Why is query folding important for extraction performance?

< 1 min read

Query folding improves extraction speed by letting the source system process the data.
Instead of Power BI downloading full tables, it pulls only filtered results.
In our project, database filtered last 12 months orders before sending data.
This reduced data transfer from 8 million rows to 900K rows.
Network usage decreased and refresh completed much faster.
Database engines handle joins and aggregations more efficiently than Power BI.
Without folding, Power BI processes everything locally and slows refresh.
Large datasets can even cause gateway timeout without folding.
We always validated using “View Native Query” during development.
So folding directly impacts refresh time, stability, and scalability.

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