Current scheduling options for Data Pipelines in Microsoft Fabric are very limited, supporting only minute-based, hourly, daily, and weekly triggers, and lacking robust interval configurations or multiple triggers within a single pipeline run. This constrains scenarios such as running frequent updates during weekdays, then slowing down on weekends, or restricting half-hour refreshes to daytime hours. As a workaround, some users add extra pipelines or conditional logic to control time-based execution at the start of a pipeline, but this quickly becomes cumbersome to maintain.
Proposed Feature
• Allow users to define multiple schedules or a cron-like expression directly within a single pipeline’s scheduling settings.
• Enable advanced recurring schedules that span specific day and time windows (e.g., “run every 30 minutes between 6 AM and 8 PM”), as well as once-per-month or custom intervals.
• Provide a more intuitive user interface for scheduling multiple time windows without requiring additional pipeline objects or complicated conditional checks.
Why This Matters
• Reduces overhead of building and maintaining separate “child” pipelines or multiple triggers that only exist to address scheduling constraints.
• Prevents complicated parameter and conditional logic in a single pipeline, which can be confusing to debug or update.
• Empowers more granular and flexible scheduling (for example, different refresh frequencies on weekdays vs. weekends) without sacrificing readability.
Current Workarounds (Short-Term)
• Use conditional If activities at the pipeline’s start to check the current day or time, and proceed only if it falls within the desired schedule window.
• Create separate pipelines and invoke them from a main pipeline, each using a different schedule trigger.
• Call the pipeline via REST API or an external service (e.g., Power Automate, Logic Apps) that supports more advanced scheduling patterns
8 Comments
- Currently work in progress
- Status added:Under Review
- Upvoted!
- I think the scheduler should work more like the SQL Server Agent scheduler. * multiple schedules * options to report failed pipelines by email * retry options * not run a pipeline if it is already running (or over-running when next scheduled run is due) etc.
- 100% agreed, a cron scheduling option would be such an easy way to make the basic scheduling way more flexible.
- I just voted for this as well, I am running into scenarios in enterprise where we need CRON based scheduling
- Just voted for this. I had expected that Fabric would have an enterprise scheduler that supported much more out-of-the-box flexibility in date/time based scheduling, specifying predecessors etc., but alas not. Although I do like the idea of Triggered events - on their own however they're not of much use to me unless I can combine multiple events within the one rule, and even then I'd want include a schedule within the rule so that all conditions are satisfied. E.g. If I want an ingestion Pipeline to run only after 1) completion of one or more dependant Pipelines and 2) input files have arrived in my WS folder and 3) daily after 6pm - then I think I'd need to build my own scheduling logic.
JibinSebastianAdvocate II
I would like to configure a Microsoft Fabric pipeline to run on a recurring schedule with the following requirements: Execute every 10 minutes Start time: 7:10 AM EST End time: 6:50 PM EST Frequency: Monday through Friday only Could you please provide guidance on how to implement this schedule within Microsoft Fabric, including the appropriate configuration (e.g., cron expression or trigger settings) to meet these requirements?
