Copies data into the model's in-memory cache, so a refresh is needed before changes appear. It is Power BI's most used storage mode and what a new Power BI Desktop solution starts with.
Read more: Microsoft Learn
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains Import mode in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- Power BI
Microsoft's analytics and reporting service. It reaches data held on-premises through the on-premises data gateway.
- Storage mode
Set separately on each table of a Power BI semantic model: Import copies data in, DirectQuery asks the source at query time, Direct Lake reads Delta tables in OneLake directly, and Dual can work either way.
- Power BI Desktop
A free Windows program where authors connect to sources, shape and model data, and design reports before publishing them to the Power BI service. Dashboards are not made here.
Related terms
- Calculated table
Instead of coming from a data source, this kind of model table is defined by a DAX formula. It's always held in Import mode and recomputed on each refresh, which makes it handy for staging intermediate results or duplicating a table for role-playing.
- Cardinality
How many different values a column holds. Columns with many distinct values compress badly in Import mode, so cutting them down makes the model smaller; this is separate from the cardinality of a relationship, such as one-to-many.