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The August 2025 Fabric Feature Summary showcases several exciting updates designed to streamline workflows and enhance platform capabilities. Notably, users will benefit from the new flat list view in Deployment pipelines, making navigation and management more intuitive. In addition, expanded support for service principals and cross-tenant integration with Azure DevOps reflects Microsoft's commitment to versatile and secure enterprise solutions.
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Contents
To switch between views, use the new toggle located in the top-right corner of the stage content area:
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The new view will appear as exampled in the screenshot after enablement.
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To learn more, refer to the Deploy content using Deployment pipelines documentation.
This new repository serves as the official source for REST API specifications for Microsoft Fabric. It's designed to provide developers with a comprehensive, well-organized, and easily accessible collection of public API specifications.
Whether you're building custom solutions, integrating with Microsoft Fabric, or exploring its capabilities, this resource will help you efficiently understand and leverage the available APIs.
What's Inside?
This highly anticipated feature enables a comprehensive set of automation processes for Fabric customers. For example, Users can now automate workspace setup using tools like the Fabric CLI and Terraform provider and connect the workspace to Azure DevOps repositories—even across tenants—via service principals.
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For more in-depth information, refer to the following documentation.
With Autoscale Billing, Spark jobs run independently of your Fabric capacity and are billed only for execution time. Providing teams the freedom to scale compute without impacting shared workloads.
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Why it matters:
Refer to the documentation to learn how to configure Autoscale Billing.
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With the new ‘Disable Job-level Bursting’ switch (Admin Portal → Capacity Settings → Spark Compute), admins can now choose how Spark capacity is consumed:
How it works
Refer to the Admin control: Job-level bursting switch documentation to learn more about this setting.
JobInsight provides two core capabilities:
To learn more, refer to the Gain Deeper Insights into Spark Jobs with JobInsight in Microsoft Fabric blog post.
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Jobs Tab: Enhanced Job-Level Insights
The Jobs tab now offers more granular visibility into individual Spark jobs within a high concurrency session:
To simplify debugging in shared high concurrency Spark sessions:
The Item Snapshots tab now provides a tree view of all Notebooks participating in a shared Spark session:
Pandas DataFrames and Series can now be used as input and output types—thanks to native integration with Apache Arrow!
This update brings higher performance, improved efficiency, and greater scalability to your Fabric Notebooks—enabling seamless function reuse for large-scale data processing across Python, PySpark, Scala, and R.
With this release, Pandas DataFrames and Series are now supported as first-class input and output types for UDFs, enabled by deep integration with Apache Arrow, a highly efficient columnar memory format optimized for analytics workloads.
Benefits of Arrow Integration:
Refer to the Use Fabric User Data Functions with Pandas DataFrames and Series in Notebooks blog post for more information.
This snapshot allows you to:
New capabilities
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The Open API specification, formerly Swagger Specification, is a widely used, language-agnostic description format for REST APIs. This allows humans and computers alike to discover and understand the capabilities of a service in a standardized format. This is critical for creating integrations with external systems, AI agents and code generators.
To access this feature, update to the latest version of the fabric-user-data-functions library within the Library Management experience.
Refer to the blog post on OpenAPI specification code generation now available in Fabric User Data Functions for more information.
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To get started, open the Functions portal and locate the mode switcher on the top right corner to switch to Develop mode. In this mode, the controls in the Functions explorer will switch from using the Run capability to the Test capability. After opening the Test panel, you can execute your functions and get their outputs, logs and errors. Once you’ve completed your functions tests, you can publish your functions for other Fabric items and users to run them.
To learn more, refer to the Test your User Data Functions in the Fabric portal (preview) documentation.
Users can activate and customize model endpoints with a public-facing REST API or directly from the Fabric interface. Endpoints support one-click deployment, auto-scaling out of the box, and other settings to support your custom solutions. A low-code interface enables you to test predictions easily before going live, making it simpler to integrate machine learning into real-time applications.
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To learn more about this integration, check out the Serve real-time predictions seamlessly with ML model endpoints blog post or refer to the Serve real-time predictions with ML model endpoints (Preview) documentation.
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The table named patient_medical_records contains a total of 103 columns, which exceeds the limit of what Fabric data agent used to support for data sources. Despite the larger schema size, users may add the patient_medical_records table to Fabric data agent. When selecting the table as an input to the data agent, users may receive a warning stating that the accuracy of results may vary with larger schema sizes. Regardless, users can select this table as an input to the data agent.
Please refer to the Expanded Data Agent Support for Large Data Sources blog post for more details.
To use this feature, simply pass the workspace ID, SQL analytics endpoint ID, and the API will provide detailed synchronization status for each table, including start and end times, status, last successful sync time and any error messages if applicable.
Example: How to refresh a specified SQL analytics endpoint in a workspace.
