Snowflake

Summary

Capabilities Supported

• Import
• DirectQuery (Power BI semantic models)
• Advanced options
  • Specify a text value to use as Role name
  • Relationship columns
  • Connection timeout in seconds
  • Command timeout in seconds
  • Database
  • Native SQL statement

Connect to Snowflake data warehouse from Power Query Desktop

To make the connection to a Snowflake computing warehouse, take the following steps:

1. Select Get Data from the Home ribbon in Power BI Desktop, select Database from the categories on the left, select Snowflake, and then select Connect.

   

2. In the Snowflake window that appears, enter the name of your Snowflake server in Server and the name of your Snowflake computing warehouse in Warehouse.

   

3. Optionally, enter values in any advanced options that you want to use to modify the connection query, such as a text value to use as a Role name or a command timeout. More information: Connect using advanced options

4. Select OK.

5. To sign in to your Snowflake computing warehouse, enter your username and password, and then select Connect.

   

   Note

   Once you enter your username and password for a particular Snowflake server, Power BI Desktop uses those same credentials in subsequent connection attempts. You can modify those credentials by going to File > Options and settings > Data source settings. More information: Change the authentication method

   If you want to use the Microsoft account option, the Snowflake Microsoft Entra ID integration must be configured on the Snowflake side. More information: Power BI SSO to Snowflake - Getting Started

6. In Navigator, select one or multiple elements to import and use in Power BI Desktop. Then select either Load to load the table in Power BI Desktop, or Transform Data to open the Power Query Editor where you can filter and refine the set of data you want to use, and then load that refined set of data into Power BI Desktop.

   

7. Select Import to import data directly into Power BI, or select DirectQuery, then select OK. More information: Use DirectQuery in Power BI Desktop

   Note

   Microsoft Entra ID single sign-on (SSO) only supports DirectQuery.

   

Connect to a Snowflake database from Power Query Online

To make the connection, take the following steps:

1. Select the Snowflake option in the connector selection.

2. In the Snowflake dialog that appears, enter the name of the server and warehouse.

   

3. Enter any values in the advanced options you want to use. If there are any advanced options not represented in the UI, you can edit them in the Advanced Editor in Power Query later.

4. Enter your connection credentials, including selecting or creating a new connection, which gateway you would like to use, and a username and password.

5. Select Next to connect to the database.

6. In Navigator, select the data you require, then select Transform data to transform the data in Power Query Editor.

   

Connect using advanced options

Power Query provides a set of advanced options that you can add to your query if needed.

The following table lists all of the advanced options you can set in Power Query.

Once you select the advanced options you require, select OK in Power Query Desktop or Next in Power Query Online to connect to your Snowflake database.

New Snowflake connector implementation (Preview)

Since January 2025, we introduced a new implementation for the Snowflake connector to enhance the integration with Snowflake, currently available in preview. It uses Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC) instead of ODBC to connect to and retrieve data from Snowflake which improves performance especially for large result sets. As we continue to enhance and add new capabilities to this connector as listed in the following table, we encourage you to upgrade to the latest version to try it out and provide us feedback.

To access this feature in Power BI Desktop, navigate to Options and settings (under the File tab) > Options > Preview features, and then select the checkbox to enable the Use new Snowflake connector implementation option. Once the option is on, all the newly created connections automatically use the new connector implementation. Since March 2025 version of Power BI Desktop, this option is enabled by default. If you would like to revert to the old connector behavior, you may deselect the option in "Options and settings".

Your existing connections remain unchanged. You can try out the feature by adding the Implementation="2.0" flag in Snowflake.Databases in your queries as follows. This property differentiates the version of the connector you're using.

To access this feature in Dataflow Gen2, after you configure getting data from Snowflake, go to Advanced editor in the top ribbon, and add the Implementation="2.0" flag in Snowflake.Databases in your queries as follows to use this new connector.

Source = Snowflake.Databases("contoso.snowflakecomputing.com", "CONTOSO_WH", [Implementation="2.0"])

To aid with diagnosing any potential issue, you can find the Implementation and DriverType details in your Mashup logs. As an example:

{"Start":"2024-11-02T00:14:02.7968686Z","Action":"Engine/Module/Snowflake/IO/Snowflake/Implementation","ResourceKind":"Snowflake","ResourcePath":"powerbi.snowflakecomputing.com ;DEMO_WH","HostProcessId":"29200","Implementation":"2.0","DriverType":"ADBC","ProductVersion":"2.139.0.0 (Main)+eda56ecd858054173a4d11db9c63a6da5cf92a99","ActivityId":"106f16b6-cfbb-4853-9f20-ed45486486d2","Process":"Microsoft.Mashup.Container.NetFX45","Pid":38560,"Tid":1,"Duration":"00:00:00.0000291"}

Currently, this connector has the following known limitations:

• Multi-statement queries are not supported.
• Duration type is not supported.
• Relationships are not supported.

Troubleshooting

Error: SQL compilation error: Object does not exist, or operation cannot be performed

The error occurs when the system can't find the specified object. Often, this error is due to the user having an invalid database name set as their default database.

Ensure that a valid default database name is used for the property DEFAULT_NAMESPACE: DESC USERusername

To update the default database name: alter userusername set DEFAULT_NAMESPACE=<database name>.<schema name>. For more information, see the Snowflake documentation - https://docs.snowflake.com/en/sql-reference/sql/alter-user

Limitations and known issues

Hyphens in database names

If a database name has a hyphen in it, you can encounter an ODBC: ERROR[42000] SQL compilation error. This issue is addressed in the September 2024 release.

Slicer visual for Boolean datatype

The slicer visual for the Boolean data type isn't functioning as expected in the June 2024 release. This nonfunctionality is a known issue. As a temporary solution, users can convert the Boolean data type in their reports to text by navigating to: Transfer -> Data Type -> Text. A fix is provided in October 2024 release.

Views not visible with Implementation="2.0"

In some version of March 2025 release of Power BI Desktop, you may encounter issue that views are not visible when using the new Snowflake connector (Implementation="2.0"). This issue has been fixed since the latest March 2025 release of Power BI Desktop. Upgrade your installation to try again.

TIMESTAMP_NTZ values are UTC with Implementation="2.0"

TIMESTAMP_LTZ types are not being converted to the local time zone but are returning the UTC value when using the new Snowflake connector (Implementation="2.0"). For example, doing SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP from Snowflake is returning the UTC time, not the user's local time zone. There's ongoing work towards a fix and the documentation will be updated when a fix is released.

Additional information

• Connect to Snowflake in Power BI Service