How to Delete Usage Metrics Dataset in Power BI

Wrestling with undeletable, phantom datasets in Power BI named "Usage Metrics Report" can be a frustrating experience. You’ve deleted the report, you’ve searched everywhere, but the dataset stubbornly remains, cluttering your workspace. This guide will walk you through the process of finding and removing these persistent datasets for good, so you can clean up your workspace and get back to analyzing your data.

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Why Can't You Just Delete a Usage Metrics Dataset Like Any Other?

If you've tried to clean up your Power BI workspace, you’ve likely noticed that deleting a usage metrics report doesn't automatically delete its underlying dataset. This is by design, but it's not always obvious why. Power BI treats these specialized, auto-generated datasets differently from the ones you build yourself.

When you first create a usage metrics report for one of your dashboards or reports (like "Q3 Sales Performance"), Power BI automatically generates a new, hidden dataset specifically for it (e.g., "Q3 Sales Performance usage metric"). It's directly linked to that report but lives a separate life. Deleting the visible report breaks the link but leaves the dataset behind - often undeletable through the standard right-click-and-delete process.

So, why go through the trouble of deleting them?

• Workspace Clutter: Over time, these orphaned datasets pile up, making it harder to find the active, important datasets you and your team actually use.
• Naming Confusion: Having multiple datasets with similar names like "Usage Metrics Report" or "Usage Metrics Report V2" can cause serious confusion for colleagues who are just looking for a simple data source.
• Recreating Reports: Sometimes, you need to delete an old usage report and its data to create a fresh one. If the old dataset lingers, it can prevent Power BI from generating the new one correctly, leading to errors or inconsistencies.
• General Housekeeping: A clean, well-organized Power BI workspace is more efficient and easier to manage for everyone involved. Regular cleanup is a best practice that prevents future headaches.

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Before You Begin: What You'll Need

To follow this guide, there’s one critical prerequisite: you must have an Admin role in the Power BI workspace where the dataset is located. If you are a Member, Contributor, or Viewer, the settings required to delete the dataset will be hidden or grayed out. This is a security measure to prevent team members from accidentally deleting shared resources.

You can check your role by navigating to your workspace, clicking the ellipsis (...) next to the workspace name, and selecting "Workspace access." If you don't have Admin permissions, you'll need to ask someone who does to either perform these steps for you or grant you temporary Admin access.

Step-by-Step: How to Find and Delete Hidden Usage Metrics Datasets

The trick to deleting these datasets lies in a "hidden" setting within your workspace. By temporarily disabling the creation of usage metrics reports, you unlock the ability to manage and delete the corresponding datasets. Here’s exactly how to do it.

Step 1: Navigate to Your Workspace Settings

First, go to the Power BI workspace that contains the stubborn dataset. In the navigation pane, find your workspace, click the ellipsis (...) next to its name, and select Settings from the dropdown menu.

Step 2: Disable Usage Metrics Creation

Once you're in the Settings panel for the workspace, you'll see a series of tabs like "General," "Azure connections," etc. Click on the General tab if it's not already selected.

Scroll down until you find a section for "Usage metrics." In this section, you'll see a toggle switch labeled: "Report content creators can create usage metrics reports."

Turn this toggle switch OFF.

You don't need to hit a save button for this particular change, Power BI applies it immediately. Don't worry, we'll turn this back on later. Disabling this temporarily severs the special protection that Power BI applies to these auto-generated datasets, making them behave like regular datasets you created yourself.

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Step 3: Find and Delete the Dataset

Now, exit the settings by navigating back to your workspace view. Once you're back in the main workspace, look for the row of content filters at the top (it usually says "All," "Content," "Data," etc.). Click on Data. Power BI may present you with two filtering options: "Dataflows" and "Datasets + dataflows". If so, just make sure you select the one that will display your datasets.

Here, you will now see a list of all datasets in your workspace. Find the orphaned usage metrics dataset you want to delete. It will be named something like "Usage Metrics Report" or "[Your Original Report Name] usage metrics."

Hover over the dataset, click the ellipsis (...) that appears on the right, and you should now see an active Delete option. Go ahead and click it. Power BI will ask for confirmation, as this action is permanent and cannot be undone.

Step 4: Re-enable Usage Metrics (Important!)

After you’ve successfully deleted all the old datasets, you should go back and re-enable the feature for your team. Follow steps 1 and 2 again, but this time, turn the "Report content creators can create usage metrics reports" toggle back ON.

This ensures that you and your colleagues can create new, up-to-date usage metrics reports in the future without any issues.

Troubleshooting: "I Still Can't Delete It!"

Even with the steps above, you might occasionally run into issues. Here are a few common problems and how to solve them.

The "Delete" option is still grayed out.

This almost always comes down to permissions. First, double-check that you are an Admin in the workspace. If you're a Member, you won't be able to change workspace settings or delete protected datasets. Secondly, ensure you correctly turned the usage metrics toggle to the "Off" position in the settings.

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I deleted the dataset, but it reappeared later.

This can happen if you or someone on your team still has the old usage metrics report open in a browser tab. When the browser session tries to refresh or interact with the report, Power BI can sometimes automatically regenerate the dataset to support it. To fix this, ensure that all browser tabs associated with that old report are closed before you attempt the deletion.

I can’t find the toggle in the settings.

If you're trying to perform this cleanup in your personal "My Workspace," the experience is slightly different. "My Workspace" doesn't have the same collaborative settings panel. For your own workspace, you generally should be able to delete usage metric datasets directly without editing settings, as you are the sole owner. If you're struggling, it may indicate a temporary service glitch.

Final Thoughts

Cleaning up your Power BI environment isn't glorious work, but it's essential for maintaining a clear and efficient analytics hub. The key is knowing about the hidden workspace setting that unlocks those pesky orphaned datasets, allowing you to delete them just like any other item and keep your workspace tidy.

Manually managing reports, wrestling with hidden settings, and spending hours on data cleanup is a common source of frustration for many teams. At Graphed, we built a tool to eliminate this kind of busywork entirely. Our platform connects directly to all your data sources, and you use simple, natural language to instantly build the exact real-time dashboards you need, giving you back the time to focus on insights, not administrative chores.