NEW POST
The new External Tools feature in the July 2020 version of Power BI Desktop unlocked access to calculation groups for Power BI Pro users. Marco shares the news, including two videos to introduce calculation groups and to explain step-by-step how to create your first.
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NEW ARTICLE
Tabular models including Power BI require marking the Date table as a date table, in order to obtain appropriate results with time intelligence calculations. This article (+ video) explains why this setting is required.
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BI-WEEKLY NEWS DIGEST
Latest news
• Power BI Desktop July 2020 - External Tools available!
External Tools is by far the biggest piece of news in Power BI this year. This feature affects – for the better – the work of everyone who creates models with Power BI. You can launch DAX Studio, Tabular Editor, and ALM Toolkit from Power BI. And this is supported, folks; no more hidden tricks required to modify a Power BI model from inside Tabular Editor!
Jul 15, 2020 · Microsoft
• External Tools in Power BI Desktop: what to do if they are missing
Once you get Power BI Desktop July 2020, make sure you install the latest versions of DAX Studio and Tabular Editor to see them in the External Tools ribbon. You must also enable the preview feature, “Store datasets using enhanced metadata format” in the Power BI options. In this video, Adam Saxton clarifies all the steps required and provides guidance in troubleshooting.
Jul 16, 2020 · Guy in a Cube
• DAX Studio 2.11.2
Get the latest version of DAX Studio to enable the integration with External Tools. The last update also fixes issues in Query Builder and VertiPaq Analyzer.
Jul 14, 2020 · Darren Gosbell
• Tabular Editor 2.11.6
The latest version of Tabular Editor introduces bug fixes and works correctly with the External Tools feature of Power BI Desktop.
Jul 13, 2020 · Daniel Otykier
• An introduction to Tabular Editor
Alex Power published the content of the session, "An introduction to Tabular Editor" in a GitHub repository with many screenshots and visual explanations. Another useful resource to start your journey with Tabular Editor.
Jul 16, 2020 · Alex Power
• Power BI Desktop July 2020 - Everything else
The Power BI Desktop July 2020 release also includes gradients legend, enhancements to Q&A, a new Azure Maps visual, and support for new financial functions (see more in other news). If you are excited about External Tools like we are, you might miss the other good news.
Jul 15, 2020 · Microsoft
• 49 new financial functions in DAX
Power BI Desktop added 49 new financial functions to DAX, moving the total to 51. We only had 2 financial functions in DAX before: XIRR and XNPV. The new functions come from Excel, even though we still don't have all 55 Excel financial functions: FVSCHEDULE, IRR, MIRR, and NPV are missing. The DAX functions are already available on Azure Analysis Services and Power BI, but not yet in Analysis Services on-premises nor in Power Pivot.
Jul 15, 2020 · DAX Guide
• Archive Power BI Reports with Power Automate
Marcus Wegener describes how to create a monthly backup of a Power BI Report (including its dataset) by using Power Automate. This is an example of a "no-code" solution, even though some is required. Well, just some JSON and a function to call, but after all you also write function calls in Excel, so there.
Jul 5, 2020 · Marcus Wegener
• Editing Power Query / M in VSCode
Visual Studio Code introduces a language extension for the Power Query / M language. Ben Gribaudo built Data Mashup Cmdlets to open the content of Power BI and Excel files, editing the M code straight in the model. No, not supported, but all the tools started this way: DAX Studio, Tabular Editor... Sounds familiar?
Jul 16, 2020 · Ben Gribaudo
• Migration from Analysis Services Multidimensional to Tabular
Sorry, no good news yet. But Chris Webb – who now works for Microsoft – is actively looking for feedback provided by companies using Multidimensional cubes in production. We still think that Multidimensional on Azure would make sense, but it's your feedback that can dictate where this goes.
Jul 12, 2020 · Chris Webb

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