In most cases, when the incremental refresh does not work in Power BI, it is caused by misconfigurations in the settings or problems regarding the data source and partitioning configuration. Below are some of the lapses and their fixes, which will assist you in identifying the problem and rectifying it:
Check on Range Parameters: In Power BI, Incremental refresh is possible when a couple of parameters that are usually called RangeStart or RangeEnd ranges that seek to partition the data by dates are set up; these parameters will define the ranges within which such data will be secluded so each one will fall in its respective compartment. These parameters should be of type date or datetime and should be provided both in the configuration of the table under Power BI in addition to the Power Query editor. If these parameters have yet to be provided, or they have been provided wrongly or are not related to your dataset, the incremental refresh will not work as designed.
Ensure That The Data Source In Use Is Supported For Incremental Refresh: Incremental refresh requires a data source where query folding is applicable, which means that the filters can be pushed down to the level of the data sources. Such is the case with SQL databases and many other data sources with similar structures. However, if the integration consists of files or other data sources that are incapable of query folding, then Power BI will simply not allow for incremental refresh. You can establish whether query folding is supported by clicking on every applied step in Power Query and checking if there is the option of “View Native Query.” If there is this option, it means query folding is not possible, and so incremental refresh may not work as it is supposed to.
Modify Refresh Policy and Partitions: At times, the issue may be with the refresh policy itself or may be due to some errors in partition configuring. Check if you are within the scope of defined data and if you have a retention policy that is attainable by your volume of data and refresh rate. For instance, in cases where the dataset size is large, refreshes may take a long time, or errors may occur. In addition, ensure that you are testing the refresh settings in Power BI Desktop with a sample that is smaller in size, adjusting it to be incorporated into the Power BI service, as this aids in checking that the incremental refresh system has partitioned the data correctly.
Fixing these variables—parameter configuration, data source integration, and refresh settings—should help you pinpoint the problem and make incremental refresh work properly. In case of further difficulties, refresh logs within the Power BI service would help analyze the errors captured during the refresh.
