Sorry, error while retrieving data for this visual element

[Girl_that_works]

Hello,

For several days, I’ve been encountering the following error on a visual in Power BI Service:

“Sorry, we couldn’t retrieve the data for this visual. We couldn’t extract the data for this visual. Please try again later.Try again later or contact support.”

The same report works perfectly in Power BI Desktop. In Power BI Service, if I remove this simple measure from the visual:

Total Temps Boond = SUM('CRA Business One'[Temps passé (J)])

the visual no longer crashes, and the column itself works fine when dragged directly into the visual.

What can I do to work around or fix this issue?

Thank you in advance.

[Olufemi7 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Girl_that_works, 

Thanks for sharing that!

You're absolutely right composite models, especially when you're working with cloned tables from DirectQuery sources, can introduce some quirks in how DAX behaves.

Functions like SUMX and FILTER don’t always evaluate as expected when the column comes from a DirectQuery path. 

Using the column directly in the report sounds like a smart workaround for now.

If you ever revisit the model setup, switching that table to Import mode or using a calculated table might give you more flexibility with your measures.

Microsoft has a solid breakdown of how Import, DirectQuery, and Composite modes work in the Power BI Service definitely worth a look if you're digging deeper into model behavior.

Power-BI/connect-data/service-dataset-modes-understand 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/desktop-composite-models 

Happy to help anytime if you want to explore other options or troubleshoot further!

Best,

Olufemi

[v-nmadadi-msft]

Hi @Girl_that_works ,

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the suggestions  provided by the community members for the issue worked. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

Thanks and regards

[v-nmadadi-msft]

Hi @Girl_that_works 

May I check if this issue has been resolved? If not, Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

Thank you

[v-nmadadi-msft]

Hi @Girl_that_works 

I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

Thank you.

[Olufemi7]

Hi @Girl_that_works,

I ran into the same issue where a visual in Power BI Service kept crashing with the error:

"Sorry, we couldn’t retrieve the data for this visual."

The measure worked fine in Power BI Desktop:

Total Temps Boond = SUM('CRA Business One'[Temps passé (J)])

But in Power BI Service, it broke the visual. After investigating, I found that Service might treat some values as text or blanks — even if the column looks numeric — which causes SUM to fail.

Here's the fix that worked for me:

Total Temps Boond = 
SUMX(
    FILTER('CRA Business One', ISNUMBER('CRA Business One'[Temps passé (J)])),
    'CRA Business One'[Temps passé (J)])

This version filters out non-numeric values before summing, making it more stable in Power BI Service.

After updating the measure and refreshing the dataset, the visual loaded without errors.

Hope this helps, let me know if it works for you too!

[Girl_that_works]

Hello @Olufemi7 , 

Thanks for the detailed answer. I tried this:

Total Temps Boond = 
SUMX(
    FILTER('CRA Business One', ISNUMBER('CRA Business One'[Temps passé (J)])),
    'CRA Business One'[Temps passé (J)])

And it did not work for me.

I think the fact that I am using a composite model and that this column comes from a cloned table of a direct query table might play a role in this.

For now, I just resorted to using the column itself in the report.

Thanks for your help.

Best regards.

[Olufemi7 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Girl_that_works, 

Thanks for sharing that!

You're absolutely right composite models, especially when you're working with cloned tables from DirectQuery sources, can introduce some quirks in how DAX behaves.

Functions like SUMX and FILTER don’t always evaluate as expected when the column comes from a DirectQuery path. 

Using the column directly in the report sounds like a smart workaround for now.

If you ever revisit the model setup, switching that table to Import mode or using a calculated table might give you more flexibility with your measures.

Microsoft has a solid breakdown of how Import, DirectQuery, and Composite modes work in the Power BI Service definitely worth a look if you're digging deeper into model behavior.

Power-BI/connect-data/service-dataset-modes-understand 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/desktop-composite-models 

Happy to help anytime if you want to explore other options or troubleshoot further!

Best,

Olufemi

[v-nmadadi-msft]

Hi @Girl_that_works ,
Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community forum.

1) Check if the visual you are using is currently in preview stage because visuals which are in preview are only available for Power BI Desktop.
2) Be sure that you're using the latest version of Power BI Desktop. Go to one of these locations to download and install the latest version of Power BI Desktop:

• Microsoft Power BI website
• The Microsoft Store

3) Sign in to the Power BI service and try to upload the Power BI report from the target workspace by using the upload option.
4) Additionally as a final troubleshooting step try to clear out the cache and re check the visual functionality.
In Power BI Desktop, go to File > Options and settings > Options. Under GLOBAL, select Data Load, and then select Clear Cache.

I hope this information helps. Please do let us know if you have any further queries.
Thank you

[Girl_that_works]

Hello, I tried just that and to clear the cache and re-upload the report in the Power BI Service. 

And unfortunately it did not work for me. 

I just resorted to using the column itself in my report.

[v-nmadadi-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Girl_that_works 

Since you mentioned you are using composite model, Please make sure this setting is enabled in you tenant
Allow DirectQuery connection to Power BI semantic models.
Export and sharing tenant settings - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

I hope this information helps. Please do let us know if you have any further queries.
Thank you

[blopez11]

I haven't seen any specific reports of this, but on https://support.fabric.microsoft.com/support/ there is the following notice, but not sure if this is your case.

[Girl_that_works]

Hello @blopez11 , 

Yes I have seen this notice. It did not concern my case, but I tried renaming the measure and create new ones also with only lowercases. But it does not solve the issue for me. 

Thanks very much for your insight .

Best regards.