Re-Publish semantic model without report

[Kalaiselvan]

Hi,

When I amend the semantic model and re-publishing to Power BI Services, it's publishing along with report.

I have to publish the semantic model alone, the reports can be created in Power BI Service. When I am re-publishing the semantic model, only model alone should be published in Power BI Services not the report.

Is there any way to achieve this?

Thanks

Kalaiselvan

[nilendraFabric · Accepted solution]

Hello @Kalaiselvan 

In Power BI, when you publish a semantic model from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI Service, it automatically includes the associated report. Unfortunately, there is no direct way to publish only the semantic model without the report.

try Power BI REST API to programmatically upload a dataset without an associated report

Or 

save your Power BI Desktop file as a Power BI Template (.pbit) file, which contains the dataset definition but not the data. You can then share this template file with others, who can use it to create their own reports

Thanks

[Kalaiselvan]

Hello @nilendraFabric,

Thanks for your swift response. Is that Power BI Temaplate can be published as a semantic model to Power BI Services?

I will have a look at REST API.

Thanks

Kalaiselvan

[v-aatheeque]

Hi @Kalaiselvan ,

We haven’t heard back from you regarding the last response and wanted to check if the answer provided by @rajendraongole1  and @nilendraFabric  resolved your issue.

If it helped, please click "Accept Answer" and "Yes" for "Was this answer helpful?"

Let us know if you have any further questions.

Thanks for using Microsoft Fabric Community.

[v-aatheeque]

Hi @Kalaiselvan ,

We wanted to follow up as we haven’t heard back from you regarding our last response. Could you confirm if the solution provided by @rajendraongole1  and @nilendraFabric  resolved your issue?

If it was helpful, kindly click "Accept Answer" and "Yes" under "Was this answer helpful?"

Feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.

Thank you for being a part of the Microsoft Fabric Community.

[v-aatheeque]

Hi @Kalaiselvan ,

We haven’t heard back from you regarding the last response and wanted to check if the answer provided by @rajendraongole1  and @nilendraFabric  resolved your issue.

If it helped, please click "Accept Answer" and "Yes" for "Was this answer helpful?"

Let us know if you have any further questions.

Thanks for using Microsoft Fabric Community.

[rajendraongole1]

Hi @Kalaiselvan  - Yes, you can publish only the semantic model (dataset) to Power BI Service without overwriting or including the report. 

Instead of publishing the full PBIX file (which includes both the report and the dataset), you can upload only the semantic model (dataset) to Power BI Service.

Go to File > Options and settings > Options.
Under Current File, select Publishing Settings.
Check the option "Upload the semantic model without a report".
Click OK and then publish as usual.

second approach:

If your organization wants to maintain a separate workspace for the dataset, you can:

Publish the semantic model (dataset) to a dedicated workspace (e.g., "Data Models").
Then, in Power BI Service, create reports in a different workspace and connect them to the published dataset.

[satyakarri]

Hello Rajendra,

In the screenshot, this option isn't visible - Check the option "Upload the semantic model without a report".  Also, I don't see this option in my powerbi desktop too.  My desktop version is 2.146.1254..0 64-bit (August 2025).

Thanks,

Satya

[Kalaiselvan]

Hi @rajendraongole1,

Thanks for your swift response. I checked and couldn't find the below option under 'Published semantic model setting'. Could you please check and advise.

• Check the option "Upload the semantic model without a report".

Thanks

Kalaiselvan

[rajendraongole1]

Hi @Kalaiselvan  - i think there is a changes, can you follow the simple approach then ., 

1. Open Power BI Desktop.
2. Click File → Save As and create a new copy of your file.
3. Delete all report pages (so only the dataset remains).
4. Save the file and publish it to Power BI Service.

If your dataset and report are in the same PBIX file, you must delete the report pages before publishing.

[Anonymous]

Even with a single blank page (I don't see a way to remove the base page), both a report and model will be published if saved as pbix. 

Copilot suggests the solution of saving as .pbit, then deploying. But this does not work either because the .pbit must be saved as .pbix first before publishing.