Medium severityconfiguration

Power BI Refresh Error:
DeleteFilesAfterCompletionNotSupportedForNonDirectBinaryCopy

What does this error mean?

The option to delete source files after a successful copy is only supported for direct binary file copy operations. It cannot be used with format conversion or tabular sources.

Common causes

1Delete files after completion not supported for non-direct binary copy
2Integration runtime configuration is incorrect or outdated
3Authentication credentials or permissions are insufficient
4The feature or setting is not supported for the selected connector or copy mode

How to fix it

1Open the copy activity Settings tab and disable the 'Delete source files after completion' option.
2If format conversion is in use, implement source file deletion using a Delete activity in the pipeline after the copy activity completes successfully.
3To use the built-in delete-after-copy setting, switch both datasets to Binary format and remove schema mappings — that qualifies the copy as direct binary.
4Ensure the pipeline identity has 'Storage Blob Data Contributor' (not Reader) on the source storage — deletion requires write permissions.
5Validate the pipeline after removing the incompatible setting.

Frequently asked questions

Does this configuration error affect every pipeline run?

Yes — configuration errors are deterministic. Every run fails until fixed; retrying does not help.

How do I validate an ADF pipeline configuration before running it?

Click 'Validate' in the ADF authoring UI for configuration checks. For data flows, use Debug mode with a small sample to validate expressions and mappings.

Can dynamic content expressions in ADF cause configuration errors at runtime?

Yes — @activity(), @pipeline(), or @dataset() parameters that resolve to null or an unexpected type cause runtime failures even when design-time validation passes.

Do configuration errors appear in the ADF activity output?

Yes — the ADF Monitor activity detail shows the error code and the specific property that is invalid or missing.

Official documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/data-factory/connector-troubleshoot-guide