Forum Discussion

ManoharGorantla's avatar
ManoharGorantla
Microsoft Employee
8 months ago
Solved

Dataset Not Loading After Power Query Edits – Stuck on Syncing Schema

Hello,   We are facing an issue in Power BI Desktop where the dataset does not refresh or load after making any changes in Power Query. Whenever we update something whether through the Advanced Edi...
Need Help
  • Shubham_rai955's avatar
    Shubham_rai955
    8 months ago

    Power BI Desktop gets stuck on "Syncing Schema" after Power Query changes because the semantic model cannot reconcile the updated structure (new columns, data types, or Advanced Editor modifications) with the existing model.​

    Primary Solution

    Close Power BI Desktop completely, ensuring no PBIDesktop.exe processes run in Task Manager (use End Task if needed), then reopen the PBIX file; this forces a clean schema sync on reload. After reopening, go to Transform Data > Refresh Preview at the Navigation step for each query, cancel any hanging refreshes, then select Refresh All until previews load, and finally Close & Apply.​

    Additional Fixes

    • Expand the Refresh button (Home or Data pane) and select "Sync schema only" first to update the model structure without full data reload, then refresh data separately if needed.​

    • Clear data source credentials via Transform Data > Data source settings > Clear permissions, re-enter them, and check for large datasets or slow sources causing hangs.​

    • If persistent, save as a new PBIX, disable auto-recovery, or update to the latest Power BI Desktop version to address known refresh bugs.

rohit1991's avatar
rohit1991
Super User
8 months ago

Hii ManoharGorantla 

 

Power BI gets stuck at “Syncing schema” because it cannot reconcile the new PQ structure with the existing model.

Fix that works reliably:

  1. Close Power BI Desktop completely (make sure no background PBIDesktop.exe is running).
  2. Clear the Power BI cache:
    • File >> Options & Settings >> Options >> Data Load >> Clear Cache.
  3. Reopen the PBIX and manually refresh.
  4. If still stuck, open Power Query >> Tools >> Options >> Global >> Power Query >> Clear Cache, then restart again.
  5. As a final fix, go to
    Model view >> Home >> Refresh >> Apply changes  this forces the model to rebuild schema.

This issue is quite common after recent updates, and a cache + metadata rebuild resolves it almost every time.

  • ManoharGorantla's avatar
    ManoharGorantla
    Microsoft Employee
    8 months ago

    Hello rohit1991 ,

     

    Thank you for your quick response but still im getting same issue after following above steps.

     

    Regards,

    Manohar

    • amitchandak's avatar
      amitchandak
      Super User
      8 months ago

      ManoharGorantla , New version, In-home refresh, you have the option to refresh both meta and Data. First refresh meta and then refresh meta and data