SELECTCOLUMNS, UNION, EXCEPT |
Can result in query folding failures or unsupported queries |
🔍 The problem is that even when DAX "works", the generated SQL may be too complex or invalid — leading to errors or blank visuals.
Yes — to a significant extent.
In composite models (Import + DirectQuery):
Think of DirectQuery tables as "contaminating" any expression they touch — Power BI can't mix-and-match processing engines easily.
🔧 Recommendations
Hi @mp390988,
Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community forum.
It looks like you are looking for all the recent DAX functions that do not work in Direct Query mode. As @Shravan133 already responded to your query, please go through his response and check if it answers your query.
I would also take a moment to thank @Shravan133, for actively participating in the community forum and for the solutions you’ve been sharing in the community forum. Your contributions make a real difference.
If I misunderstand your needs or you still have problems on it, please feel free to let us know.
Best Regards,
Hammad.
Community Support Team
If this post helps then please mark it as a solution, so that other members find it more quickly.
Thank you.
Hi @mp390988,
As we haven’t heard back from you, so just following up to our previous message. I'd like to confirm if you've successfully resolved this issue or if you need further help.
If yes, you are welcome to share your workaround and mark it as a solution so that other users can benefit as well. If you find a reply particularly helpful to you, you can also mark it as a solution.
If you still have any questions or need more support, please feel free to let us know. We are more than happy to continue to help you.
Thank you for your patience and look forward to hearing from you.
Hi @mp390988,
I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. If my response has addressed your query, please accept it as a solution so that other community members can find it easily.
Thank you.
Hi @mp390988,
May I ask if you have resolved this issue? If so, please mark the helpful reply and accept it as the solution. This will be helpful for other community members who have similar problems to solve it faster.
Thank you.
Conceptual questions like this can be answered by chatgpt or google 🙂
✅ Answers to Your Questions
Microsoft does not maintain a complete public list of non-supported DAX functions in DirectQuery mode as of 2025, but here’s a list of functions and constructs that are known to be restricted or partially supported in DirectQuery (and often fail silently or return wrong results):
❌ DAX functions/features with known limitations in DirectQuery:
Category |
Examples |
Notes |
Iterator functions |
SUMX, AVERAGEX, FILTER inside calculated columns |
Allowed in measures, but usage is restricted or sub-optimal in calculated columns or calculated tables |
Time intelligence |
SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR, PARALLELPERIOD, DATESYTD, DATESMTD, DATEADD, etc. |
Only work if a proper Date table is marked and fully imported. |
Calculated tables |
Any ADDCOLUMNS, GENERATE, CROSSJOIN, etc. |
Not supported when dependent on DirectQuery tables |
Relationship functions |
USERELATIONSHIP, TREATAS |
Work in many cases, but sometimes break with composite models |
Ranking functions |
RANKX |
Can fail or give poor performance in DirectQuery-only context |
Advanced math / stats |
MEDIANX, PERCENTILEX.INC, GEOMEANX, etc. |
Often unsupported or returns errors |
Custom aggregations |
VAR, complex nested IF/SWITCH logic |
Might get rewritten poorly or result in "Can't display visual" |
IN operator |
'Table'[Col] IN { "A", "B" } |
This is not supported in DirectQuery to most sources (especially SQL Server) |
Virtual tables in measures |
SELECTCOLUMNS, UNION, EXCEPT |
Can result in query folding failures or unsupported queries |
🔍 The problem is that even when DAX "works", the generated SQL may be too complex or invalid — leading to errors or blank visuals.
Yes — to a significant extent.
In composite models (Import + DirectQuery):
Think of DirectQuery tables as "contaminating" any expression they touch — Power BI can't mix-and-match processing engines easily.
🔧 Recommendations
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