Open a BI table when you need to change its name, work through its columns or point it at another table. This page covers the popup around that work: its tabs, saving and discarding your changes, what happens when someone else saved first, and replacing or deleting the table. The column settings themselves are described in BI table columns: labels, formats and summarization.
Open a BI table
In the model's BI tables panel, double-click the table, or right-click it and choose Open. Clicking the other table's name on a relationship row opens it too.
The popup opens on the Bi Table tab. While it loads it shows Loading bi table; when the table cannot be read it shows Failed to load bi table. Close and reopen the popup, and reload the page if it keeps failing.
To create a table in the first place, start from the core-table picker (Create a BI table from a core table); this editor takes over once the table exists.
The tabs and the footer
Bi Table holds the table's name and its columns table.
Preview shows the table's rows. It stays disabled until the table has been saved once; its tooltip reads Save the bi table before opening this tab.
Tab names from older versions of the editor (Columns, Relationships, Settings) all open as Bi Table.
The footer carries Revert, Apply and Finish. On Preview the footer is hidden.
Save your changes
Change the Name or edit the columns.
Click Apply to save without closing the popup. It appears when there is something to save.
Click Finish to save and close in one step; when nothing is unsaved, it closes directly.
Click Revert to discard your changes and restore the last saved name and columns. It appears next to Apply while there are changes.
The toast reads Bi table saved, or Column changes saved when only column settings changed. Column edits are saved before the name, and a failed column save stops the save with your changes still in place.
The name is required: an empty name blocks the save with Bi table name is required, and it also blocks tab switches. A save on a popup with no saved table yet reads Bi table is not saved yet.
Switch tabs with unsaved changes
Switching tabs checks the tab you are on first.
If a required field is empty you stay where you are, and a Validation Error notification reads Please complete all required fields before navigating (or Please complete all required fields before finishing when you clicked Finish).
Otherwise the Unsaved Changes dialog asks You have unsaved changes. How would you like to proceed? and offers Save & Continue, Discard & Continue and Cancel. Discard & Continue is not offered while the table is still being created, and a failed save keeps you on the tab.
If someone else saved first
Saves carry the version you loaded. When someone saved the table after that, the save does not go through and a dialog opens:
The title reads This BI table was changed by someone else., with "Reload to see their version, or overwrite it with yours."
Reload loads their version; what you were editing is replaced by what is on the server. Overwrite saves your version on top of theirs.
The dialog waits for one of the two choices. The same dialog appears for relationship changes, naming the relationship instead (Relationships and the core table).
Note
Reload replaces your edits with the version on the server. Overwrite keeps your version.
Original table, Replace and Delete
The Bi Table tab keeps three actions beside the name.
Original table opens the table this BI table reads from, in the Lake or the Warehouse. Its tooltips read Open original table, Loading table… and Original table is unavailable; it is disabled while the table loads or when it cannot be found.
Replace points the BI table at another core table and keeps its name, id, measures and relationships; columns are matched by name. The tooltip reads Replace table with...: keep this BI table and read another core table. It is not offered for a table opened from a report, and it stays disabled while the popup has unsaved changes (Save or discard your changes first.). For the review and the undo, see Replace a table's source.
Delete deletes the BI table. It is enabled once the table is saved; before that its tooltip reads Save the bi table before it can be deleted. For a saved table it reads Permanently delete this bi table. This action cannot be undone. The confirmation is titled Delete bi table, asks Permanently delete this bi table? This action cannot be undone., and its confirm button reads Delete; the popup closes when the delete finishes.
Warning
Deleting cannot be undone: the table's columns and relationships go with it. Measures are not deleted.
Before the first save
Until the table has been saved once, some surfaces in and around the popup ask for a save first:
Columns: Save the bi table first to configure columns.
Preview: Save the bi table before using preview.
Relationships: Save the bi table before managing relationships.
Questions, answered
How do I save without closing the popup?
Click Apply. It saves the name and the columns and keeps the popup open, and it appears while there is something to save. Finish saves and closes in one step, and simply closes when nothing is unsaved.
Where are Apply and Revert?
They appear only while there are unsaved changes; Finish is always in the footer. On Preview the footer is hidden entirely, so switch back to Bi Table to save.
Why did a dialog appear when I switched tabs?
You had unsaved changes. The Unsaved Changes dialog offers Save & Continue, Discard & Continue and Cancel; while the table is still being created only Save & Continue is offered. If the tab you are leaving has a missing required field, you stay on it and see a Validation Error notification instead.
What happens if someone else saved the table while I was editing?
The save opens This BI table was changed by someone else. Choose Reload to load their version and drop what you were editing, or Overwrite to save your version on top of theirs. The dialog waits for your choice.
Can I delete a table that was never saved?
No. Delete is enabled only once the table is saved; until then its tooltip reads Save the bi table before it can be deleted. Save the table first, then delete it.
Where can I see the table this BI table reads from?
Click Original table beside the name. It opens the bound table in the Lake or the Warehouse. It is disabled while that table loads (Loading table…) and when it cannot be resolved (Original table is unavailable).
What happens to measures when I rename a BI table?
The rename rewrites the measures that reference the table by name and re-checks them. It is refused when a live measure already has the new name (BI table name "<name>" collides with measure "<name>"; rename the measure first.), when row-level security custom SQL still names the table, and when more than 500 measures would need rewriting in one save.
Is my work saved automatically?
No. Your edits stay in the popup until you click Apply or Finish. Until then the popup counts as having unsaved changes, so closing it asks you to confirm first.
Why does the name show an error only after I press something?
Validation runs when you save, finish or switch tabs, and the error stays hidden until then. Once a check fails, the field reads Bi table name is required until the name is filled in.