Lesson 110 Power BI Incremental Refresh: Improve Report Speed with Large Datasets

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As your data grows, your Power BI reports can slow down. That's where Incremental Refresh becomes a game-changer. Instead of reloading the entire dataset every time, it only refreshes the new or updated data—saving time and improving performance.

🚀 What is Incremental Refresh in Power BI?

Incremental Refresh allows Power BI to update only recent data, rather than loading your entire data source during every refresh. This is especially useful when dealing with millions of rows or enterprise-level data.

For example, if your dataset contains 3 years of data, but only the last 3 months change frequently, Incremental Refresh updates just those 3 months instead of the full 3 years.

🔧 Prerequisites to Use Incremental Refresh

To implement Incremental Refresh, you’ll need:

• Power BI Pro or Premium license
• Power BI Desktop (latest version)
• A Date/Time column in your fact table
• A dataset published to Power BI Service

🛠 How to Set Up Incremental Refresh (Step-by-Step)

1.  Add a Date/Time Filter in Power Query

• In Power BI Desktop, go to Power Query Editor.
• Filter your data using RangeStart and RangeEnd parameters.

2.  Create Parameters

• Create two parameters: RangeStart and RangeEnd (DateTime type).
• Use these to define the date filter dynamically.

3.  Apply Filter Using Parameters

• Filter your Date column using:

DateColumn >= RangeStart AND DateColumn < RangeEnd

4.  Enable Incremental Refresh

• Close Power Query and go to Modeling > Table > Incremental Refresh.
• Set how much data to load initially (e.g., last 5 years) and how much to refresh (e.g., last 3 months).

5.  Publish the Report

• After setup, publish your report to Power BI Service.
• Schedule a refresh and Power BI will take care of only updating what's necessary.

🧠 Why Use Incremental Refresh?

🔄 Faster Refresh Times

• Only the updated portions of data are refreshed.

💾 Optimized Storage

• Keeps your dataset size efficient.

🧑‍💼 Scalability for Enterprise

• Perfect for organizations handling massive transactional data.

⚠️ Limitations

• Only available on Power BI Service (Pro or Premium)
• Not supported on DirectQuery
• Requires Date/Time column for filtering

📬 Need Help?

For implementation support or questions, reach out to support@virvijay.com — we’re here to help you master Power BI.

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#Learn how to use Incremental Refresh in Power BI to speed up large data updates, reduce load times, and improve report performance for enterprise datasets.

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