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Disable Background Data Preview Refreshes Global Option

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Greg on 12 May 2017 03:13:37

Currently there is the option to disable background data previews in the "CURRENT WORKBOOK" section, but I find myself having to do this in every single workbook to prevent PQ from keeping my processor pegged out at 100% constantly. It would be great if there was a global option to disable these so there was no need to disable on a per-workbook basis.

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Stephen Fog on 06 Jul 2020 00:03:16

RE: Disable Background Data Preview Refreshes Global Option

This is especially needed for SAP BW or SAP HANA connections which uses a lot of memory. The preview creates a background process in SAP that uses a lot of memory (small queries can quickly use 1 GB of data even with the latest SAP connectors). Applying the query will use the same amount. If this is a large query - using up to 4GB of memory, one user could quickly use 8GB of memory.

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Imke Feldmann on 05 Jul 2020 23:15:31

RE: Disable Background Data Preview Refreshes Global Option

See this article why this can considerably slow down your queries: https://blog.crossjoin.co.uk/2016/12/05/power-query-power-bi-and-the-allow-data-preview-to-download-in-the-background-option/

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Imke Feldmann on 05 Jul 2020 23:15:06

RE: Disable Background Data Preview Refreshes Global Option

It drags your laptops battery empty as well!

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Imke Feldmann on 05 Jul 2020 22:56:40

RE: Disable Background Data Preview Refreshes Global Option

Support!
Or change the default-setting to "disabled".

This would also show a heart for PowerBI newbies who are even not aware of this setting and are wasting precious time with unnecessary wait.