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bhalicki's avatar
bhalicki
Helper V
1 year ago
Solved

Powerbi Desktop stuck 'evaluating'

Hi all,   I have a fairly large semantic model and have recently had to make a change to a table which has set of a cascade of other table updates when I 'close and apply'.  I have filtered all tab...
Need Help
  • mark_endicott's avatar
    mark_endicott
    1 year ago

    bhalicki - you could use this technique to see if it'll speed up the evaluate stage: https://blog.crossjoin.co.uk/2020/05/14/speed-up-data-refresh-performance-in-power-bi-desktop-using-table-view/

     

    Otherwise if this doesnt work, I'd suggest moving these stages to a Dataflow on the server, they are specifically designed to chain these sorts of actions. 

     

    If I answered your question please mark my post as the solution, it helps others with the same challenge find the answer!

  • bhalicki's avatar
    bhalicki
    1 year ago

    Hi all,

     

    Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

     

    I ended up using a comination of buffering (with buffermode set to delayed), and limiting the number of rows ingested.  I used a parameter to initially set the number of rows ingested to 10, then once published to the service, set the parameter to -1 so that all rows are ingested.  Not sure if it's the correct solution, but removed the 'evaluating' step and significantly decreased the model refresh time in PowerBi Desktop.

    Buffer = if EnableBuffering = 1 then Table.Buffer(#"Removed Other Columns", [BufferMode = BufferMode.Delayed]) else #"Removed Other Columns",
    #"Limit Rows" = if MaxRows = -1 then Buffer else Table.FirstN(Buffer, MaxRows),

v-hjannapu's avatar
v-hjannapu
Community Support
1 year ago

Hi bhalicki,

Thank you  for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community forum.

Power BI Desktop does not support skipping the evaluation phase, but you can work around it with the following steps:

Disable load for non-essential tables in Power Query:
Right-click each table and uncheck "Enable load". This prevents them from being evaluated locally.

Apply your changes:
With only critical tables active, the model should apply without issues.

Publish to Power BI Service:
Once published, the structural changes are in place.

Run a full refresh in the Service:
This will load all data in the cloud, avoiding the desktop evaluation bottleneck.


Optional: After publishing, you can re-enable the load for the previously disabled tables in Power BI Desktop and republish if needed.
This method helps you implement schema or query changes without triggering heavy evaluations in Power BI Desktop, letting the Service handle full data processing instead.

If I misunderstand your needs or you still have problems on it, please feel free to let us know.  
If the response has addressed your query, please Accept it as a solution and give a 'Kudos' so other members can easily find it

Best Regards,
Harshitha.
Community Support Team