Forum Discussion
Unable to Read Fabric Warehouse/Lakehouse DACPAC using Notepad or any Editor
Hi ALL,
I was trying to build DACPAC using VS Code and then trying to read it by opening in Notepad but it is not opening properly/ or is in some encrypted format .
How can i read this DACPAC , please help.
Hi yashaswi_raj ,
Thanks for reaching out to Community Forum.This is expected behavior and not an issue with Microsoft Fabric. A DACPAC exported from a Fabric Warehouse or Lakehouse is not a plain text file, so opening it in Notepad will always look unreadable. In Fabric, a DACPAC represents a packaged database schema that is meant to be consumed by supported tools, not viewed directly as text. The correct way to inspect or work with it is to import it into a SQL Database Project (for example using Visual Studio or Azure Data Studio) or use SqlPackage to extract or deploy the schema. This confirms that the export itself is valid the limitation is simply that Notepad cannot interpret the DACPAC format.
Supporting Fabric documentation :
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/database/sql/overview
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/database/sql/sqlpackage
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/data-warehouse/develop-warehouse-project
Thank you.
10 Replies
DACPAC, like many MS file formats (docx, pbix) is just a zip file wearing a wig.
You can either rename it to .zip and open it in Windows that way or find a program to open it. If you need to do it programmatically, python will quite happily read zip files.
Alternatively, use the Extract function mentioned in the article to turn it all into a .sql file.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/tools/sql-database-projects/concepts/data-tier-applications/unpack-dacpac-file?view=sql-server-ver17
If this helps, please Accept as Solution to help others to find it more easily.This answers the original question.
I am curious though, why are you trying to read the dacpac instead of deploying it?want to deploy the warehouse components only but since it has to read the lakehouse dacpac when any warehouse item has a refrence to lakehouse table , so my team wanted to check once we setuo the cicd do we need to evertime reupload the latest dacpac for lakehouse by building in vs code , in this process can one see the difference in both the dacpacs.
Hi yashaswi_raj ,
Thanks for reaching out to Community Forum.This is expected behavior and not an issue with Microsoft Fabric. A DACPAC exported from a Fabric Warehouse or Lakehouse is not a plain text file, so opening it in Notepad will always look unreadable. In Fabric, a DACPAC represents a packaged database schema that is meant to be consumed by supported tools, not viewed directly as text. The correct way to inspect or work with it is to import it into a SQL Database Project (for example using Visual Studio or Azure Data Studio) or use SqlPackage to extract or deploy the schema. This confirms that the export itself is valid the limitation is simply that Notepad cannot interpret the DACPAC format.
Supporting Fabric documentation :
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/database/sql/overview
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/database/sql/sqlpackage
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/data-warehouse/develop-warehouse-project
Thank you.Hi v-sshirivolu , thanks for the answer , can you tell why dacpac built for azure sql databases open in a notepad ? also can you recommend any industry standard approach for warehouse items deployment via azure devops
- Hello yashaswi_rajThe Fabric CLI can be an excellent option for scaffolding and managing databases (warehouses), however schema deployment currently relies on SQL Projects + SqlPackage or Fabric Deployment Pipelines, optionally with bridge automation for complex, multi-item deployments.The Bridge Solution is a temporary automation toolkit—often referred to as the Fabric Toolbox bridge—designed to fill in deployment gaps until Microsoft Fabric natively supports advanced warehouse and SQL‑endpoint deployments.
- Automates deployment of Fabric Warehouses and SQL Analytics Endpoints using DacFx (SqlPackage + build processes), including cross-item dependency resolution and metadata refresh for SQL endpoints.
- Focuses strictly on schema deployment; does not handle ELT processes or Lakehouse data hydration.
Supported Deployment Scenarios
Warehouse without dependencies
- Extracts source DACPAC → creates SQL Project → builds → deploys to the target.
Warehouse with warehouse dependencies
- Builds a dependency graph, sequences deployments correctly, resolves cross-warehouse references via SQLCMD variables, and validates connectivity.
Warehouse with SQL endpoint dependencies
- Sequences deployments between warehouses and endpoints, resolves all cross-item references, and triggers metadata refreshes on SQL endpoints before deployment.
SQL endpoint without dependencies
- Refreshes metadata, extracts endpoint DACPAC, builds, and deploys.
SQL endpoint with warehouse dependencies
- Ensures warehouses are deployed first, resolves references, executes deployments in sequence with validation.
SQL endpoints depending on other endpoints
- Maps inter‑endpoint relationships, orders deployments, resolves cross references, and validates all objects.
Here's a link to the GitHub repo to the Fabric Toolbox
GitHub - microsoft/fabric-toolbox: Fabric toolbox is a repository of tools, accelerators, scripts, and samples to accelerate your success with Microsoft Fabric, brought to you by Fabric CAT.Hope this helps, please appreciate by giving a Kudos or accepting as a Solution!
