Forum Discussion
How to copy existing semantic model ?
Hi jaryszek , Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.
Sorry for the confusion and lack of clarity in my earlier answer. When you export a semantic model to TMDL and then open it in Tabular Editor, you’re only loading the metadata locally. Renaming the model in Model -> Properties -> Name changes the definition, but it doesn’t actually create a new model in Fabric or inside Power BI Desktop. That’s why nothing shows up in your workspace after renaming.
To truly create a new semantic model in Fabric, you need to deploy the TMDL back to a server. Open the exported TMDL folder in Tabular Editor, rename the model, then go to File -> Save to Database…. When prompted, enter your Fabric workspace’s XMLA endpoint and give it a new database name. This pushes the model to Fabric as a brand new semantic model alongside the original.
If your goal is to use the model in a PBIX instead, open a new PBIX in Power BI Desktop, launch Tabular Editor from External Tools and then copy or import your TMDL model into it. Saving the PBIX afterward will preserve the cloned model inside the file.
Get started with Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL) | Microsoft Learn
Use Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL) view in Power BI Desktop - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
Hi jaryszek , Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.
If you’ve already exported your semantic model as a TMDL folder, you don’t need to use the Load Semantic Model from Database dialog at all. Instead, in Tabular Editor go to File -> Open -> Model from Folder…, point it to the exported folder, and your model will open. From there, you can rename it in Model -> Properties -> Name and then save it back out to a new folder. That gives you a clean copy of your model under a new name.
The database connection dialog is only for connecting directly to a live semantic model (like the one running inside Power BI Desktop or Analysis Services). For cloning an exported model, always stick with Model from Folder.