power bi desktop direct query - "the preview may be up to days old" auto page refresh not working

[garythomann_vac]

Report created in power bi desktop using direct query sources appears to not be refeshing the data automatically.

Querys are t-sql on sql server off a local server (not cloud).

Looking at the querys in the power query editor we see that each query has the warning "the preview may be up to n days old".

Note that using the refresh button on either the model nor report has any effect.  Obviously Refresh All button in Power Query will do a manual refresh of the queries.

I have set the page refresh to auto page refresh down to 1 minute.  

Screenshots below.

[electrobrit]

it happens on other data besides direct query too. I can't get it to go away on loaded data

[garythomann_vac]

Interesting, so today (one day later) we get the same "the preview may be up to days old" warning for only one of the querys.  The day number is 4, the same as yesterdays value.  There is another query I have changed today yet no warning on that query.  All querys were refreshed yesterday so you would think the day number would be 1 not 4.

Also interesting, several days later reinstated a query that I had deleted from the model.  Upon recreating the query (no name change so Query1) the preview shows the  "the preview may be up to days old" warning straight off.  So even though I had blown away the <query> from the model it still had it in cache and knew that this was the old query!

Imagine the effect of cloning a pbix multiple times with associated adding/deleting queries over time.

The <days old number> now shows 10 days, up from 4 as per my screenshot.  So matches the deletion date.

[v-yingjl · Accepted solution]

Hi @garythomann_vac ,

If you’ve opened the Power Query editor in Excel or Power BI Desktop, you might have seen warnings like "This preview may be up to 3 days old". This is because there is a persistent cache used for interactive previewing of query results. As you can imagine from the fact that we have warnings about preview results being days old, this cache is long-lived and is intended to make the experience of working in the editor faster.

You can refer Chris Webb's blog which introduces cache in power query: Referenced Queries And Caching In Power BI And Power Query 

About auto page refresh in power bi desktop, all automatic page refresh queries bypass any cached data.

Please refer: Automatic page refresh in Power BI 

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

[garythomann_vac]

Thanks for your reply and why the error message "the preview may be up to days old" within Power Query?

And what is the real functionalityof the Page Refresh, Auto page refresh in the direct query sense?  

[amitchandak]

@garythomann_vac , Try the solution suggested here-https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Service/Dashboard-Direct-Query-not-refreshing-this-preview-may-be-u...

or check this setting

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/guidance/power-query-background-refresh

[garythomann_vac]

+ first link is to do with service, only using desktop as yet 

+ second link, setting is on and I take the points from this as you mentioned: 

- preview is just that a preview of the data (though I am dissapointed in that I am using Direct Query; you would think the m$ programmers would make it so this gets refreshed when you load the pbix source into desktop designer and/or the AFR actally works! Was hoping for improvements over using Import Querys})

- the error message usage of the word 'maybe' probably pertains to the possibility and not actual fact 🙂

[amitchandak]

@garythomann_vac , This what I think, Backend refresh of data can consume time. And preview just given an idea in case of direct query what type of data you have. Not very important to refresh it, unless the user wants(Direct Query only).

[amitchandak]

@garythomann_vac , Preview is a snapshot of data taken at that time to identify the datatypes(in case of direct query). If you are getting correct data on the page, it means it is working fine. Power BI does not store data in case of Direct query, It seems related to that.