help in refresh in Power BI service

[Elieekh17]

Dear community,

I am facing issue in refresh of a report in power Bi service (it has incremental refresh) . It was working fine until 2 days ago. When I refresh it in POwer BI service it returns the error below:

Expression.Error: The column 'UPD_DATE' of the table wasn't found.. UPD_DATE. Microsoft.Data.Mashup.ErrorCode = 10224. Detail = UPD_DATE. . The exception was raised by the IDbCommand interface.

PS: Sometimes it returns another column

However the column is already removed in the power query step but exists in database(not removed) and I tried to update the data source credentials and even refresh the pbix is ok , refresh preview in power query is ok . Only in power bi service

any idea

Thank you,

[v-echaithra]

Hi @Elieekh17 ,

May I ask if you have resolved this issue? Please let us know if you have any further issues, we are happy to help.

Thank you.

[v-echaithra]

Hi @Elieekh17 ,

Thank you @Poojara_D12 , @GilbertQ  for your inputs.

We’d like to follow up regarding the recent concern. Kindly confirm whether the issue has been resolved, or if further assistance is still required. We are available to support you and are committed to helping you reach a resolution.

Best Regards,
Chaithra E.

[Elieekh17]

Hello @v-echaithra , no unfortunately I did all the steps and it is not working however I changed the warehouse to PROD and it works. Error only when I am connected to UAT database it returns error in the mentioned column while this column is in removed step in power query.

[v-echaithra]

Hi @Elieekh17 ,

Thanks for the additional details, It's good to know that the issue only occurs with the UAT database, which helps narrow things down.

Since the error doesn't occur with the PROD environment, this seems to suggest that there might be something specific to the UAT schema or the data model in Power BI related to caching or metadata.

Try to clear the schema cache in Power BI Service for UAT. Double check the UAT schema in the source database to ensure that there are no lingering references to the UPD_DATE column, particularly in views or stored procedures that Power BI might be querying. You may run a query directly against the UAT database to confirm that the UPD_DATE column has indeed been removed from the source. Ensure that there isn’t any server-side caching or schema caching within the UAT database itself that might be causing Power BI to still expect the UPD_DATE column.

Since the issue is isolated to the UAT environment, consider any differences in the UAT database configuration or data source settings. Could there be some discrepancy in how the UAT and PROD environments are set up?

If the issue persists, consider publishing a fresh version of the dataset from Power BI Desktop to the UAT workspace, ensuring that all references to the removed column are cleared.

Ensure that incremental refresh is disabled before publishing, refresh once, then re-enable it and publish again.

Thank you.

[Elieekh17]

Thank you @v-echaithra , unless i miss something in my action: I disabled incremental refresh, published the dashboard then go to settings , parameters and put the rangestart from the 1st available date and then run the refresh ( run refresh of the complete dataset) 

[v-echaithra · Accepted solution]

Hi @Elieekh17 ,

Thanks for the update. The issue might be due to the old partitions that weren’t fully cleared before the refresh. When you disable incremental refresh and republish, the Service still retains historical partitions unless you explicitly delete them. Try these below steps by using some sample data.

Disable incremental refresh in Desktop and refresh locally.
Publish to Service, overwrite dataset.
In Power BI Service > Dataset Settings > Incremental refresh history,
Delete all partitions (this step is critical).
Trigger a full refresh in Service, this rebuilds schema without incremental logic.
Re-enable incremental refresh in Desktop, set RangeStart/RangeEnd, and publish again.
Run the refresh again in Service.

Hope this helps.
Thank you.

[Poojara_D12]

Hi @Elieekh17 

The error you’re encountering — “Expression.Error: The column 'UPD_DATE' of the table wasn’t found” — typically occurs when Power BI Service tries to apply query folding during an incremental refresh, but the column references in the partition queries don’t fully match the final query structure from Power BI Desktop. In your case, even though the column UPD_DATE was removed in Power Query, it still exists in the source database and may be referenced implicitly by the incremental refresh logic or cached metadata from an earlier version of the dataset. This mismatch often surfaces only in the Power BI Service (not in Desktop) because the Service re-generates SQL queries dynamically for each partition during refresh, and it may still be expecting that column due to cached schema or folding behavior.

