Enable Selective Table Refresh in Power BI Desktop
Hello Microsoft Fabric team,
Currently, when pressing the "Refresh" button in Power BI Desktop, all tables in the data model attempt to refresh. This can cause issues when one or more tables fail due to permission restrictions or connectivity problems, halting the entire refresh process.
I propose adding a feature that allows users to pre-select specific tables to refresh, either through:
- A refresh configuration panel
- A checkbox list in the Fields pane
- A refresh group/tag system
This would be especially helpful in scenarios where:
- Some tables are restricted due to access permissions
- Certain tables are static and don’t need frequent updates
- Users want to test refresh behavior on a subset of data
This feature would improve efficiency, reduce errors, and give users more control over their data refresh workflows.
Thank you for your consideration and time,
3 Comments
frithjof_vCommunity Champion
This is already possible in Power BI Desktop. In the report view, right click a specific table name and then click refresh table.Following up on this with an alternative fix, given it seems nobody here has an answer or noticed this. Current state STILL of power bi is that YOU CANNOT selectively choose easily which tables refresh in this 'Refresh' button in the Home tab. HOWEVER, a work around is this. Go to the table you don't want to be a part of the Refresh when clicking Refresh, go to power query editor for that table. 1. In power query editor, find the table. 2. Right click 3. Uncheck 'Include in report refresh' 4. Save and Load. 5. Done. Hopefully this clears this up for someone that understands this issue and is seeking a quick simple solution. Cheers!
