Forum Discussion
Time-out issues with Excel against a semantic model
We are seeing time-out issues when connecting Excel with our PowerBI instance. We have Excel connected to a semantic model which in turn points to BigQuery and after 10 minutes of inactivity, something times out and it take up to 20 seconds to reconnect. If we do the same connectivity with a semantic table on a Workspace with a Fabric capacity then the time-out is longer. Doing the same with on-premise SSAS does not time-out.
Does anyone have any tips other than setting a refresh timer in the Excel spreadsheet of 9 minutes?
7 Replies
- Akash_Varuna
Super User
Hi Anonymous Try these please .... Myabe it might prevent timeout or reduce it
- Adjust Gateway/Model Timeouts: Increase timeout settings in Power BI or the gateway.
- Use a lightweight query to maintain the connection.
- Optimize Queries: Simplify measures and ensure queries fold efficiently to BigQuery.
- Consider DirectQuery: Switch to DirectQuery for real-time access if feasible.
- Check Network Settings: Ensure no network disruptions or latency issues.
If this post is helped you please do give a kudos and accept this as a solution
Thanks In Advance
Hello, thanks for the quick response. To give some more details, we are using direct query to retrieve the data from Big query but no gateway is involved because we are going directly from PowerBI to Google. The issue is between Excel and the semantic model so has little to do with the queries. We can also discount network issues as the issue happens in different locations and we can get it to fail each time.
How do you think we can implement a simple query to keep the connection up? We currently do a refresh every 9 minutes but during the refresh Excel freezes, meaning other worksheets hang.
Where can we find time-out for the semantic model?
There is another article 2019 where they have exactly the same issue. https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-Query/Session-ID-cannot-be-found/td-p/742347
The question is whether things have changed in the past 5 years. Are there any other tips and tricks?
Hi Anonymous
Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Forum Community.
Can you please try below, it may helps you. -
Open your Power BI workspace settings and turn on “Query caching” — this helps Excel reconnect faster if it’s been idle for a while.
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Set a scheduled refresh around the time people usually use Excel. If you're an admin, check the idle session timeout settings too. Premium or Fabric workspaces have longer timeouts (about an hour), so it’s worth making sure Excel is connecting to one of those.
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And if you don’t need real-time data, switching from DirectQuery to Import mode is the easiest way to avoid these timeouts completely.
Create Excel workbooks with refreshable Power BI data - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
If this information is helpful, please “Accept as solution” to assist other community members in resolving similar issues more efficiently.
Thank you
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