Data Refresh Issue in Power BI Service with Microsoft List Source

[fb198]

Hello community,

I am experiencing an issue with a Power BI dashboard that is connected to a Microsoft List as its data source, and I would appreciate your assistance in resolving it.

For context, this setup has been functioning reliably for approximately one year. The dataset imports correctly from the Microsoft List, and when refreshed in Power BI Desktop, all data appears as expected with no missing records.

However, after publishing the report to the Power BI Service, the issue arises. Caching is turned of and despite multiple manual or automated refreshes, the background data from the List does not appear. Specifically, the data retrieved from the Microsoft List appears incomplete, with a significant number of rows missing. This discrepancy between Power BI Desktop and the Power BI Service is causing reporting inaccuracies and operational challenges.

Key details:

• Data source: Microsoft List
• Power BI Desktop refresh: Works correctly (complete dataset)
• Power BI Service refresh: Incomplete data (missing large portions of rows)
• Issue onset: Recently observed (after ~1 year of stable operation)

Could you please advise on:

• Potential causes for this inconsistency between Desktop and Service refreshes
• Any known limitations or throttling issues with Microsoft Lists as a data source in Power BI Service
• Recommended troubleshooting steps or configuration changes to ensure consistent data loading

[fb198 · Accepted solution]

Hi, I've found the solution.

On inspecting the M language, I have 4 merges.

In Desktop all queries often evaluate locally and consistently

In Service. Queries are evaluated independently

Join tables may:

• Not fully refresh in time
• Return slightly different schemas
• Have privacy/firewall differences

The solution is: Before each merge, buffer the lookup tables
SubmittedBuffered = Table.Buffer(Submitted),

Another mystery was why it suddenly failed after working for nearly an year.
One potential reason is that Microsoft's backend optimisation updates may have forced the join to occur first before loading the tables.

[v-menakakota]

Hi @fb198 ,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community Forum.

Desktop can often pull the full dataset more permissively, but the Service depends on the underlying API, which enforces limits like pagination and list thresholds. When those limits are hit, the Service may return only part of the data without throwing an error, which is why your refresh succeeds but rows are missing.

Given that your setup worked for a year and only recently started failing, the most likely reason is that the list has grown or the query has crossed a threshold where the Service now handles it differently. In Power BI Service, this typically shows up when pagination isn’t fully handled or when query folding changes due to transformations, causing only a subset of rows to be retrieved.

I suggest you publish a stripped down version of the query with no transformations and just a few columns. If the Service then returns all rows, the issue is in your Power Query steps (folding/pagination). If it still returns fewer rows, you’re hitting an API/threshold limit and need to filter the data (ideally using indexed columns) or adjust how the list is queried.

Best Regards, 
Community Support Team