Ability to create a DirectQuery in a semantic model created/edited online in Power BI Service

[darrellkilian]

Creating semantic models online in Power BI Service is a big step forward and enables easier ways to collaborate, and manage versions/source. And no publishing step. Also, no local installs and updates, and you can use non-Windows platforms to create these. Fabric becomes all online!

However, its a reall setback to lose the ability to use DirectQuery without some convoluted process of creating the model on desktop first.

So the sooner we have this the better!

[v-tsaipranay]

Hi @darrellkilian ,

We haven’t received an update from you in some time. Could you please let us know if the issue has been resolved?
If you still require support, please let us know, we are happy to assist you.

Thank you.

[v-tsaipranay]

Hi @darrellkilian ,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

Could you please let us know if the issue has been resolved? I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided by @ChielFaber and @rohit1991 . If you still require support, please let us know, we are happy to assist you.

Thank you.

[ChielFaber]

Unfortunately, as @rohit1991 mentioned, DirectQuery isn’t supported yet when creating a semantic model directly in the Power BI Service.

If your goal is to stay fully in the online authoring experience and work in a DirectQuery-style architecture, then Direct Lake is the closest—and in many cases better—alternative. With a Fabric license, you can create and model everything directly in the Service, without Desktop and without losing real-time capabilities. Direct Lake is also designed to outperform classic DirectQuery on larger datasets.

If you haven’t explored it yet, it’s definitely worth a look:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/fundamentals/direct-lake-develop

[rohit1991 · Accepted solution]

Hii @darrellkilian 

DirectQuery cannot be created or enabled yet in semantic models that are built or edited directly in Power BI Service. Online modeling currently supports only Import mode, so if you need DirectQuery, the model still has to be created in Power BI Desktop first and then published. Microsoft has stated that DirectQuery for online semantic models is planned, but not available today.