Using Power Automate to backup .pbix files within same Powerbi.com workspace

[Felix4356]

I have found this article about exporting pbix and rdl files to sharepoint using power automate:
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Service/Automated-export-of-PBIX-and-RDL-files-from-worksp...

However I want to take a backup of a .pbix file on a daily basis and save it to a folder in the same powerbi.com workspace

I want to do this with our semantic model which gets updated with new data daily so that I can keep eg a months worth of backups in case I need to revert back to a previous version

Anyone done this before using power automate?

[v-kathullac]

Hi @Felix4356  ,

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided for the issue worked? or Let us know if you need any further assistance?
If our response addressed, please mark it as Accept as solution and click Yes if you found it helpful.

Regards,

Chaithanya.

[v-kathullac]

Hi @Felix4356  ,

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided for the issue worked? or Let us know if you need any further assistance?
If our response addressed, please mark it as Accept as solution and click Yes if you found it helpful.

Regards,

Chaithanya.

[v-kathullac]

Hi @Felix4356  ,

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided for the issue worked? or Let us know if you need any further assistance?
If our response addressed, please mark it as Accept as solution and click Yes if you found it helpful.

Regards,

Chaithanya.

[v-kathullac · Accepted solution]

Hi @Felix4356 ,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

Can you please try with the below possibilites and let us know if you need any assistance,

1) If your models are developed using Power BI Desktop and then published:

Save .pbix files in OneDrive or SharePoint.
Use deployment pipelines to manage and version reports.
Write a script (e.g., using PowerShell + Power BI REST API) to export the .pbix from your local/dev environment and back it up daily.

2) Alternative Approach:
Prerequisites :
• Store the original `.pbix` file in a SharePoint document library
e.g., https://yourcompany.sharepoint.com/sites/PowerBI/Shared Documents/Master/SemanticModel.pbix
• Create a backup folder in SharePoint
e.g., https://yourcompany.sharepoint.com/sites/PowerBI/Shared Documents/Backups/
• Have access to Power Automate to create and manage flows

Steps to Create Daily PBIX Backup Flow :

Step 1: Create Scheduled Flow
• Open Power Automate
• Go to Create > Scheduled cloud flow
• Name the flow: Daily PBIX Backup
• Set:
- Start date and time (as per your preference)
- Repeat every 1 day
• Click Create

Step 2: Get PBIX File Content
• Click + New step
• Action: Get file content using path (from SharePoint)
• Configure:
- Site Address: https://yourcompany.sharepoint.com/sites/PowerBI
- File Path: /Shared Documents/Master/SemanticModel.pbix

Step 3: Create Backup File
• Click + New step
• Action: Create file (from SharePoint)
• Configure:
- Site Address: Same as above
- Folder Path: /Shared Documents/Backups/
- File Name:
SemanticModel_@{formatDateTime(utcNow(),'yyyy-MM-dd')}.pbix
- File Content: Use output from previous step (Get file content)

Attaching the similar link for your reference : https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Service/Backing-up-Power-BI-dataflows-as-json-file/m-p/405...

Regards,

Chaithanya.

[v-kathullac]

Hi @Felix4356,

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided for the issue worked? or Let us know if you need any further assistance?

If our response addressed, please mark it as Accept as solution and click Yes if you found it helpful.

Regards,

Chaithanya

[Felix4356]

Hello, thank you for following up.  I can confirm the response provided has not resolved the query

[Felix4356]

@vanessafvg, we do have an Azure SQL database source which is updated through the day.  If something catastrophic happens with the SQL database, having the powerbi semantic model backups allows us to restore data from the day before in a few minutes rather than waiting for DBAs to restore the SQL database

Our semantic models are very small but the data is critical to business

It is an extra risk mitigation technique to take these backups

Hopefully someone else has done the same thing out there and can come up with some ideas

[vanessafvg]

If the azure sql db goes down surely you would have the lastest pbix updated anyway?  just a bit confused as to what you are trying to mitigate against.  do you constantly re import older data into the model?  

I would say if that really is the only option available to you, although I would personally look at better ways to manage the sql database through mirroring / replication or what not, then it is probably better to store it in something like sharepoint, how many are you planning to keep backed up, and what is your retention policy on it. If it is small it should be really easy to update with the data.

Personally have never experienced (in my many years of doing this) people backup the pbix as a way to store their data as a distaster recovery plan, as a one off but not as a scheduled thing,  I think there are much better ways to manage the situation and this is not its intended use.

[vanessafvg]

out of curiosity why would you not be able import the data you require into power bi does it get overwritten in the source.  It also depends on how big it is and what type of licensing you have as you are limited by space in your workspace, i also dont think saving it in the service is the most ideal backup strategy, there are times when files get corrupt.    Most ideal would be to keep backups of your raw sourcce files so you could recreate the pbix.