Adding a column to a Fabric sematic model table

[Fabricator]

When I add a new column to a table (in Fabric Lakehouse) it does not appear when I refresh the Fabric semantic model. I have to go to 'edit tables', remove the table, and then add it again, causing me to lose all the relationships I created for that table.

Is there a better way to do this?

[MarcoDa28]

Hello,

I have the same problem using Microsoft Fabric. I added a field in my warehouse, but it's not visible in an existing (and refreshed) semantic model. I work in the Fabric Web Environnement. Did you find a way to refresh the semantic model, including the structure, without having to delete and recreate the semantic model and losing the relationship and mesures?

Thank you,
Marco

[JP_Wisco]

I've discovered that I'm now getting consistent results opening the semantic model in the Fabric web environment and then clicking the "Edit tables" option from the ribbon. This causes Fabric to fetch a fresh version of the schema. I'll just confirm my tables without adding or dropping any from my semantic model and it refreshes my semantic model view.

edit: spelling

[MarcoDa28]

Thank you very much for your quick response. I've already tried to do this, but the field still doesn't appear in the model. The table in question, which is in a Warehouse, is grayed out in the screen you mentioned because I have measures inside. Is this also the case for you?

Thank you,

Marco

[JP_Wisco]

Have you tried clicking the refresh icon on the right side of the search bar? I was working with a similar issue yesterday and after posting the response discovered that simply opening and confirming the tables didn't always get a full refresh of the schema. I think hitting the refresh icon before confirming may have helped. My other method is hopping into a blank Power BI report, dragging a few fields from the target table onto the canvas, and then hitting the visuals refresh button. The live query from the report seems to force the semantic model to update.

[JP_Wisco]

Try editing a Power BI report that is built on your semantic model.

My understanding of the documentation that @v-jialongy-msft linked is that Fabric live or direct lake semantic models can't really be refreshed because they simply pass through the source data. Trying to edit and refresh a Power BI report that touches that source data prompts the semantic model to update its schema for the fields flowing through. 

Its either something like that or there's just a random amount of time for the semantic model to notice the source table schema has changed.

[v-jialongy-msft]

Hi @Fabricator 

Adding a new column to the table of the data source is part of a schema change for the table.

This is explained in the documentation

Data refresh in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

If you want to refresh the table schema you changed, you can refresh it in Desktop and then republish it to Service.

^{Best Regards,}

^Jayleny

^{If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.}

[Fabricator]

Thanks for the reply.

This is in Fabric. The semantic model was created in Fabric and not published from Desktop.