Updating Report in Power BI service without overwriting data

[Anonymous]

All,

I have a need to update a report without overwriting the dataset(s). I am pulling multiple datasets using daily incremental refresh. I was able to make changes to the Model using ALM toolkit, but didn't know how to update the reports.

Any help is really appreciated. Thanks

V.

[v-juanli-msft]

Hi @Anonymous 

If your data source has new data appended or added to your old data which means your data source holds old and new data together, then any kind of refresh in Power bi would not overwrite data.

To set the incremental refresh for preserve hostorical data, please refer to:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/admin/service-premium-incremental-refresh

https://visualbi.com/blogs/microsoft/powerbi/historical-data-preservation-using-power-bi-dataflow/

If your data source updates new data and overwrite the old data, then with incremental refresh or default refresh, it would update new data into Power BI and overwrite the old one.

In this case, you could try workaround below:

Create a table which disables refresh, another table to update new data.

Everytime before new data updates, append old data to the no-refresh table.

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Stop-refreshing-once-imported/td-p/270167

Best Regards
Maggie
Community Support Team _ Maggie Li
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[Anonymous]

Hi Maggie - My issue is NOT with updating the data. I was able to make the changes to my schema using ALM toolkit. My issue is related to updating Visualization in a report once I have enabled Incremental refresh.

The traditional way of clicking 'Publish' will overwrite both data and report. In my case, I need an ability to just update the report (Visuals) and leave the data as is in the Power BI service.

Thanks

V.

[edhans]

Explain what you mean. A report can only use a single data set. It can either have its own (most common) or be a report that is using another dataset, but you cannot have a report using multiple datasets. If it is using another dataset, then publishing it will not overwrite the dataset.

If it has its own, then when you publish, it will overwrite the dataset.

[Anonymous]

Sorry clarification. I should have meant multiple data sources, each of which has incremental refresh setup.

Hope that helps

Thanks

sundar

[edhans]

Ok. If I understand the issue, I think Chris's blog is a great resource for this.

[Anonymous]

Thank You for your response. Unfortunately, this doesn't talk about how to updating the report, for example created a table. Whatever is mentioning about Incremental Refresh is what I am performing.