To fix this, you should first ensure that every step in Power Query referencing UPD_DATE (even indirectly) is fully removed — including any applied filters or incremental refresh parameters that may depend on it. Then, refresh the preview in Power Query, save the PBIX, and republish the dataset as a new version (overwriting the existing one) so the Service rebuilds partitions from scratch with the updated schema. If possible, disable incremental refresh temporarily, refresh once to reset cached schema, then re-enable it and republish. This approach clears the old metadata references that often persist in the Service and ensures that incremental partitions are generated only using the currently valid columns.

[GilbertQ]

Hi @Elieekh17 

Can you confirm if you open up Power BI desktop and click on refresh, it will refresh successfully? What you could possibly do is if that happens, you could use the ALT toolkit. To publish any changes between your Power BI version and the version in the Power of BI service, you could then use something such as Tabular Editor 3 or SQL Server Management Studio to refresh the individual partitions to avoid the 5 hour timeout.

[vojtechsima]

Hey, @Elieekh17 ,

this means, something tries to reference it, or the incremental refresh is set on that date. In your Power Query, make sure that you select only the columns you want, don't remove what you don'T want, select what you want (ideally write your own SQL, since you work with database), therefore there cannot be reference to that column and then check your filter that it's correctly set up on the new column, which is present and it's not the errored column and then set up the incremental refresh from ground up.

Also if youre source allows it, try to remove option to check for schema etc.

[AntoineW]

Hi @Elieekh17,

This behavior is common in incremental refresh models and usually caused by schema caching or metadata mismatch between:

• The dataset already published in Power BI Service, and

• The Power Query / M model currently inside your .pbix.

In short, Power BI Service is trying to reuse an old partition schema that still references the removed column (UPD_DATE) even though the query doesn’t anymore.

---

✅ Verified Solutions

Option 1: Force a full schema refresh

1. In Power BI Desktop:

   • Go to Model view → Table properties → Incremental refresh.

   • Temporarily disable incremental refresh for that table.

2. Refresh the dataset locally (to rebuild schema metadata).

3. Publish again to the Service (overwrite the dataset).

4. Once it refreshes successfully, re-enable incremental refresh and publish again.

This forces the Power BI Service to drop existing partitions and rebuild them with the new schema.

---

Option 2: Clear cached partitions in Service

If the issue persists:

1. In Power BI Service → Workspace → Datasets → Settings → Incremental refresh history
   delete all existing partitions.

2. Then trigger a full refresh (Service will re-create all partitions using the updated M query).

---

Option 3: Check for hidden references

Sometimes, a column removed in the UI may still be referenced in:

• A custom step in Power Query (#"Removed Columns" or later steps that still refer to UPD_DATE)

• A parameter used in incremental refresh (e.g., filtering on RangeStart / RangeEnd).

• A measure or calculated column that indirectly touches that field.

Try this check:

1. Open Advanced Editor in Power Query.

2. Press Ctrl+F, search for UPD_DATE.
   If you find it anywhere, delete or replace it explicitly.

---

Option 4: Rebind or republish

If the schema mismatch persists even after the above:

• Delete the dataset from the workspace.

• Re-publish the .pbix as a new dataset name (fresh model binding).

• Configure credentials and incremental refresh again.

This is sometimes necessary because the Mashup Engine in the Service caches old column mappings even if the query has changed.

Docs : 

- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/incremental-refresh-troubleshoot

Hope it can help you !

Best regards,

Antoine

[Elieekh17]

Thank you @AntoineW , this issue is noticed in PROD workspace with other reports without incremental refresh when I update data source credentials it works fine then the next refresh will break.

I can't do a full refresh since it exceeds the 5 hours timeout