How do you avoid Power BI Semantic Model Error when column headers are modified (add/remove/edit)

For anyone connecting Smartsheet with Power BI and using sheets as sematic model, and set a scheduled refresh, you might have encountered errors where when a column has been modified, whether add or removed or renamed, the refresh is halted until.

My usual fix is to download the PBIX and update source (Navigation) to reflect the new columns.

Is there a better way to prevent this error or PBI auto fix itself when a column has been changed?

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Isaac A.

Hi @heyjay!

Personally, I haven’t worked directly with Power BI, but based on what I’ve seen in other threads from the Power BI Community, it sounds like you’re on the right track with how you’re handling the issue.

Typically, when connecting to a data source like Smartsheet, any deleted, renamed, or newly added columns can break existing dependencies in your model, which often leads to errors during refresh. To avoid this, it’s important to be aware of how those columns are used in your queries or visualizations.

As far as I know, Power BI doesn’t currently offer a feature to auto-correct schema changes like renamed or removed columns.

That said, I recommend double-checking your scenario in the Power BI Community:

👉 Power BI Community Forum

You can also review this Microsoft guide on Connecting to Smartsheet with Power BI.

I hope this helps!

Cheers,
Isaac.

heyjay

Hey! Thanks for the recommendations.

There are other people responsible for the sheets and I cannot control them whether they need to edit stuff. Im just glad I get notifications for errors.

I've been checking BI forums for issues similar to this, but I thought of asking it here being the semantic model source if Smartsheet.

Im still open to hear other Smartsheet users workaround other than the normal process.

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