Table of Contents

Load and save model metadata

  • 2026-09-23
  • Morten Lønskov
Applies to:
  • ✔ Tabular Editor 2
  • Tabular Editor 3
    ❌ Desktop
    ✔ Business
    ✔ Enterprise

Tabular Editor reads model metadata into memory from a file, a folder or a server, and writes it back to the same place or to a new one.

Note

Metadata defines tables, measures and relationships but contains no data, and loading a model doesn't load the rows in its tables. See Table Preview and Advanced refresh for working with data.

Loading a model

The File menu with the Open submenu expanded, listing Model from File, Model from DB, Model from Folder, File and Import from Metric View YAML alongside the Save, Save As and Save to Folder commands

Source Command
A Model.bim or .bim file File > Open > Model from File...
A folder structure, in either the JSON or the Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL) format File > Open > Model from Folder...
An Analysis Services or Power BI XMLA database File > Open > Model from DB... (Ctrl+Shift+O)
A running instance of Power BI Desktop File > Open > Model from DB..., or start Tabular Editor from Power BI Desktop's External Tools ribbon

A .bim file must be Compatibility Level 1200 or newer. Earlier levels use the older XML-based format, which Tabular Editor doesn't open.

For everything Tabular Editor recognizes, including the supporting file types that aren't model metadata, see Supported file types.

Tip

File > Recent Tabular Models reopens a model you had open before.

Saving a model

File > Save (Ctrl+S) writes the model back where you loaded it from. A model loaded from a file goes back to that file. A model loaded from a folder goes back into that folder, in the format it already uses. A model loaded from a database is deployed back to that database.

To write a model somewhere else, or in a different format:

  • File > Save As... saves the model metadata as a single .bim file.
  • File > Save to Folder... saves the model metadata as a folder structure, in either the JSON or the TMDL format, depending on the serialization mode under Tools > Preferences > File Formats > Save-to-folder.
Important

A model loaded from a legacy JSON folder structure is saved in that same format when you use File > Save, even if your preferences say TMDL. The format changes only when you use File > Save to Folder.... See TMDL.

Reloading

File > Reload from disk discards your changes since the last save and reloads the metadata from the source. If you have unsaved changes, a Reload model metadata? prompt appears first. The command label depends on the model source:

Model source Command
A file or folder Reload from disk
A model in workspace mode Reload from disk. The model reloads from its files and redeploys to the workspace database.
Analysis Services or Power BI, outside workspace mode Reload from server
No model loaded Reload from source, disabled

In Tabular Editor 3.26 and earlier, and in Tabular Editor 2, the command is called File > Revert.

In Tabular Editor 3.27.0 and later, when an agent, a script or a git pull changes the metadata files of the open model, the model is reloaded, after a prompt if you have unsaved changes. See Auto-reload from disk.

Warning

Back up your model metadata before you let any tool write to it, Tabular Editor included. A save overwrites the source, and reloading can't bring back changes you've already saved.

Next steps