Summary When publishing a report from Power BI Desktop to the Service, the dataset is automatically refreshed if a scheduled refresh is configured. I propose adding an option to disable the automatic refresh on publish, so that publishing only updates the metadata/report, not the dataset. Problem Currently, when a dataset has scheduled refresh enabled, publishing a new version of a report triggers an immediate on-demand refresh in the Service. This behavior is widely observed in the community and is considered standard behavior for datasets with scheduled refresh enabled. However, this creates several problems: Unnecessary refreshes If the dataset is already refreshed (e.g., refreshed locally in Desktop before publishing), there is no need to refresh it again. Long waiting times For large datasets, refresh can take 30–60 minutes or more, delaying availability of small report changes (layout, measures, RLS, etc.). Operational inefficiency In environments with frequent refresh schedules (daily or multiple times per day), triggering an additional refresh on every publish wastes compute resources and capacity. Blocked deployment scenarios Users often need to make quick report or security changes (e.g., RLS roles), but cannot finalize them until the refresh completes. Expected behavior Publishing a report should not automatically trigger a dataset refresh when: A scheduled refresh is already configured, and The dataset does not require immediate data changes. Instead, users should have control over the behavior. Proposed solution Add a setting such as: “Refresh dataset after publish” (On/Off toggle) This could be configured: Per dataset in the Service, or As a checkbox in the publish dialog in Power BI Desktop Default behavior could remain unchanged for backward compatibility, but users should be able to disable it. Benefits Faster deployment of report changes Reduced load on capacity and gateways Better control over refresh timing Improved user experience for enterprise BI teams
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