Error when refreshing dataset based on a dataflow entity with a removed column

[Daniil]

I am frequently running into the same issue. Here are the steps I am taking:

1. Create an entity A in a dataflow
2. Connect to the entity A from Power BI Desktop without performing any transformations in Power Query Editor inside Power BI Desktop
3. Publish the dataset to Power BI service. Refresh from Power BI service works at this stage
4. Remove an unused column from the entity A in the dataflow
5. Attempt refresh again in Power BI service. The dataset refresh fails with the following error:
   

To resolve the issue, I do a refresh in Power BI Desktop and re-publish the dataset. Power BI service refresh then works again. Note that I'm not changing any of my queries or anything else -- I simply click the Refresh button.

Surely this is a bug -- I can't see how this is by design.

Important note: I am not applying any transformations to the removed column in Power Query Editor inside Power BI Desktop.

P. S. There should be a separate label for dataflows.

[v-qiuyu-msft]

Hi @Daniil, 

I will pass your concern to PT team internally, will keep you update once I get any information. 

Best Regards,
Qiuyun Yu 

[v-qiuyu-msft]

Hi @Daniil, 

I got below information regarding your concern: 

"When a column is removed, measures and queries which relied on it will start to fail - that's why the error. if a column is added, no existing queries or measures were using it, so there would be no error. Reports need to be modified and republished to the service if the column is removed."

Best Regards,
Qiuyun Yu 

[Daniil]

Thanks for the response -- this is fair enough, and I'm all right with this issue being closed.

[akhazaal]

This is still happening exactly as Daniil described. Hope a fix for this is coming soon. 

We have a scenario where many datasets are connected to a single dataflow and they all fail to refresh just because we removed an unused field from the dataflow. The workaround (to refresh from Desktop and republish) works, but that's not a clean solution when you have so many datasets owned by different people. Thanks for your support and continuing to improve Power BI.

[pb1051]

I agree with @akhazaal that this should not be an issue if the column is not used or referenced in the model. I'm cleaning up 20 reports this morning because a single column that had null data was removed from the source.