Forum Discussion
Removing data from .pbix file?
I've just been trying this myself and observed different behaviour depending on how you save the .pbit
File > Save As > .pbit = File size roughly equal to the original report
File > Export > Power BI Template = Significantly reduced file size
A report without data is no longer a report, it's just a shell. In the BI venacular, that would be a template (.pbit). However, it tells you nothing without the corresponding data. So, I see no value in keeping daily backups of it because it won't tell you anything without the corresponding data for that date. You'd be better off printing a .pdf of the report (but now it's static) if you're interested in going back and seeing what the report said on a given date and are concerned about saving storage space.
Hi
The value in the file without the data is the code that went into creating all the measures & columns in the different tables, the query manipulations and the considerable configuration that goes into achieving the best visuals.
We don't care about the data at the time the file is saved because the Dashboards are viewed online.
We want to be able to develop on the desktop with the data present, publish it and only then save the file after stripping the unnecessary data. And you are correct, they will be more like shells rather than reports and that's exactly what we want.
Do you see what we are trying to accomplish?
I work for a large org with an initial team of like 6 people trying to get PowerBI instituted as the Enterprise reporting tool. Down the line the team will have more like 2 people but right now we are struggling with sharing files and organizing them. There are dozens of reports that need to be produced. To be able to work together we are storing these reports on shared drives and just waiting for 300+MB files to download and then saving them back up on that drive is a pain.
I will do some research on what a .pbit is used for. Do you think it will fit the bill for us?
TY
If so, then you want to save your file as a .pbit. Go to File|Save As| and select PowerBI Template (.pbit) as the file type. It will strip out your data but save all your report pages and customizations and greatly reduce the file size. Put a date-time stamp on the file name and you're ready to go!
That sounded so good, until it didn't work. ;-)
My file is still 332MB.
here is what I would do
create a dummy source for your data (eg an identical query with just 10 rows of data (for example)
repoint the workbook to the dummy, and refresh
save
if you have lots of sources, you can probably create a master source for "real" and "dummy", and then build an "active source". Point all queries to the active one, and then toggle the active one between real and dummy.