To learn more about the REST API, checkout the Refresh SQL analytics endpoint Metadata REST API (Generally Available) blog post, Fabric REST APIs docs and the GitHub page for a code sample.
This new capability allows users to ingest and query files stored in Lakehouse Files folders using familiar SQL syntax — with no need for Spark, pipelines, staging storage, SAS tokens, or complex IAM configuration. With this release, Fabric takes another step toward delivering a fully SaaS-native, secure, and unified analytics platform.
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Key highlights:
For example syntax, supported scenarios, and what’s coming next, check out the announcement blog post OneLake as a Source for COPY INTO and OPENROWSET (Preview).
Read JSON Lines format with OPENROWSET(BULK) (Preview)
You can now use OPENROWSET(BULK) in Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse to read JSON Lines (JSONL) files directly. JSONL is a widely used format for logs, streaming, and machine learning data. With this enhancement, you can use the OPENROWSET function to read JSONL files natively eliminating the need to first import files as plain text and then manually apply T-SQL JSON functions to parse the data.
You can provide the URL of your JSONL file that is placed in Azure Data Lake or Fabric One Lake and read its content as a set of rows using the OPENROWSET(BULK) function:
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This new capability allows you to directly query JSONL data as if you were querying a regular table, using familiar T-SQL syntax. There's no need to first import or manually parse the file—the OPENROWSET(BULK) function handles the JSON format natively. This enhanced functionality facilitates analytics workflows by enabling more efficient and straightforward ingestion and querying of JSONL data through standard T-SQL syntax.
For more details about OPENROWSET(BULK) support for the JSONL format, please refer to the JSON Lines Support in OPENROWSET for Fabric Data Warehouse and Lakehouse SQL Analytics Endpoint (Pre... blog post.
A major enhancement is now available: a new visual interface for configuring and managing audit logs is accessible within the Fabric Warehouse UI.
This update simplifies how customers manage auditing policies, with no scripts or advanced setup required. Whether you're a security administrator, data platform engineer, or compliance lead, this intuitive interface makes configuring audit logging faster, clearer, and more aligned with your organization's needs….. August_2025_Fabric_Feature_Summary
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To explore the new experience and learn how to get started, refer to the Experience the New Visual SQL Audit Logs Configuration in Fabric Warehouse blog post.
Actions like Create Datamart or Delete Warehouse will now appear as standardized entries—such as CreateArtifact, DeleteArtifact, UpdateArtifact, etc. This change aligns with Fabric’s unified platform model and reduces noise in audit logs.
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There are no changes to functionality; logging has simply been improved for greater clarity and consistency.
If you use audit logs for automation or monitoring, review and update any queries or tools using old operation names.
For details, check out the blog post: Standardizing Audit Operations for Warehouse, DataMarts and SQL Analytics Endpoint.
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View of query output after running SET SHOWPLAN_XML ON.
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View of graphical plan in SQL Server Management Studio after opening showplan XML (as .sqlplan) or clicking ‘Display Estimated Execution Plan’ button.
For additional information, refer to the SET SHOWPLAN_XML (Transact-SQL) documentation and the SHOWPLAN_XML in Fabric Data Warehouse (Preview) blog post.
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Select ‘View details’ in your Teams messages and emails will take you to the History tab of your alert in Activator, where you’ll be able to see those analytics listed.
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When selecting ‘View details’, the information on the History tab will be filtered to show information that is related to the specific activation you are viewing details on. It will show information related to the specific ID you have selected and the relevant time range.
This feature is available for both rules that were created on attributes and rules that were created on streams.
To learn more, refer to the Create a rule in Fabric Activator documentation.
You can now toggle between two views:
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Making it easier to navigate, especially when working across multiple environments.
Each data source can still be expanded to explore its schema, and with a simple double-click on any entity, the full path is instantly copied into your query editor. You can also switch the active context for your query at any time, directly from the tree.
To learn more about this feature, refer to the Query data in a KQL queryset documentation.
With this new pane, you no longer must rely solely on memory or IntelliSense. As you build your query, you can browse your data source in real time - including tables, columns (with types), functions, materialized views, and more.
This adjustment is particularly effective when dealing with new schemas or extensive environments.
We’ve also added a simplified experience for connecting to Azure Monitor data sources. Previously, this required configuring connection strings manually. Simply enter your Azure resource details into the built-in connection string builder to get started.
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For more information, refer to the Add title documentation.
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When you share a deep link, recipients can open it directly in Fabric—automatically connected to the right data source, with your query loaded and ready to run. It’s the fastest, most reliable way to share and collaborate.
This update makes sharing more transparent and helps users adopt best practices that scale across teams.
To learn more, refer to the Share queries documentation.
Two additional settings are now available to facilitate the acceleration of your shortcuts.
HotWindows
This allows for accelerating arbitrary time windows e.g. between (X .. Y) dates and not just last ‘N’ days of data. Delta data files created within these time windows are accelerated.
