To keep a Power BI report current automatically, schedule a refresh for the semantic model behind it in Power BI Service. In the workspace, select the model and choose Refresh > Schedule refresh. Before turning on the schedule, verify that Power BI can reach every data source, the required gateway is online and mapped, and the saved credentials are valid. If a refresh fails, start with the model’s refresh history and use its error message to guide the fix.
What scheduled refresh updates
For an imported model, scheduled refresh reloads its data in Power BI Service. The report’s visuals then use the updated model data; scheduling a refresh is not a setting on an individual visual. Refreshing a PBIX in Power BI Desktop is also separate: it updates the local file, not the service schedule. The service performs its own connection using the model’s source configuration and credentials. See Microsoft’s scheduled refresh guidance and Power BI data refresh overview.
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Scheduled refresh is distinct from automatic page refresh. Automatic page refresh is a page-level feature for DirectQuery reports; it is not the mechanism for refreshing an imported model, and Import mode does not support automatic page refresh. Microsoft describes the feature in its Automatic Page Refresh documentation.
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Set up a refresh schedule
Publish the report and its model to a workspace, then configure the model in Power BI Service. The exact sources, connection method, and capacity affect which settings are available.
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- Open the workspace containing the report and select its semantic model.
- Choose Refresh > Schedule refresh.
- Check that the model’s sources are supported for service refresh. Cloud sources may connect directly. If the service cannot reach a source over a direct network connection, configure the appropriate gateway.
- Verify credentials. For a personal gateway or direct connection, check the model settings under Data source credentials. For an enterprise on-premises gateway, ask its administrator to verify the credentials configured for the gateway data source.
- Turn on Configure a refresh schedule, choose the available frequency and time slots, and apply the settings. Keep refresh-failure notifications enabled so that you are alerted when a run fails.
- Optionally select Refresh now to test the connection and source setup. An on-demand refresh does not change the next scheduled time.
A scheduled time is a target, not a guarantee that a run begins on the exact minute. Microsoft says a run targets a start within 15 minutes of its slot, may start up to five minutes early, and can be delayed by as much as one hour when resources are unavailable. These are service timing allowances, not a promise of completion by a particular time. See Microsoft’s scheduling details.
Know the schedule limits
Microsoft’s current product documentation, accessed October 4, 2026, gives these maximum scheduled-refresh frequencies. They are daily ceilings, not a guarantee that every model can complete that many successful refreshes; source access, configuration, and available capacity still matter.
| Power BI deployment | Maximum scheduled refreshes per day |
|---|---|
| Power BI Pro | Up to 8 |
| Power BI Premium Per User (PPU), or supported Premium/Fabric capacity | Up to 48 |
Manual and API-triggered refreshes also consume resources. Consult Microsoft’s scheduled refresh documentation for the current limits and configuration details. A higher-capacity option can raise the documented schedule ceiling, but it does not by itself repair invalid credentials, an offline gateway, or an unsupported source.
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Use the recorded error rather than changing settings at random. In the workspace, select the semantic model and choose Refresh > Refresh history. Check the attempt’s status, start time, duration, and error message. Then follow the relevant branch below.
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Gateway is offline, missing, or not mapped
- In the model settings, inspect Gateway and cloud connections. Confirm that the required gateway is online and that the model’s data source is mapped to the correct gateway connection.
- Ask the gateway administrator to verify that the gateway is current and that the source connection is configured correctly.
- If the failure can be reproduced, an administrator can enable additional gateway logging and export logs for investigation. Microsoft’s guides cover gateway troubleshooting and refresh troubleshooting scenarios.
Credentials have expired or changed
A password change, expiration, or sign-out can invalidate saved credentials. For a personal gateway or direct connection, update them in the model’s settings under Data source credentials. For an enterprise gateway, contact its administrator to check the credentials configured on the gateway rather than changing unrelated model settings. Microsoft explains the credential and connection requirements in its scheduled refresh documentation.
The source or query pattern cannot refresh in the service
Confirm that the source is supported for service refresh and that its connection pattern is compatible. An unsupported source or a dynamic source pattern may prevent refresh. If an incremental refresh is slow or times out, investigate query folding and source query timeouts; incremental refresh uses partitions to limit the data processed in later refreshes, but depends on suitable model and source design. See Microsoft’s pages on data refresh, refresh troubleshooting scenarios, and incremental refresh troubleshooting.
The history says Completed, but results look wrong
Read warnings in refresh history as well as the top-level status. A refresh can complete with warnings while calculations or affected fields still return errors or blanks. Check the warnings and validate the relevant report results instead of treating “Completed” alone as proof that every value is correct. Microsoft describes refresh status and warnings in its data refresh overview.
The schedule is off
Power BI can deactivate a schedule after four consecutive failures or an unrecoverable configuration error that requires an update, such as invalid or expired credentials. Fix the underlying issue first. Then return to Refresh > Schedule refresh, switch the schedule back on, and apply the settings. The schedule can also pause after two months without a visit to a report or dashboard built on the model; visit a related report or dashboard and re-enable the schedule if needed. These conditions and recovery steps are documented by Microsoft Learn.
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Choose the refresh approach that fits the report
The right option depends on whether the model imports data or queries a source live, and how often the report needs new information.
| Approach | What it does | Best fit and key constraint |
|---|---|---|
| Import with scheduled refresh | Loads source data into the semantic model on a service schedule. | Use when the report is built on imported data and periodic updates are sufficient. Check source support, gateway and credential requirements, schedule limits, and required freshness. |
| DirectQuery with automatic page refresh | Refreshes a report page so its visuals can query the source again at an interval. | Use for a DirectQuery report when page-level updates are needed. It is subject to workspace or capacity settings and is not an Import model refresh. |
For the DirectQuery feature’s limitations and settings, see Microsoft’s Automatic Page Refresh documentation.
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