OneLake live connection to semantic model reverts to Import on PBIPs synced from repo

[seanify]

Hello folks,

It's unclear from documentation whether this is expected (but suboptimal) behaviour, me doing something wrong, or a bug.

• I have created an incrementally refreshed semantic model which is sat happily in Power BI Service.
• I can create a live connection to this through OneLake Data Hub when creating a new report in Desktop, and this works perfectly.
• I can save it as a pbip, close the file and reopen it locally, and the connection remains.
• When I publish this pbip to my repo-connected workspace (using Git, and then the in-workspace source control commit), the report shows the correct lineage online.
• However, when I sync my local repo to what is online, opening the pbip shows all tables as having reverted to import mode, all connections are the original source connections as set up in the semantic model. (In this case, connections to BigQuery)

I've found that I can save a second version of the project file as a pbit OR pbix and upload that into the repo too, these are not affected by the issue - but of course neither of these files appear as a report in this workspace, as only project files will... so both are required.

As a result, I'm having to open the pbix/pbit from local repo, edit it, save it THEN save as the pbip overwriting the existing file... and commit both. 

Am I doing something wrong here? It's obviously workable, but I'm having to maintain two files.

Thank you!

[v-tangjie-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @seanify ,

Unfortunately, this is due to design. For now, your workaround of keeping both files in sync (editing the pbix/pbit, then saving as pbip to update the project file) is a practical solution, though admittedly cumbersome.

You can submit an idea for it at Home (microsoft.com) and wait for users with the same needs as you to vote for you to help make it happen as soon as possible.

You can also always keep an eye on this document to see if there is any news about it:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/get-started/whats-new 

Best Regards,

Neeko Tang

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

[Poojara_D12 · Accepted solution]

Hi @seanify 

Your issue seems to stem from how PBIP files handle live connections when synced with a Git-connected Power BI workspace. While Power BI Service correctly maintains the lineage, opening the synced PBIP file locally causes tables to revert to Import Mode, likely because the connection metadata isn't fully retained during the sync process. This could be due to current limitations in Power BI's Git integration, where live connection settings are not properly restored from the repository. As a workaround, opening the definition.pbir file from the Report folder instead of the .pbip might help retain the connection. Alternatively, maintaining a .pbix or .pbit version alongside your .pbip file ensures that the correct connection settings are preserved, although this means managing multiple files. Since Power BI’s Git integration is evolving, monitoring community updates and providing feedback to Microsoft may lead to better support for live connections in future updates. Until then, your current method of managing two files is the best way to maintain consistency in your reports.

[seanify]

Thank you @Poojara_D12 - just to confirm that opening of the definition.pbir file doesn't resolve it (this is how I open them day-to-day as it is), but it's helpful to know that the workaround is the best approach for now - and some useful hypotheses on the reasons why the desired behaviour doesn't work.

[v-tangjie-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @seanify ,

Unfortunately, this is due to design. For now, your workaround of keeping both files in sync (editing the pbix/pbit, then saving as pbip to update the project file) is a practical solution, though admittedly cumbersome.

You can submit an idea for it at Home (microsoft.com) and wait for users with the same needs as you to vote for you to help make it happen as soon as possible.

You can also always keep an eye on this document to see if there is any news about it:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/get-started/whats-new 

Best Regards,

Neeko Tang

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