PBIX file size increasing

[nb25064]

Hi everyone!

I've been using power BI for a few months now and was impressed with how small the PBIX files were. However this last week I've noticed that some of those files have increased for no apparent reason.

To give you some details:

There are two people(me and a colleague) working on those pbix files, each one with a local db, with the exact metadata and maybe 300 rows in the entire database. Both make changes on those files, by refreshing data or changing the model. Funny thing is, when we found out that one of the files that my friend was working on, had increased from 30mb to 160mb, and just after that, I've opened that same file, connected it to my db and then saved it, it decreased to 130mb. We didn't have the same data on the DB but we're talking about two databases with three hundred rows maximum.

We've been using a pbix file to do some testing, and even that file has now 100mb. Here you can find that .pbix and a file with some dummy data to insert on a database and use as data source.

If there's a reason for this, something that I've should be wary of or if you have any question, just let me know. 

This is the Power BI version we're working on: 2.81.5831.821

Regards,

Lucas

[parry2k · Accepted solution]

@nb25064 you have many date/time columns in your model and each date/time creates a hidden calendar table, you can turn this off in options and once it is done, you will see the size goes down.

As a best practice, add date dimension in your model and use it for and time intelligence calculations. Once the date dimension is added, mark it as a date table on table tools.

https://perytus.com/2020/05/22/create-a-basic-date-table-in-your-data-model-for-time-intelligence-ca...

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[nb25064]

@parry2k , thanks for the suggestion!

It was as simple as turning off auto date/time option 🙂

We do have a date dimension marked as date table but we have it at the DB level.

Thank you very much,

Lucas