MaxAge
Users set the data's latency tolerance, controlling freshness. The shortcut returns accelerated data if the last index refresh is newer than @now - MaxAge. Otherwise, the shortcut table operates in non-accelerated mode.
Syntax
.alter external table MyExternalTable policy query_acceleration '{"IsEnabled": true, "Hot": "1.00:00:00", "HotWindows":[{"MinValue":"2025-07-06 07:53:55.0192810","MaxValue":"2025-07-06 07:53:55.0192814"}], "MaxAge" : "00:05:00"}'
To learn more about .alter query acceleration policy command, refer to the documentation.
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Capabilities
To learn more, visit the Fabric documentation for Event Schema Registry. Check out our new blog post for a deep dive into the schema management concepts and how to build your first type-safe, schema aware data pipeline for publishing events from a custom endpoint to an Eventstream.
Once you have explored the feature, provide your feedback. We welcome your feedback and aim to make managing data schemas straightforward.
Latest Improvements
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To learn more, refer to the Connect to your SQL database in Fabric using Python Notebook blog post and check out the Run T-SQL code in Fabric Python notebooks for more details.
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To learn more about this feature, refer to the Data pipelines event triggers in Data Factory documentation.
To help provide a clearer understanding of the role of pipelines in Fabric workflows, we are going to drop the ‘data’ term from the ‘data pipelines’ display name in Fabric workspaces. This change will take effect in September. Only the display name is being updated from ‘Data pipeline’ to ‘Pipeline’ in workspace lists and filters, with no impact on APIs or CICD.
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For more information, please refer to the Concept: Data pipeline Runs documentation.
Now you have greater flexibility in managing incremental copy, including the ability to reset it back to a full copy on the next run. This is incredibly useful when there’s a data discrepancy between your source and destination—you can simply let Copy Job perform a full copy in the next run to resolve the issue, then continue with incremental updates afterward.
Even better, you can reset incremental copy per table, giving you fine-grained control. For example, you can re-copy smaller tables without impacting larger ones. This means smarter troubleshooting, less disruption, and more efficient data movement.
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What is Copy job in Data Factory for Microsoft Fabric? Find out more in our documentation.
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Copy Job can now automatically create tables on the following destination stores:
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What is Copy job in Data Factory for Microsoft Fabric? Find out more in our documentation.
Customers often would like to recreate an existing dataflow as a new dataflow Gen2 (CI/CD), getting all the benefits of the new GIT and CI/CD integration capabilities. Today, to accomplish this, they need to create the new Dataflow Gen2 (CI/CD) item from scratch and copy-paste their existing queries or leverage the Export/Import Power Query template capabilities. This, however, is not only inconvenient due to unnecessary steps, but it also does not carry over additional dataflow settings.
Dataflows in Microsoft Fabric now include a ‘Save as’ feature, that in a single click lets you save an existing Dataflow Gen2 as a new Dataflow Gen2 (CI/CD) item.
Learn more about Save As Dataflow Gen2 (CI/CD): Migrate to Dataflow Gen2 (CI/CD) using Save As
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In the home tab of the ribbon, you will now find two new entries in the Dataflow group:
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Selecting the Check validation button in the ribbon, rather than Save & Run, allows users to review the status of this operation.
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The status bar displays the progress of the validation process as it occurs:
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Once you trigger a run for your Dataflow, you will also be able to see the progress of the run in the status bar. Once finished, you can see a notification that tells you the timestamp when the last run happened.
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Finally, a new addition to this experience is the explicit button to close your Dataflow and discard any changes that you’ve been working on as well as other operations to simplify your interaction when authoring a Dataflow such as ‘Save, run & close; and ‘Save & close’:
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These changes are currently rolling out to all production regions.
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As we continue to roll out these enhancements and streamline your data experiences, we encourage you to share your thoughts and let us know how we can further improve. Your feedback is always welcome!
For more information, refer to the Dataflow Gen2 data destinations and managed settings documentation.
Simply select Filter, select a category, and watch your search results instantly become more relevant. Dive in and experience a more organized, efficient, and intuitive way to kick off your next data project!
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To learn more about templates and pipeline template gallery, read Templates - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn.
When you request Copilot to connect to a data resource, it first checks if the resource already exists. If found, dataflow gen2 can access and guide you through navigation and data preview. If not, it launches a filtered get data wizard to help you locate the correct resource efficiently.
For example, if you know the exact name of an existing SQL database connection, Dataflow Gen2 will enable you to quickly access its server and database navigation with the assistance from Copilot.
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If you are unsure whether a SQL connection exists or need to create a new one, Copilot will guide you through the process efficiently.
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If a connection does not exist, Copilot will share information with Dataflow Gen2 to open a pre-filled setup page to help you create one quickly.
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Learn more about Copilot for Data Factory in Get started with Copilot in Fabric in the Data Factory workload.
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