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Configure ADBC or ODBC driver for Power BI

Preview

This feature is in Public Preview.

This page explains how to configure which driver your Power BI connections use. While Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC) is the default driver for all new Power BI connections to Databricks data sources, older connections continue to use Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), unless you manually update them to ADBC.

The Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC) driver is a modern, columnar API standard designed for analytical applications, enabling efficient data transfer between databases and client tools using the Apache Arrow format. For the latest updates to the ADBC driver, see the changelog.

To use the ADBC driver, use Power BI Desktop 2.145.1105.0 or above.

important

You must use only one driver type per semantic model. Configure every Databricks connection within a semantic model to either ADBC or ODBC.

Databricks continues to enhance this connector and add new capabilities. Upgrade to the latest version, try it out, and Submit product feedback.

Switch existing connections to ADBC​

Some existing Power BI connections continue to use the ODBC driver unless you manually update them. You can switch individual dashboards to use ADBC by editing the implementation.

To switch an existing connection to the ADBC driver for a specific dashboard:

  1. Open the desired dashboard in Power BI.
  2. Click Transform Data.
  3. Click Advanced Editor in the Query option section.
  4. Specify Implementation="2.0" to switch to the ADBC driver. 
    let
        Source = DatabricksMultiCloud.Catalogs("<instance-name>.cloud.databricks.net", "/sql/1.0/warehouses/<sql-warehouse-id>",
         [Catalog=null, Database=null, EnableAutomaticProxyDiscovery=null, Implementation="2.0"]),
        powerbi_Database = Source{[Name="powerbi",Kind="Database"]}[Data],
        default_Schema = powerbi_Database{[Name="default",Kind="Schema"]}[Data],
        dashboard_data_Table = default_Schema{[Name="dashboard_data",Kind="Table"]}[Data]
    in
        dashboard_data_Table

Switch back to ODBC​

If you prefer to use ODBC instead of ADBC for new connections, you have two options:

  • If you want to use the ODBC driver for a specific connection in Power BI Desktop or Power BI Service, select default as the Implementation.
  • If you want to continue to use the ODBC driver for all new connections in Power BI, disable the ADBC feature preview to restore ODBC in Power BI Desktop.

To use the ODBC driver for all new connections:

  1. On Power BI Desktop, click File > Options and settings > Options.
  2. Click Preview Feature.
  3. Clear Use new Databricks connector implementations.

If you want to configure a specific connection to use the ODBC driver, set default as the Implementation. See the steps outlined in Switch existing connections to ADBC.