Shared semantic model not appearing in Excel

[CCal]

Hello, 

Can anyone shed light into what permissions exactly is needed to allow an user to load a semantic model into their excel?

And how long does it take for the permissions to propogate?

A bit of context:

I have a semantic model I am sharing from a workspace to an user (User A) not in the workspace.

We tried with two semantic models, Sementic model 1 is shared with read, build permissions and this model was only visible in the Desktop Excel application of User A after a whole week!!

Then I removed all permissions and see how long it would take for the semantic model to not appear when User A try to load the semantic model in his excel. I was only able to check it the next morning, which is about 12 hours later.

Sementic Model 2 is shared with only READ permission and was shared on the same time Sementic Model 1 permissions were removed from User A. Thus far, after more than 12 hours later, Semantic Model 2 is still not appearing on the Excel of User A.

Below is the PowerBI load option I am talking about in Excel.

Even weirder... two other semantic model appeared on the load list that did not appear on the list before. Both of these semantic models are in the "My Workspace" of the user. One is from 2022... Why are they appearing now??

I have also submitted a support ticket, but I'm wondering if anybody has similar inconsistencies with this PowerBI feature in Excel.

[v-veshwara-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @CCal ,
Thanks for using Microsoft fabric Community,
To see a semantic model in Excel, the user must have Build permission. Read permission alone isn’t enough for the model to appear in Excel, even if it’s visible in the Power BI service.

This is from Official Documentation 

Permission propagation usually takes a few minutes, but due to Excel token caching and background refresh behavior, it can sometimes take several hours to reflect.

Regarding older models reappearing:
These may appear due to local Excel cache refreshing or re-authentication events. If Excel detects cached metadata or if the user signs in after a long period, previously hidden or stale datasets from "My Workspace" might appear.

Also, please ask the user to try searching for the semantic model by name in Excel's Power BI dataset connector, and make sure they press Enter after typing. This has resolved similar visibility issues for other users, as mentioned here:Solved: Excel connection to some semantic models not worki... - Microsoft Fabric Community

In another case, the issue was resolved by enabling the "Use datasets across workspaces" setting in the Power BI tenant settings.
Reference: Solved: Dataset not visible in Excel/Power BI Desktop - Microsoft Fabric Community

Lastly, there is an active Known Issue  regarding Excel connectivity with semantic models. As a workaround, please try signing out and back into Excel and using a version earlier than 2409.

Hope this helps. Please reach out for further assistance.

Please consider marking the helpful reply as Accepted Solution to assist others with similar issues.

Thank you.

[CCal]

Hello @v-veshwara-msft 

Thank you very much for the suggestions. I will keep these in minds for troubleshooting.

Especially siging in and out of Excel.

I have spoken to Microsoft support agent and we did some tests, what we found out is that Read and Write permissions are needed, Build permissions wasnt needed.