Optimizing Data Performance with Incremental Refresh in Power BI

[AnkitaaMishra]

This post will discuss the benefits of Incremental Refresh, how to configure it, and the refresh policies available for managing updates.

Introduction:

If you’ve ever worked with large datasets in Power BI, you know that refreshing millions of rows every time can be painfully slow. Enter Incremental Refresh is a feature designed to make your refreshes smarter, faster, and more efficient by only updating the data that actually changes.

What Is Incremental Refresh?

Incremental Refresh in Power BI allows you to refresh only the data that has changed instead of reloading everything from scratch.

Imagine you have 5 years of sales data. Normally, Power BI reloads all 5 years every time you refresh. With Incremental Refresh, you can set it to refresh only the last week or month , drastically reducing refresh time and system load.

Incremental refresh works by partitioning your dataset into chunks (e.g., by month or year) then:

1. Keeps historical partitions unchanged (they don’t need to refresh).
2. Refreshes recent partitions (e.g., last 7 days).
3. Optionally detects changes in rows using a modified date column.

Step-by-Step Guide: Configuring Incremental Refresh

🧩 Step 1: Create Parameters in Power Query

Create two parameters in Power Query:

• RangeStart → DateTime, default 01-01-2025
• RangeEnd → DateTime, default 31-12-2025

🧮 Step 2: Filter Your Data Using Parameters

In Power Query:

1. Select the sales data.
2. Apply a filter on SalesDate → RangeStart and RangeEnd.

✅ Make sure your query folds back to the data source (right-click → View Native Query).
This is crucial for incremental refresh to work efficiently.

 

 

⚙️ Step 3: Configure Incremental Refresh Policy

Once you’ve loaded your filtered table to the model:

1. Go to Model view → right-click sales table → Incremental refresh.
2. Configure settings as follows:
   • Store data for 5 years
   • Refresh 7 days
   • Enable Detect data changes using the ModifiedDate column

☁️ Step 4: Publish to Power BI Service

Publish your report to Power BI workspace

• The first refresh loads all partitions (initial load).
• Subsequent refreshes will only update recent ones.

🧭 Conclusion

Incremental Refresh is a game-changer for Power BI users. By refreshing only new or updated data, it delivers faster performance, smarter resource usage, and effortless scalability. With just a few setup steps, you can transform complex data refreshes into a smooth, automated process, keeping your dashboards up to date and your insights real-time.