Need to merge separate pbix files (separate data sources, with custom measures, visuals, etc.)

[olmie_fresh]

I'm running Power BI Desktop (for Report Server). I need to merge two separate pbix files into one (let's call them File A + File B into (merged File C). They have each have several separate data sources, with renaming, adding columns, measures, etc.

I tried copying over each dataset (from File B into File A) one by one using "Advanced Editor" (copying & pasting "M" code text for data import / transformations) to copy [then update the relationships], but then when I attempted to copy over my visuals into File A, they were all broken because none of my Measures from File B existed.

Is it seriously this complicated to merge two pbix workbooks? It's like I literally have to re-do every step of creating File B over to merge it to File A.

[v-venuppu]

Hi @olmie_fresh ,

I wanted to check whether if you had a chance to raise a Ideas forum and resolve this issue? If so, please consider sharing the solution in the forum and marking it as accepted, this will help other members find the answer more easily.

Thank you.

[v-venuppu]

Hi @olmie_fresh ,

I hope this information is helpful. Please let me know if you have any further questions or if you'd like to discuss this further. If this answers your question, please accept it as a solution and give it a 'Kudos' so other community members with similar problems can find a solution faster.

Thank you.

Regards,

Rama U.

[v-venuppu]

Hi @olmie_fresh ,

I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. If my response has addressed your query, please accept it as a solution and give a 'Kudos' so other members can easily find it.

Thank you.

Regards,

Rama U.

[v-venuppu]

Hi @olmie_fresh ,

May I ask if you have resolved this issue? If so, please mark the helpful reply and accept it as the solution. This will be helpful for other community members who have similar problems to solve it faster.

Thank you.

Regards,

Rama U.

[olmie_fresh]

No, this post did not. The pbip solution MIGHT have worked with some additional detail - for example - there is zero explation of how to combine the reports' separate "model.bim" files and then re-combine them into a single pbix report. I've resorted to copying the M for definitions, then manually recreating measures one at a time. Tedious, but not as tediuous as trying to follow cryptic and incomplete Fabric posts. Why doesn't Microsoft just add basic functionality for this (and even more basic stuff: like default values for "between" date slicers) - wasted most of my day attempting various custome solutions, none of which work.

[v-venuppu · Accepted solution]

Hi @olmie_fresh  ,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Fabric Community.

Thank you @Deku for the prompt response.

Sorry for the inconvenience. We can understand what you are going through.

Totally agrees with you on this.You have already gone above and beyond trying to make this work, and it’s frustrating that something so basic (merging two .pbix files without breaking measures/visuals) does not have native support in power bi. This is a common problem for developers working across multiple reports or migrating legacy builds.

I recommend submitting your detailed feedback and ideas through Microsoft's official feedback channels, such as the Fabric Ideas - Microsoft Fabric Community.Feedback submitted through these channels is frequently reviewed by the product teams and can contribute to meaningful improvements.

Thank you.

[Deku]

If you use pbip you would be able to copy paste all your measures

[olmie_fresh]

So, I saved files A and B as pbip's. When I go into "Advanced Editor", it's the same M code text as before (nothing I see that contains anything "copy and paste"-able for measures, etc.). Is there something more to this you might explain or direct my attention to?

[Deku]

Save as TMDL format. Open the definition folder. Go to measure table, copy all the measuresnof the entire definition and copy to the other model definition 

Or can do in TMDL view

https://www.youtube.com/live/cosXZw0GcRU?si=Cqfv_sE6aT7dmNC1

[olmie_fresh]

I'm looking at all of the components that were automatically generated when I saved at pbip; there is no "measures" table, the only element that has reference to measures is a "model.bim" file (inside of "<FileName>SemanticModel"  directory which appears to be in xml format) and I would not expect to copy and paste cleanly without an in-depth understanding of the format. The TMDL view looks interesting, but unfortunately, I don't really have the 90 minutes to watch their sprawling video. I'll just re-create an entire pbix step-by-step like a mindless task-rabbit.  It's hard to believe MS has no utility to do something so fundemental. More disturbing, this is my second very specific post on Fabric, and both times I get responses that feel like vague AI output, neither of which helped resolve the specific issue at hand.

[Deku]

Model.bim is the TMSL definition of the semantic model. This is a single large JSON file. TMSL is a bit like YAML, and each table is split into a separate file with a definition folder. So with TMSL you are able to copy entire table; powerquery definition, columns, measure and all, or just the measures