Power BI Desktop crashing on save

[Duke1100]

Hi,

I have an ongoing problem with Power BI crashing ("not responding") when I save the report. I have to kill PBI in Task Manager each time. Interestingly, it usually does actually save. I have only been experiencing this issue for the last month or so. When I revert to the January 2025 version of Power BI it is much more stable.

The problem usually occurs with reports I'm building that import 300k-500k of transactions from multiple Excel files. However, it also randomly occurs importing smaller files in csv format.

I've tried saving to my hard drive rather than OneDrive, amalgamating the Excel files together into one big file and importing that, importing just a subset of the files, adjusted PBI data load settings (cleared cache, turned off autosave, parallel processing, auto date/time etc etc), upgraded to a new laptop with 16GB RAM, reinstalled Power BI Desktop multiple times, reviewed the Power BI data model and simplified the measures as much as possible, remove unnecessary columns from data tables.

Any ideas on what is wrong and how to fix it? It's making my report building a bit of a nightmare!

[Pdubyousee]

Adding this detail per my own testing. 

1. Whenver it crashes, noted that OneDrive STAYS in sync mode. As soon as I force close program, sync finishes immediately. Culprit #1 for me - OneDrive
2. I went to edit a relationship, made a change, no update. Then I realized it created a relationship between two tables that should not have been related as a result of the above. Then I found out when I edited a query, because I added an index column, it related it to another table's unrelated index column on its own, breaking my model and causing slowdowns. So they broke something int he most recent update. Now I use the manual relationship editor instead of draging one field to another.
3. Having PowerQuery open at the same time as I am editing a DAX formula or save = 50% chance of crash. 

[Duke1100]

That's interesting, I've had no crashing issues since the April release.

[gooranga1]

Do we know if the release on the 22nd April 2025 addresses these issues?

[Duke1100]

April release seems ok so far, no crashed today

[MaryanneBSA]

I've been using the April 2025 version of Power BI Desktop since yesterday and not had crashes since.  Fingers crossed.  🙂

I was getting crashes on setting sort orders by other columns, setting the default summarisation of multiple columns, and saving.  Clearing the cache as previously stated only gave a temporary relief, and wasn't a lasting solution.

[Duke1100]

so have I, no crashes as yet with April release

[MaryanneBSA]

Have you tried clearing the cache in Power BI Desktop?  This solved similar application crashing issues for me on save and setting sort ordering by a different column, which only started last week all of a sudden.

File > Options > Clear cache button x 3

[Duke1100]

Thanks for that @MaryanneBSA , I have tried changing all sorts of Options. I will try just clearing the cache in isolation next time it crashes and see if that works, cheers

[gooranga1]

still happening. Just updated to latest release and this problem is even worse that march and feb releases, totally unusable. reverted back to Jan release which does not crash.

[Duke1100]

Thanks very much @Ritaf1983 it's good to hear I'm not suffering alone! If others users are having this issue please post in the Community aswell, Microsoft might notice. I've asked my Helpdesk to raise it with MS Support. **bleep** annoying, I've wasted heaps of valuable time because of this. Thxs again.

[Ritaf1983 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Duke1100 

You're not alone – I've been hearing similar complaints in the Power BI user forum I manage in Israel, especially since one of the recent Power BI Desktop updates (February or March 2025). It seems that something changed in the latest versions that causes instability, particularly when saving reports with large volumes of data from Excel files.

Aside from rolling back to a more stable version like January 2025 (which you've already tried), I recommend reviewing the data structure you're working with. Even when importing from Excel, Power BI still relies on the underlying VertiPaq engine, which works best when:

• Data types are consistent and optimized (e.g., avoid mixing numbers and text in the same column),

• Columns are minimized to only what's needed (especially in wide Excel tables),

• Numeric columns with high cardinality (lots of unique values) are avoided where possible.

If you've already optimized the model and the problem persists, I'd suggest opening a support ticket with Microsoft directly. If this is a bug introduced in the latest version, they need to hear about it and prioritize a fix.

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