Request for Improved Report Publishing Experience with Direct Lake Semantic Models

[aggiemusicag]

I’m encountering a significant limitation when working with Power BI reports connected to Direct Lake semantic models (via Fabric Lakehouse). After migrating a dataset from an Import model to Direct Lake using ALM Toolkit, I can no longer replace the existing report in the Power BI Service by publishing from Power BI Desktop — even though the dataset is correctly updated and the report is connected to the same semantic model.

Issue:

• Publishing from Desktop only replaces the dataset, not the report.
• The report visuals remain unchanged, even though the PBIX contains updated pages.
• This behavior is inconsistent with reports using Import or DirectQuery models, where publishing replaces both dataset and report.
• Manual editing in the Power BI Service is not a viable alternative due to limited functionality and the complexity of the report.
• Deleting and re-uploading the report breaks bookmarks, links, and Analyze in Excel connections, which is unacceptable in a production environment.

Request: Please consider enabling one or more of the following:

1. Allow full report replacement from Desktop for reports connected to Direct Lake models, with a warning if bookmarks or personal views exist.
2. Provide a “safe replace” option that updates report visuals while preserving user bookmarks and links.
3. Improve documentation and tooling around managing reports connected to shared semantic models (especially Direct Lake).
4. Enable Deployment Pipelines or ALM Toolkit to update both dataset and report in a single operation for Direct Lake scenarios.

This limitation is a major blocker for teams adopting Fabric and Direct Lake, and it undermines the benefits of centralized semantic models.

Thank you for considering this feedback.

[collinq · Accepted solution]

HI @aggiemusicag ,

This seems like a great idea.  I would recommend that you create an idea from this rather than a forum question so that others can vote for it and so that it gets on Microsoft's radar.  Ideas can be found here: New Idea - Microsoft Fabric Community

[v-pagayam-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @aggiemusicag ,
Thank you @collinq   for the helpful response!
Could you please confirm if you've submitted this as an idea in the Ideas Forum? If so, sharing the link here would be helpful for other community members who may have similar feedback. Also accept your answer as solution ao that others who may face same issue will upvote on too.

Thank you for being part of the Microsoft Fabric Community.

Regards,
Pallavi.

[aggiemusicag · Accepted solution]

Thanks! I have sumbitted this to the ideas forum. Here is a link: https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Fabric-Ideas/Request-for-Improved-Report-Publishing-Experi...

[v-pagayam-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @aggiemusicag ,
Thank you @collinq   for the helpful response!
Could you please confirm if you've submitted this as an idea in the Ideas Forum? If so, sharing the link here would be helpful for other community members who may have similar feedback. Also accept your answer as solution ao that others who may face same issue will upvote on too.

Thank you for being part of the Microsoft Fabric Community.

Regards,
Pallavi.

[collinq · Accepted solution]

HI @aggiemusicag ,

This seems like a great idea.  I would recommend that you create an idea from this rather than a forum question so that others can vote for it and so that it gets on Microsoft's radar.  Ideas can be found here: New Idea - Microsoft Fabric Community