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Have a backward compatibility when possible

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Alain on 05 Jun 2016 22:12:30

Each PowerBI version is incompatible with the prior one even if new features are not used.
It enforces an organisation to move to the new version at the same time when files are shared
IA PBIX file made with a new version should be able to be opened with the prior version when new features are not used.

Comments (8)
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Hank Costner on 20 Aug 2024 15:54:48

RE: Have a backward compatibility when possible

2024 and backward compatibility doesn't seem to be a priority. I have a report that has worked well, unchanged, for years; however, with one of the updates to Power BI this year, it now throws a circular reference error. I have to have two versions of Power BI on my desktop now to compensate

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Mahmood Yahyavi Azad on 01 Jun 2023 02:39:26

RE: Have a backward compatibility when possible

2023 and this issue still exists...need this resolved.

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Chris Power BI User on 06 Jul 2020 00:18:15

RE: Have a backward compatibility when possible

In my organisation updates are only rolled out once per 6 months or so. Now working at home due to the Covid pandemic I've been constantly working with the latest version. Coming back at work now we're still on an old version so all the reports that we've been working on from home are incompatible and not usable anymore until an update is rolled out. But as said this is quite a sluggish organisation so I'm not expecting any updates for the near future. Need backward compatibility hard!

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Mattias on 06 Jul 2020 00:02:40

RE: Have a backward compatibility when possible

I don't get this. I worked on a file 2 hours ago and it worked fine. Trying to open it now gives this message.
Required property 'Connections' not found in JSON. Path '', line 1, position 136

What does it mean, that I have a newer version suddenly and my old file doesn't work?

Help....

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Pedro Reis - www.aboutpowerbi.com on 05 Jul 2020 23:53:16

RE: Have a backward compatibility when possible

This topic is the same as this https://ideas.powerbi.com/forums/265200-power-bi-ideas/suggestions/15955765-save-a-powerbi-report-in-compatibility-mode . However, the description is not so accurate as the other topic. Could these be merged into a single topic?

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Travis Hine on 05 Jul 2020 23:43:44

RE: Have a backward compatibility when possible

This is becoming a big issue for us. We often have users come to us with content they have created in the latest version of Power BI desktop, looking for it to be hosted on Power BI Report Server (Aug 2018). They are never happy to be told they will need to re-author the whole thing in an older version.

Even if we could open the report in the Aug 18 version in a somewhat broken state, then fix what we need to, this would be a massive improvement on the current situation.

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Matt Miller on 05 Jul 2020 23:42:18

RE: Have a backward compatibility when possible

This needs to be fixed. It means I can't work on a file at home (most updated version) and then send it to work (older version). This is a huge issue. I work in the govt and we are typically way behind on updating software due to bureaucracy. This make Power BI implementation extremely difficult for a major portion of your target audience.

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Mark Eng on 05 Jul 2020 23:35:58

RE: Have a backward compatibility when possible

how is this even a thing? we have been building reports in Power BI desktop for report server and it seems like Microsoft has deprecated the previous desktop version. I can only open my files in the November 2018 version, which does not have an option to publish to report server.