Publish produces duplicate dataset with different name

[KnowNothing]

I have a report in the service called Demo.

The associated dataset is also called Demo.

I created another report called Demo2 that uses the Demo dataset.

My co-worker downloaded Demo2.pbix. 

After she worked on it in her desktop app, she published Demo2.pbix to the service.

I expected that when she published the pbix, it would overwrite Demo2.pbix in the service and its associated dataset would still be my dataset called Demo.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.  In the service, the original Demo2.pbix that she downloaded was unchanged. It does not contain any of her work that she did in the desktop app, and it still uses Demo dataset.  Also, there is a new Demo2.pbix in the service that contains her new work, but its associated dataset is called Demo2.  

So, now we have 2 datasets in the service called Demo and Demo2.  We also have 3 reports in the service: Demo, Demo2, and Demo2.  That's right, there are two reports with the same name, and they use different datasets.  One uses the Demo2 dataset, and the other uses my Demo dataset.

What I expected, and want, to happen is that, when she publishes Demo2, it overwrites the Demo2.pbix in the service and does not create a new dataset called Demo2.  I want the Demo2.pbix in the service to contain all of her work in her desktop version and be associated with my Demo dataset.

Please help.  This is quite frustrating.  It's seems like such a simple thing to expect from Power BI.

Thank you for your time.

[Anand24]

Hi @KnowNothing ,

What you expected should be the case. When your colleague used the Demo2.pbix(pointing to demo1 dataset), updated it and published back, it should over-write demo2.

So the issue seems strange if everything you told is appropriate.

2 scenarios can be :

1. Your colleague changed the data source in demo2.

2. Your colleague downloaded demo1, renamed to demo2 and made changes and published.

If the abive 2 scenarios don't hold true and still the issue persists, you should contact MS Support here.

Give a thumbs up if this post helped you in any way and mark this post as solution if it solved your query !!!

[v-stephen-msft]

Hi @KnowNothing ,

Sorry, according to what I have learned, Power BI Service is designed like this. I think you could try to create reports by letting your colleagues use the shared Demo dataset and share them on the Service. In this way, your colleague's Demo2 report also uses the original Demo data set, and the second Demo data set will not be produced.

Reference: Create reports based on datasets from different workspaces

          Connect to datasets in the Power BI service from Power BI Desktop

Best Regards,

Stephen Tao

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

[KnowNothing]

More information:

1. The dataset called Demo is comprised of several Excel files.

2. All of the Excel files are on a SharePoint drive.