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When working on a Power BI Project (PBIP) with a semantic model with Direct Lake tables, Power BI Desktop needs to connect to a semantic model in a Fabric workspace, also termed as a remote semantic model. Remote modeling is live editing, as all changes you make are immediately applied to the semantic model in the workspace. However, unlike live edit, you can save your semantic model and report definitions, or metadata, to your local PBIP files that can later be deployed to a Fabric workspace using a deployment mechanism such as Fabric Git Integration. Learn more about remote modeling with Power BI Project (PBIP).
To support professional enterprise development workflows of semantic models in Direct Lake mode, you can export the definition of your semantic model after opening it for editing, which provides a local copy of the semantic model and report metadata that you can use with Fabric deployment mechanisms such as Fabric Git Integration. The Power BI Desktop report view becomes enabled letting you view and edit the local report. Publish directly from Power BI Desktop isn't available but you can publish using Git integration. The Save button is also enabled to save the local model metadata and report in the Power BI Project folder.
Export to a Power BI Project
To support professional enterprise development workflows of semantic models in Direct Lake mode, you can export the definition of your semantic model after opening it for editing, which provides a local copy of the semantic model and report metadata that you can use with Fabric deployment mechanisms such as Fabric Git Integration. The Power BI Desktop report view becomes enabled letting you view and edit the local report, publish directly from Power BI Desktop isn't available but you can publish using Git integration. The Save button is also enabled to save the local model metadata and report in the Power BI Project folder.
Navigate to File > Export > Power BI Project and export it as a Power BI Project file (PBIP).
By default, the PBIP file is exported to the %USERPROFILE%\Microsoft Fabric\repos\[Workspace Name] folder. However, you can choose a different location during the export process.
Selecting Export opens the folder containing the PBIP files of the exported semantic model along with an empty report.
After exporting, you should open a new instance of Power BI Desktop and open the exported PBIP file to continue editing with a Power BI Project. When you open the PBIP file, Power BI Desktop prompts you to either create a new semantic model in a Fabric workspace, or select an existing semantic model for remote modeling.
Remote modeling with a Power BI Project
When working on a Power BI Project (PBIP) with a semantic model that can't run on the local Power BI Analysis Services engine, such as Direct Lake mode, Power BI Desktop requires to be connected to a semantic model in a Fabric workspace, a remote semantic model. Like live edit, all changes you make are immediately applied to the semantic model in the workspace. However, unlike live edit, you can save your semantic model and report definitions to local PBIP files that can later be deployed to a Fabric workspace using a deployment mechanism such as Fabric Git Integration.
Note
Semantic models in Direct Lake mode, when exported to a Git repository using Fabric Git Integration, can be edited using Power BI Desktop. To do so, make sure at least one report is connected to the semantic model, then open the report's exported definition.pbir file to edit both the report and the semantic model.
Open your Power BI Project
When opening a Power BI Project (PBIP) that require a remote semantic model, Power BI Desktop prompts you to either create a new semantic model or select an existing semantic model in a Fabric workspace.
If you select an existent semantic model and the definition differs, Power BI Desktop warns you before overwriting, as shown in the following image.
Note
You can select the same semantic model you exported the PBIP from. However, the best practice when working with a PBIP that requires a remote semantic model is for each developer to work on their own private remote semantic model to avoid conflicts with changes from other developers.
Selecting the title bar displays both the PBIP file location and the remote semantic model living in a Fabric workspace, shown in the following image.
A local setting will be saved in the Power BI Project files with the configured semantic model, next time you open the PBIP, you won't see the prompt, and Fabric semantic model will be overwritten with the metadata from the semantic model in the Power BI Project files.
Change remote semantic model
During the preview, if you wish to switch the remote semantic model in the PBIP you must navigate to the \*.SemanticModel\.pbi\localSettings.json file. There, you can either modify the remoteModelingObjectId property to the ID of the semantic model you want to connect to, or remove the property altogether. Upon reopening the PBIP, Power BI Desktop connects to the new semantic model or prompts you to create or select an existing semantic model.
Note
The configuration described in this section is intended solely for local development and should not be used for deployment across different environments.