Table of Contents

Load and save model metadata

  • 2026-09-22
  • 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 is the definition of your tables, measures, relationships and so on, not your data. 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 recognises, 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, whether it came from a file, a folder or a database.

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 explicitly use File > Save to folder.... See TMDL.

Reloading

File > Reload from disk discards everything you've changed since your last save and reloads the metadata from the source. For a model you opened from a server, the command reads Reload from server instead, and for a model whose source is not yet known, Reload from source. In Tabular Editor 3.26 and earlier, and in Tabular Editor 2, the command is called File > Revert.

You are asked to confirm only when there is something to lose: with unsaved changes, a Reload model metadata? prompt appears first. The status bar reports the reload while it runs, and says so when it is done.

If an agent, a script or a git pull rewrites the metadata files while you have the model open, Tabular Editor notices and reloads the model for you, so the two copies stay in step without a manual revert. 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