OneLake Integration + Excel (import mode) → Shortcut fails in Lakehouse with storageDescriptor error

[AntoineW]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been testing OneLake Integration for semantic models, and I’ve encountered an issue when trying to query a semantic model (based on Excel import) from a Lakehouse shortcut.

✅What I did:

1. Created a Power BI semantic model based on an Excel file (in Import mode)
2. Enabled OneLake Integration in the semantic model settings
3. Refreshed the semantic model — the export to OneLake ran successfully
4. Went into a Microsoft Fabric Lakehouse, created a shortcut to the semantic model’s Delta table (e.g., Sheet1) 

❌The issue:

When trying to preview the table or run a SQL query via the Lakehouse analytics endpoint, I get the following error:

Table 'Sheet1' was invalid in Lakehouse with ID in Workspace with ID due to 'Required property 'storageDescriptor' not found in JSON. Path '', line 1, position 356.'.

🧩 Expected behavior

I was expecting to be able to:

• Preview the table data from the shortcut
• Run a simple SQL query like SELECT * FROM Sheet1 via the SQL analytics endpoint

 💡 Context

• The Excel file has one sheet named Sheet1
• Semantic model is confirmed to be in Import mode
• OneLake Integration is enabled and refresh logs show success
• I’m using a Fabric F SKU workspace with full contributor rights

❓Questions

• Is this a known issue when using Excel as a source with OneLake Integration?
• Is the format of the exported Delta table from Excel-based semantic models different?
• Is there a workaround to query this data in a Lakehouse context?

Any insight or fix would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[v-prasare · Accepted solution]

Hi @AntoineW ,

Thanks for reaching out ot MS Fabric community support

Excel-derived semantic models exported via OneLake Integration don’t fully support Lakehouse/SQL consumption due to missing metadata (specifically, the storageDescriptor property). This is an issue with OneLake’s export pipeline when the source is supported by Import mode semantics but lacks structured metadata, as Excel does.

Thanks,

Prashanth Are

MS Fabric community support