Request: Let us abort a DAX operation (stuck on "Working on it")

[IgnasiVelasco]

I would like to request the team to please make it possible for us to abort operations that start by adding a calculated column or a measure using DAX, which triggers the below pop-up:

While calculating, PBI Desktop gets stuck in this state and completely freezes the UI, except for the loading animation. If working with a large enough dataset, this can go on for several hours and forces you to shut down the program from the Task Manager, which obviously means you lose all progress since your last save.

Thanks for your consideration.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi @IgnasiVelasco ,

Thank you for reaching out and sharing your feedback regarding the Power BI Desktop experience. I understand how frustrating it can be when the application becomes unresponsive during a long-running DAX operation. Your request for an abort feature to cancel such operations is certainly valid and would be a valuable addition to Power BI Desktop.

Base on my research, Power BI Desktop does not have a built-in feature to abort a running DAX operation directly from the UI. However, I can provide you with some best practices to mitigate the risk of encountering such situations:

• Save Your Work Frequently: Make it a habit to save your Power BI file before making significant changes or adding complex DAX calculations.
• Optimize Your DAX Formulas: Ensure that your DAX formulas are optimized for performance. This can reduce the time taken for calculations. You can refer to the DAX performance tuning guide to examine the performance of report elements.
• Use a Smaller Dataset for Development: When developing your reports, consider using a smaller subset of your data. This can help you iterate faster and avoid long waits for calculations.
• Upgrade Your Hardware: Power BI performance can be affected by the specifications of your computer. Consider upgrading your hardware to improve overall performance.
• Check for Updates: Ensure that you are using the latest version of Power BI Desktop, as performance improvements are regularly included in updates.

In addition, you can submit a new idea. It is a place for customers provide feedback about Microsoft Office products. What's more, if feedback is high voted there by other customers, it will be promising that Microsoft Product Team will take it into consideration when designing the next version in the future.

Best Regards