Power BI Files Won't Open After February Update

[epelton]

I have several PBI files that have been in production for years. This morning, the files will not open, stating that the table name " Measures" is unsupported...

These files use the convention of adding a space before a folder name to organize measures. If necassary, I could rename these, however, I cannot open the file to rename them.

I've attempted opening the files in Tabular Editor to rename, and I've tried converting the pbix to zip, extracting the zip, then looking for the offending name in the DataModel file. I've also tried installing the November 2024 version of PBI. None of these has worked and I still get the same result.

EDIT RESOLVED: The november version of Power BI worked as mentioned below. When I removed Power BI, I didn't realize I was removing 1 of 2 versions installed on my machine, so when I installed the November update and opened the files, I was still innadvertently using the February version.

[MAVIK · Accepted solution]

Download an older version of Power bi from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/fundamentals/desktop-latest-update-archive?tabs=powerbi-d... I downloaded November 2024 Update (link in the botom just before the previous month's header), I had some alert notifications, but file opend, rename the table in it, save the file and go back to the new version.
I had the same problem. My table was named [ Measures ] = BLANK(), but in the January update it doesn't support [ ] table naming, even if I try to name the table that way in the new version, I just can't

[Transform121]

I think it's important to address the root cause of this, so that others can change their approach as well to avoid this being an issue in the future. This issue appears to have come about because of a non-conformance to best practices.

"Measures" appears to be a reserved name and cannot be utilised by the user to describe an object. People get around this by using different names such as " Measures", ".Measures". The primary reasons people use this naming convention is because it puts the measures object at the top of the view pane on the right hand side and lets them use the naming convention they're familiar with. Microsoft has already designed a measures-specific object that, when created properly, appears at the top of the viewing pane regardless of the name used.

The documentation uses the naming convention 'Calculations' which can be seen in their image under the section titled Organising your measures (the final text piece above the green tip): 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/desktop-measures

If people adjust their approach to use the same language Microsoft has provided in their imagery (e.g. Calculations instead of Measures) it avoids this type of problem in the future.

[loicpilon]

Renaming the Table in Powerbi Service give me an error... anyone else?

[SGriga]

Thanks everyone for the information. I uninstalled current verion of Power BI Desktop and installed the November version, renamed the [Measure] table to [MeasuresTable] in the Model view and published the file to My Workspace to test it. Sure enough, as soon as I have repointed my thin report to use the revised semantic model, all the visuals broke. To get around this, I opened an original semantic model containing the Measures table yet to be renamed, pasted all pages from my thin report into the pbix file containing the model, essentially creacting a regular ("thick") report file, and then renamed the Measures table as mentioned above. This way the visuals remained intact as all the references updated automatically. Once done, you can split the report and the model into two separate files again if needed. 

[kebercaw]

I found a way to do this without using a back level version of power BI desktop.

1. Go to power BI workspace
2. Open Report
3. Choose “Edit”
   
4. Open Data Model
   
5. In the top right corner change from "Viewing" mode to "Editing" mode
   
   
6. The data model view will be open.  Select the table in the "Data" pane, and then you should be able to change the name in the "Properties" pane.  (in this snip I've already changed it)
   
   
7. I could not find any way to “Save” the file.  I navigated back to my workspace, opened the report, then downloaded it, then I was able to open it with the February 2025 version of power BI.

[NotanExpert]

It's a joke that we paying a lot of money and getting these type of bugs every time. Same with Formating percentages.. Microsoft are you even testing your updates?!

[Transform121]

This isn't necessarily a bug and is more of a non-conformance to best practices.

"Measures" is a reserved name and cannot be utilised by the user to describe an object. People get around this by using different names such as " Measures", ".Measures". The primary reason people use this naming convention is because it puts the measures object at the top of the view pane on the right hand side.

Microsoft has already resolved this by designing a measures-specific object to appear at the top of the viewing pane.

The documentation uses the naming convention 'Calculations' which can be seen in their image under the section titled Organising your measures (the final text piece above the green tip): 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/desktop-measures

[Annelien]

Hi, I have exactly the same issue, same error message, and in the clipboard it says "Frown error". did you manage to solve it?

[epelton]

Remove your current versions of PBI and install the November version from here:

Previous monthly updates to Power BI Desktop and the Power BI service - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

[Si_7777]

What an absolute nightmare wasted 3 hours yesterday trying to fix this. Thanks M$ this type of thing makes me not want to use your products. Why lock you out of the data model and not allow it to at least open to rename. I managed the get a Jan install of desktop here and rename the measures tables. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=105943

[MAVIK · Accepted solution]

Download an older version of Power bi from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/fundamentals/desktop-latest-update-archive?tabs=powerbi-d... I downloaded November 2024 Update (link in the botom just before the previous month's header), I had some alert notifications, but file opend, rename the table in it, save the file and go back to the new version.
I had the same problem. My table was named [ Measures ] = BLANK(), but in the January update it doesn't support [ ] table naming, even if I try to name the table that way in the new version, I just can't

[nilendraFabric]

Hello @epelton 

did you tried Tabular Editor 3 with Unsupported Operations
• Enable Allow unsupported modeling operations in `Tools > Preferences > Power BI`.
• Open the `.pbix` file, rename the invalid object, and save

[CathyPalmer70 · Accepted solution]

Exact same problem today and took me a while to find an older version of Power BI Desktop to download (odd considering Microsofts recommendations are often to rever back to older versions in the event of a bug). Thanks to the links above I've managed to go back to November and rename my measures table. It was common practice for me to have a table called measures so I have many files affected. It would have been more helpful if we had been able to open the PBIX and then be forced to rename any tables with protected words.

[User-007]

Same issue. Followed Phil Seamark’s recommendation a while back for creating a dedicated measures table using [ Measures] = {BLANK()}. Unable to .pbix open files containing that table name after February 2025 update. 

I did find a workaround: edit the semantic model in Power BI Service, renaming the Measures table, and then download the file. However, all the visuals that use the measures from the original Measures table break and need to be rebuilt, which isn't ideal.