Forum Discussion
Extracting data from External tables in semantic Model
Hi Arnab0111,
So you mean directly use external resource without getting data to fabric? The requirement sounds like the mirroring feature in data warehouse, but current it seems only work for specific data sources.
Perhaps you can take a look at following document about this feature usage and submit idea for add the support to add more data source types:
Mirroring - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn
Regards,
Xiaoxin Sheng
Hi Arnab0111
Could you tell more about why you don't want to use managed table?
I guess the easiest is to create the shortcut in the managed Lakehouse table section. Just click here (yellow marker) and create New shortcut:
Can I use shortcut in the table section for a csv file in ADLS and see the table in semantic model or sql endpoint of the lakehouse ?
I'm not sure I understand the comment:
>Spoiler
Perhaps it is a screenshot from ADLS? I'm not familiar with ADLS myself.
Is your data in ADLS already in Delta Table format (also called Delta Lake)? If so, it should be possible to create the shortcut inside the managed table section of the Lakehouse. Then it is possible to use Direct Lake in Power BI.
Or is the data in ADLS stored in another format?
In that case, I don't think you can use it with Direct Lake. However, you could create a shortcut in the Files section and then connect to the data from Power BI in import mode. (However, in that case you could also connect Power BI directly to ADLS, by creating the semantic model in Power BI desktop, and then you don't need to create a shortcut).
Perhaps it is also possible to create the shortcut into the Files section of the Lakehouse. Then use notebook to create an external table in the Table section of the Lakehouse. This external table can use the shortcut in Files section as it's data source. However I don't think you can use Power BI direct lake with such table.