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Medium severityconfiguration

Power BI Refresh Error:
TIME_TRAVEL_NOT_ENABLED

What does this error mean?

A Time Travel query using the AT or BEFORE clause failed because the target table, schema, or database has data retention disabled (DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS = 0), making historical data unavailable.

Common causes

  • 1The table is a Transient or Temporary table, which does not support multi-day Time Travel and has DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS set to 0 or 1
  • 2A cost-reduction configuration explicitly set DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS = 0 on the database, schema, or table, disabling Time Travel
  • 3The table is part of a shared database received from a Snowflake Marketplace provider, which disables data retention by default for consumer-side databases

How to fix it

  1. 1Step 1: Check the current retention setting: SHOW PARAMETERS LIKE 'DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS' IN TABLE <table_name>.
  2. 2Step 2: If the table is a permanent table with retention disabled, enable Time Travel: ALTER TABLE <name> SET DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS = <days> (max 90 days on Enterprise or higher).
  3. 3Step 3: If the table is Transient, be aware that retention is capped at 1 day and cannot be extended — consider converting it to a permanent table if longer Time Travel is needed.
  4. 4Step 4: For Marketplace-shared databases, Time Travel is not available and this cannot be changed by the consumer — use a CTAS to copy the data into a permanent table in your own database.

Frequently asked questions

Does setting DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS = 0 delete existing history?

No, the existing retained data is not immediately deleted. However, Snowflake's background process will clean it up and it will not be accessible for Time Travel once retention is disabled.

What is the maximum Time Travel retention period?

Standard Edition accounts support up to 1 day. Enterprise Edition and higher support up to 90 days. The default is 1 day for all editions.

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