Refresh Your Power BI Reports

Marnel Catlett
Marnel Catlett
  • Updated

Learn how to refresh your reports in Power BI when your data is out of date.

Identifying Stale Reports

If a Power BI report hasn't been accessed for over 30 days, Microsoft may stop updating it, resulting in stale data. You can still access the report, but you may notice that the information is outdated. Cognition360 continues uploading data to Power BI, so you can refresh your reports to load current data. Here’s how you can identify and refresh stale reports:

Steps to Check for Stale Schedules

  1. Access the Workspace:

    • Open Power BI and click on Workspaces in the left menu.
    • Select the relevant workspace.

  2. Check the Refresh Schedule:

    • Look at the Next Refresh column for each report.
    • If it shows N/A, the report's schedule is stale.

  3. Understand Refresh Types:

    • Reports included in an app have an automatic refresh schedule. If this is disabled, you'll need to re-enable it.
    • Reports not included in an app must be refreshed manually when needed.

Refreshing Your Reports

There are two methods to refresh your reports or re-enable a scheduled refresh.

Method 1: Quick Refresh

  • Use the Refresh Icon:
    • Click the refresh icon (Item 4) in the toolbar to instantly refresh the report.
    • This action also re-enables any stale automatic refresh schedule.

Method 2: Adjust the Refresh Schedule

  1. Open Schedule Refresh Settings:

    • Click on the Schedule Refresh option (Item 5) or the ellipsis (…) next to the report and select Settings.

  2. Update the Schedule:

    • Toggle the refresh switch off and on again to force the settings to save (Item 6).
    • Update the refresh frequency and time zone as needed (Item 7).
    • Click Apply to save your changes (Item 8).

  3. Return to the Workspace:

    • Click on the workspace heading at the top of the page (Item 9) or the Workspace menu item (Item 10), and select the relevant workspace (Item 11).

Refresh from Within a Report

  • Refresh Visuals:

    • Use the refresh option in the report to update visuals with the latest information from the semantic model.
    • If the data hasn’t been refreshed, visuals will still show outdated information.

  • Check Last Refresh:

    • If unsure when the data was last updated, click on the dropdown next to the report name at the top left.

By following these steps, you can ensure your Power BI reports are always up to date with the latest data.