Change timeout settings for CSV files in desktop app and prevent errors in PBI service?

[Shure846]

Hi - I've been having timeout errors when refreshing my report in the PBI service, but it refreshes successfully when I do it via the desktop app. I've seen old code out there for changing timeout settings for local files/CSV files, but I can't make it work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! 

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi,  @Shure846, hello , ToddChitt, thank you for your prompt reply!

The default timeout limit cannot be modified in the Power BI service.

Scheduled refreshes for imported models time out after two hours. For models in Premium workspaces, this limit is extended to five hours.

It is recommended to reduce loading time by optimizing the query. If you encounter this limit, consider reducing the size or complexity of your model, or refactoring the model into multiple smaller ones.

For further guidance, you can refer to the Optimization guide for Power BI on Microsoft Learn.

Optimization guide for Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Best regards,

Joyce

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[ToddChitt]

19M rows is quite a bit to be handled by the Power Query engine. 

Are you doing MERGE JOIN to other tables in M? If so, see what performance boost you can get by eliminating that step and doing relationships in the model instead.

[Shure846]

Thanks - I'll see if that fixes the issue. I appreciate it!

[ToddChitt]

5 GB of CSV data is a lot to handle. How many rows? Remember, CSV is NOT a RDBMS and all transformations need to be done on the client side. "Merging in from other sidebar tables"? Do you mean like doing table MERGE JOIN in Power Query? If so, maybe consider bringing in the lookup tables into the model, create appropriate relationships. 

[Shure846]

About 19M rows worth of data in those CSV's. 

[ToddChitt]

Consider this: The Desktop app is probably sitting on the same machine as the CSV files, or at least inside the same network (maybe CSV files are on a File Server nearby?). But the Power BI Service has to navigate through the Gateway, which may not be installed on the File Server. 

How much CSV data are we talking about, and how complex are your transformations? Are you using a Folder source with lots (100's) of files, or one file?

[Shure846]

The desktop app, CSV files and gateway are all on the same machine (mine). We're talking about 5 files ~5.4GB worth of information. I don't believe the transformations are too complex, mostly merging in information from other sidebar files and fixing text.