Desktop Refresh Error: Query "references other queries or steps ... "

[Anonymous]

On nearly every report I have in Power BI Desktop, I refresh the data and get this error message on random tables/queries in my dataset. To 'fix' it, I have to open the Power Query Editor, refresh all previews in there, then close the editor and refresh the data in the report view again - and everything refreshes no problem. So, it's not actually an issue with my queries at all - it just seems to be a bug in PBI Desktop.

[C4YNelis]

I too still experience this error, although it feels I am getting this error less often than before. I never kept count though.

[Grey80]

I'm also getting this error on a daily basis. 

Feels insane that this bug was raised years ago and is still not resolved?

[GaryKnott]

I just resolved the issue in my file! One of my source files was an Excel file containing 4 tables and it was saved as XLSB. I opened and resaved this source file as XLSX and rebuilt the related queries in PBI, then the refresh errors disappeared!

[charlesbahr]

I have this error on a few large reports also.

[Neil_Message]

I am also getting this error. On one query it is a simple append of the tables before it that I have cleaned.

[James-PBI]

Same issue here. Refreshing in PBI desktop gives the error. Open Power Query, refresh all, then close & load. Then try refreshing again and no error. Clearly a bug, since no code is being changed.

[NiklasBergh]

Same issue still going on for me. Very annoying.

[lilia9200]

2026, still have this issue. is there any solution for it? Thanks

[TorsteinZahl]

I still have the same issue, very bad 😞

[lilia9200]

Is it the bug of Power BI, does anyone use the Tableau, is it better?