Direct Query Limitations in Power BI

Are you struggling to get past certain limitations while working with Direct Query in Power BI? Today, I want to share a few quick tips to help you go beyond these limitations and maximize your proficiency in this tool.

So, let’s get started.

Tip 1: Common Table Expressions are not generally supported when working with Direct Query in Power BI.  A quick workaround for this would be to re-write your query by including a sub-query.

Tip 2: DAX is available, but there are certain time intelligence DAX features that you cannot use such as every year, month over month, same period, and last year. 

Tip 3: Unlike Direct Query, import mode allows you to access basic transformations. For example, duplicating and changing columns in your data set, splitting your data by delimiters, and replacing values can be done on the SQL side in import mode.

I hope you’ll find these few quick tips helpful on how to get past certain limitations when using Direct Query. If you would like to learn more tips or more about your Azure environment, please click the link below or contact us—we would love to help you grow your business with data and take your business from good to great.