Forum Discussion

elz's avatar
elz
Advocate II
10 years ago
Solved

Data Model Limitations in Power BI Desktop

Hi All,

 

I know that the data model in Excel has limitations like each table has a max of 2 million bytes, as well as columns names have a max of 100 characters. I doubt that I would reach any of the limitations from Excel, but I was wondering if the data model is Power BI Desktop has any limitations like this?

 

I am aware of the 1GB .pbix limitation for files that will be uploaded to bi.com, but other then that, I haven't seen anything about limitatons, so I'm hoping someone can provide a link to where the data model limitations are listed. I searched the help file, but didn't see anything.

 

Thank you
Tracy

Need Help
  • v-micsh-msft's avatar
    v-micsh-msft
    9 years ago

    Hi tracy,

     

    Apologize to say that I also didn't find any documentation talking about the data model limitation in Power BI Desktop.

    But there is file data cache limitation in Power BI Desktop:

     

    By default is 4096 MB, but we could modify the Max Allowed  field. So currently, there should be no exact limitation in Power BI desktop, and the loaded data should be limited by the machine resource.

    Regards

5 Replies

  • v-micsh-msft's avatar
    v-micsh-msft
    Microsoft Employee
    10 years ago

    Hi elz,

    If you mean the limitations when upload Excel workbook into Power BI Desktop, then please check the limitations part in the link below:

    Import Excel workbooks into Power BI Desktop

    Quoted:

    “

    There is currently no limitation on the size or number of objects in the workbook, but larger workbooks take longer for Power BI Desktop to analyze and import.

    ”

    For Power BI service, there is documentation told that the limitation currently is 1 GB regarding Excel workbook:

    Reduce the size of an Excel workbook to view it in Power BI

    “

    You can upload any Excel workbook smaller than 1 GB to Power BI. An Excel workbook can have two parts: a Data Model, and the rest of the report—the core worksheet contents. If the report meets the following size limits, you can save it to OneDrive for Business, connect to it from Power BI, and view it in Excel Online:

    • The workbook as a whole can be up to 1 GB.
    • The core worksheet contents can be up to 10 MB.

    ”

    For the other data sources under Power BI Desktop, see:

    Data sources in Power BI Desktop

    If any further help needed, please feel free to post back.

    Regards

    • elz's avatar
      elz
      Advocate II
      9 years ago

      hi michael,

       

      i wasn't referring specifically to excel file limitations.  i used excel as the example because the query editor/data model in excel had limitations, like the length of the query name and the number of columns in a query.

       

      my question was for general data model limitations like that in power bi desktop, either in the query editor or not.

       

      any help would be greatly appreciated.

       

      thank you

      tracy

      • v-micsh-msft's avatar
        v-micsh-msft
        Microsoft Employee
        9 years ago

        Hi tracy,

         

        Apologize to say that I also didn't find any documentation talking about the data model limitation in Power BI Desktop.

        But there is file data cache limitation in Power BI Desktop:

         

        By default is 4096 MB, but we could modify the Max Allowed  field. So currently, there should be no exact limitation in Power BI desktop, and the loaded data should be limited by the machine resource.

        Regards

  • fabiob's avatar
    fabiob
    Regular Visitor
    2 years ago

    Hi,

    I found a solution for what I need.

    1. PBI desktop > options > report option > allo users to export
    2. public your report in  your personal working space
    3. 3 dots icon on top right of the object table you need to export
    4. export as csv
    5. back on point 1 and disable again (if needed)

    It export all the rows.