As per the Microsoft Learn documentation “Troubleshooting dataflow issues – connection to the data source”, dataflow connections are not automatically removed when they are no longer used by a dataflow. Instead, they must be manually deleted or trimmed, otherwise they continue to appear under Dataflow connections.
Troubleshooting dataflow issues - connection to the data source - Power Query | Microsoft Learn
Observed Behavior
- When a connection is removed/unlinked from a specific dataflow, it still appears in the dataflow connections list.
- This behavior is expected according to the documentation, as dataflows maintain associations with previously created data source connections unless a manual trim is performed.
- The issue becomes more noticeable when:
- The same connection is reused across multiple dataflows
- The connection is no longer required for the current dataflow, but is still needed elsewhere
[Troublesho...soft Learn | Learn.Microsoft.com]
Challenges / Impact
- There is no direct way to remove or hide unused connections only for a specific dataflow.
- Manual cleanup (gateway switching / connection trimming) must be performed per dataflow.
- In environments with hundreds of dataflows, this process becomes:
- Time‑consuming
- Operationally expensive
- Difficult to manage at scale
- This increases the risk of:
- Confusion around which connections are actively used
- Accidental deletion of shared connections used by other dataflows
Reference
Microsoft Learn documentation confirms that:
- Old or deleted data source connections can continue to appear
- Cleanup requires a manual user‑initiated trim process
- There is currently no automated or bulk cleanup option
[Troublesho...soft Learn | Learn.Microsoft.com]
Ask / Feedback for Fabric Team
The dataflow connections should be updated automatically when they are unlinked or removed from the dataflow, as it is inconvenient to manually remove the connections from Manage Connections and then click Save and Close in the dataflow.
We kindly request the Fabric team to implement this update as soon as possible.
on:
Customers should ereceive notifications for all th...
miguel
on:
Recent Data and Recent Connections
on:
Need more details on Average utilization% in Capac...
lbendlin
on:
Increase the 1,000 Item Limit per Fabric Workspace
Looking at the links shared, this appear to be an idea for Power BI Dataflow Gen1 and not Fabric Dataflow Gen2 (CI/CD).
In the new version of Dataflows this is no longer a problem and there's a clear binding of connections that show up in the queryMetadata.json file (more information here -> Dataflow definition - Microsoft Fabric REST APIs | Microsoft Learn).
Given that this issue is not something that appears in the new version of Dataflows, we are declining this idea.
However, if you are facing this issue in Dataflow Gen2 (CICD), please raise a support ticket so one of our engineers can take a closer look.