Is there a way to connect to a Power Bi "Semantic Model" in Excel, but NOT have data refresh.

[shaikhrida7]

I would like to connect to a Power Bi Semantic Model, and create a report which I have done. There is a new version of that Excel Report that I've created for the new month, but this month, when I try to compare the values between the 2 files to see the difference, anytime I use the slicer on the old file, it refreshes the whole Pivot Table + Slicer, and I don't want that. Is there a way to turn off a Live connection to a Power Bi Semantic model, as this is the best way that I can describe it?

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi @shaikhrida7 

When you connect to a Power BI semantic model in Excel, the connection mode is Live connection, which always tries to get the lastest data from the semantic model everytime when you perform some operation. 

So to meet your expectation, you have to delete the connection to the semantic model. Once deleting the connection, the data cannot be refreshed any more and the slicer cannot be used to filter data either. 

I recommend that you make a copy of the old file before removing the connection in case of any data missing.

Best Regards,
Jing
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