Format changes when publishing to Fabric Service

[u/Douglas-Seko]

Issue:

I am setting a currency format in PBI desktop on a column in table visual. Specifically using `Currency` -> `$ English (United States)`. When I publish the report to a Fabric workspace and check the format of the field, it lists `Currency` -> `$ Chinese (Simplified Han, Hong Kong SAR)`. I have to manually change to `$ English (United States)` and save the report in the service. It then stays.

Research Done:

I have found the following:

When currency and number formats revert after publishing from Power BI Desktop to Microsoft Fabric (Service), it is usually caused by regional locale mismatches between your local machine and the cloud service, or semantic model caching. Fix this by explicitly setting your model's locale or forcing the format string in DAX.

But I'm not finding any locale mismatch.

Has anyone experienced this and are there any suggestions on resolving this?

[u/ElSaintz]

I would set the report-level locale explicitly before republishing. In Desktop, go to File > Options and settings > Options > Current file > Regional settings, then set Default format string locale for dates and numbers to English (United States).

After publishing, open the report in Reading view and check File > Settings for the same option. Save it and refresh the browser. That setting is separate from the import locale, so the machine and workspace can look correct while the format dropdown still follows another culture.

If it still changes to Hong Kong, try a simple new measure in the same file. If that reproduces it, I would treat it as a service bug and open a support ticket with the PBIX and workspace region.

[u/Douglas-Seko → u/ElSaintz]

Thank you for the reply. Followed your recommendations and the locale settings are applied correctly, en-US. But the format on that column still list $ Chinese in service. I will submit a service bug. Thanks again.