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Disable Rerun of All Previous Steps in Query Editor Preview

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on 03 Apr 2018 03:06:35

An option whether to rerun all previous steps would save time when nothing has changed from previous steps. Currently, if queries become complicated with multiple sources, it can take up to 5 minutes for preview to refresh before allowing further edits in Query Editor. Since none of the previous steps changed, this slows work down immensely.

Posted as an Need Help issue originally:
https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Query-Editor-preview-reloads-all-previous-steps-after-an-edit/m-p/386878#M176159

Comments (7)
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Jeff Robson on 20 Aug 2020 09:08:55

RE: Disable Rerun of All Previous Steps in Query Editor Preview

I agree! For large queries, it would be so useful to just read the first 1,000 rows once, then do all your manipulations using this data set rather than having to load the entire data set every single time you make any tiny change to your query steps. I estimate I spend about 80% of my day just waiting for Power Query!! This slows down development immensely!

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Power BI User on 06 Jul 2020 00:03:59

RE: Disable Rerun of All Previous Steps in Query Editor Preview

I support this

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amh on 05 Jul 2020 23:49:40

RE: Disable Rerun of All Previous Steps in Query Editor Preview

This is essential. So painful when working on a complex data model. Sometimes I start working on a new step, cancel out of it as I change my mind and then have to watch it recalculate which is >10mins as some of my earlier steps involve UNIONing 6 csv extracts. Given the preview is a limited number of rows, it should be very easy to cache each step and not have to re-run it each time. I've up-voted every related topic and am surprised to see these ideas dont have >100 votes.

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Power BI User on 05 Jul 2020 23:45:49

RE: Disable Rerun of All Previous Steps in Query Editor Preview

I agree that this is a big problem. I'm writing this now while the query refreshes.

I have a single, small data source and a very long complex query, and have the same problem.

The feature would particularly be good when creating new queries or adding steps to the end of the query as none of the previous data could have changed.

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Power BI User on 05 Jul 2020 23:41:24

RE: Disable Rerun of All Previous Steps in Query Editor Preview

I agree - makes maintaining complex solutions virtually unworkable at my clients

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Power BI User on 05 Jul 2020 23:40:49

RE: Disable Rerun of All Previous Steps in Query Editor Preview

Totally agree! This would be a major time saver for large projects. ( +100 custom fields )

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Dan Thompson on 05 Jul 2020 23:30:01

RE: Disable Rerun of All Previous Steps in Query Editor Preview

This drives me nuts - especially if you simply rename the step in the Query editor, nothing has changed, so please don't re-load all preview - Please give us the option of choosing when to reload previews, and only load partial view of data, so that we can run a final 'check all steps' once the powerquery is totally complete.