Forum Discussion
Local Date Table when connecting to semantic model
Hi julsr ,
Yes, if you have multiple semantic models, you'll need to disable Auto Date Time individually for each one, as the setting only applies to the specific model. Turning it off in one model does not impact the others. Disabling this feature will not affect Incremental Refresh or disrupt your model. Incremental Refresh relies on the date column defined in the refresh policy on the fact table and does not depend on the automatically created LocalDateTable tables.
By turning off Auto Date Time, you take direct control over your date logic. Instead of Power BI generating hidden date tables, you create and manage a visible calendar table, which is then used for filtering, reporting, and time intelligence in both Power BI and Excel. This calendar table does not need to be included in the Incremental Refresh policy, and it does not change data partitioning or refresh behavior.
There is no loss in functionality your visuals and PivotTables will continue to work as before, and often with greater predictability due to the use of a single shared Date table. Additionally, the absence of LocalDateTable entries in Excel keeps the field list more organized. This approach is recommended for production semantic models, particularly when sharing and using Incremental Refresh.
Best Regards,
Tejaswi.
Community Support
Hi julsr ,
Yes, if you have multiple semantic models, you'll need to disable Auto Date Time individually for each one, as the setting only applies to the specific model. Turning it off in one model does not impact the others. Disabling this feature will not affect Incremental Refresh or disrupt your model. Incremental Refresh relies on the date column defined in the refresh policy on the fact table and does not depend on the automatically created LocalDateTable tables.
By turning off Auto Date Time, you take direct control over your date logic. Instead of Power BI generating hidden date tables, you create and manage a visible calendar table, which is then used for filtering, reporting, and time intelligence in both Power BI and Excel. This calendar table does not need to be included in the Incremental Refresh policy, and it does not change data partitioning or refresh behavior.
There is no loss in functionality your visuals and PivotTables will continue to work as before, and often with greater predictability due to the use of a single shared Date table. Additionally, the absence of LocalDateTable entries in Excel keeps the field list more organized. This approach is recommended for production semantic models, particularly when sharing and using Incremental Refresh.
Best Regards,
Tejaswi.
Community Support
Hi julsr ,
I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.
Thank you.
Yes, it did, thanks!
However, this wasn't enough for some models, so I had to edit the TMDL file of my semantic model in Power BI Desktop to remove the LocalDataTables and all references to them.
