Power BI Q&A Assistant - Rename Columns

[mpgoggin]

How can I force PowerBI to rebuild/update the index for the Q&A Assistant?

If I change a column name after first adding a Q&A viz, I get the "Something's wrong..." message as it can't find the original field name.

Thanks! 

Mike G

[v-zhangti]

Hi, @mpgoggin 

Some visuals may be broken when you rename some table names and field names. You have to rebuild the report manually, although this is really inconvenient.

Unfortunately, this is by design. Power BI is now unable to achieve what you need . You can submit an idea for it at   https://ideas.powerbi.com/ideas/   and wait for users with the same needs as you to vote for you to help make it happen as soon as possible.

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _Charlotte

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

[mpgoggin]

Hi,

My issue isn't with broken visualizations - although usually they handle renames a-ok.

My issue is specifically with the Q&A assistant, which, the first time you add the Q&A assistant, builds an index of your columns.

- If I change a column name, the Q&A assistant breaks.

- If I delete the visualization and add a new Q&A assistant visual, it will still break and there is no way to make the Q&A (that I can see) rebuild the columnar index it uses in its semantic layer.

The only workaround I have is to make sure I save two copies of the PBIX file: One before adding the Q&A assistant, and another to use the assistant. If it turns out that I should rename a column or add a data source, I need to go back the original file, make the changes, and then add the Q&A assistant visualization.

This is painful for a few reasons:

- Any changes to the PBIX file have to made in two places  so that I can go back and add Q&A for the first time 

- Any new fields added won't be in the index unless its a first time using the visualization.

- Adding semantics to the assistant (adding synonyms, turning fields on or off for semantic analysis) takes time and find myself doing the same task over and over

.

It would be great if there is a way to force the Q&A assistant to rebuild the index. At least I wouldn't have to maintain a backup file. Super great if it maintained by semantic edits (where applicable) when doing so.

I'm new to using Q&A and trying to find the best way to include it in my work.

Thanks,

MG

[mpgoggin · Accepted solution]

Well, it looks like this is improved for a couples of reasons:

- This weeks update on PowerBI is suddently giving me more flexibility on renaming and removal of base words from the Q&A index. Seems like the update addressed the above isseus

- I learned about the reset Q&A cache in options. This would have been helpful for me to know about previously.

All good here