Join us at FabCon Atlanta from March 16 - 20, 2026, for the ultimate Fabric, Power BI, AI and SQL community-led event. Save $200 with code FABCOMM.
Register now!Vote for your favorite vizzies from the Power BI Dataviz World Championship submissions. Vote now!
I'm working with (almost) real time data. I have multiple datasources (SQL servers) and multiple tables. All queries use "Import" mode (instead of Direct Query). I'm not using Append Queries function. Each query gets data from all servers at the same time.
I would like to understand which one is the best approach: Import or Direct Query. Should I use Direct Query with multiple datasources? Will the datasets refresh faster if I use Direct Query? Will automatic refresh still work?
Below is an example:
New Source -> SQL Server -> Set "ServerA" and "Database" -> Select "Direct Query" -> Ok -> Go to "Advanced Editor" -> Add "SourceB part of the query" -> Done.
Final query:
let
SourceA = Sql.Database("ServerA", "Database", [Query="SELECT * FROM ...]),
#"ColSourceA" = Table.AddColumn(SourceA, "Server", each "ServerA"),
SourceB = Sql.Database("ServerB", "Database", [Query="SELECT * FROM ...]),
#"ColSourceB" = Table.AddColumn(SourceB, "Server", each "ServerB"),
#"CombinedTables" = Table.Combine({
#"ColSourceA",
#"ColSourceB"
})
in
#"CombinedTables"
Thank you!!
Solved! Go to Solution.
@Anonymous , If you want to do a transformation like append/merge. Import mode is best.
Vote for your favorite vizzies from the Power BI World Championship submissions!
If you love stickers, then you will definitely want to check out our Community Sticker Challenge!
Check out the January 2026 Power BI update to learn about new features.
| User | Count |
|---|---|
| 70 | |
| 51 | |
| 42 | |
| 29 | |
| 22 |
| User | Count |
|---|---|
| 142 | |
| 121 | |
| 56 | |
| 37 | |
| 32 |