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arpost
Post Patron
Post Patron

Do computed tables ONLY use the data from the linked table, or do they cause data to be refreshed?

I was under the impression from this Microsoft doc hat computed tables do not refresh source data but rather use the data that was loaded in the linked table:

 

Any transformation you do on this newly created entity will be run on the data that already resides in Power BI dataflow storage. That means that the query won't run against the external data source from which the data was imported (for example, the SQL database from which the data was pulled).

 

I have a linked table that I created and refreshed previously that pulls over 1 million records. I then refrenced the table and performed transforms in a computed table:

arpost_5-1627433886071.png

The computed table takes quite a while to render, and I regularly see the following at the bottom of the page when trying to view the computed table:

arpost_1-1627433184014.png

The original table renders almost immediately when viewed and doesn't need a data load, but the computed table always lists the status as "waiting on the data source" when first selected and then sometimes indicates that X number of rows have been loaded:

arpost_4-1627433469104.png

How can I tell if it is using pre-loaded data from the refernced query or if it is re-querying the database?

1 REPLY 1
v-henryk-mstf
Community Support
Community Support

Hi @arpost ,

 

According to your description, I think it is related to the connection mode of the data source. When querying or refreshing the import mode, the data must be completely loaded into the memory of the Power BI capacity. If it is fully refreshed, all data in all tables will be deleted and removed from Reload in the data source; for direcy mode, it is directly connected to the data source, the model does not need to be refreshed.

 

You may wish to refer to the following official documents.

Dataset modes in the Power BI service - Power BI | Microsoft Docs


Best Regards,
Henry


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