Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Compete to become Power BI Data Viz World Champion! First round ends August 18th. Get started.

Reply
bpearce
Advocate I
Advocate I

Temp files are piling up. Why? How to manage?

I run Power BI Desktop several times a day, updating data & publishing to Power BI. Each of 10 models is roughly 40MB in size. I noticed my C: filling up so I snooped and found this folder to be the culprit:

C:\Users\<userid>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Power BI Desktop\TempSaves\

 

Seems this folder is accumulationg shadow copies of each of my models. At a burn rate of 400MB/day you can see how this adds up. 

 

Why are these copies kept? Is there some way to manage this? I support many users of this product. Would hate to coach them all on snooping in hidden AppData folder... 

1 REPLY 1
Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi @bpearce,

 

>>Why are these copies kept?

Based on test, When you open pbix file, it will create a 0 kb temp file, it will update when you save change. If you close the current file on normal steps, it will auto remove from temp folder, but if current file close unusually, it will keep the backup file.

 

In summary, it just like backup of unusually closing file; if your file has broken by the unusually close, you can get backups to reduce losses.

 

>>Is there some way to manage this? 

Current there is no options to manage this folder, but if you want, you can manually remove these files.

 

For your requirement, I think you can submit a idea about manage the temp file.

 

Regards,

Xiaoxin Sheng

Helpful resources

Announcements
August Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - August 2025

Check out the August 2025 Power BI update to learn about new features.

August 2025 community update carousel

Fabric Community Update - August 2025

Find out what's new and trending in the Fabric community.

Top Solution Authors