# I want to promote some workbook changes to the shared model. Why do I get the warning: "Incremental changes require a branch"?

**URL:** <https://community.omni.co/t/i-want-to-promote-some-workbook-changes-to-the-shared-model-why-do-i-get-the-warning-incremental-changes-require-a-branch/55>\
**Category:** Modeling\
**Created:** [May 7, 2024, 8:09pm UTC](https://community.omni.co/t/i-want-to-promote-some-workbook-changes-to-the-shared-model-why-do-i-get-the-warning-incremental-changes-require-a-branch/55 "2024-05-07T20:09:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![conner](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/user_avatar/community.omni.co/conner/32/11_2.png) [@conner](https://community.omni.co/u/conner)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 8:09pm UTC](https://community.omni.co/t/i-want-to-promote-some-workbook-changes-to-the-shared-model-why-do-i-get-the-warning-incremental-changes-require-a-branch/55/1 "2024-05-07T20:09:46Z")

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**How to resolve the warning**  
Check out our [documentation](https://docs.omni.co/modeling/model-management/#enter-branch-mode) to learn more about branch mode. Once you’ve entered a branch, you can freely promote incremental workbook changes, see how that impacts the shared model, and then merge the branch if you’re ready.

Alternatively, if you promote _everything_ from your workbook model to your shared model, Omni knows there are no hidden dependencies, so you can promote all your changes without entering a branch.

_ **Note** : If you’re not familiar with the concept of branches, it’s a concept borrowed from software development. Branches are a “test” version of your shared model that you can test changes on before merging those changes to your actual shared model._

**Why this warning occurs**  
When you promote _incremental_ changes from your workbook model to your shared model, we want to ensure that **none of your changes have hidden dependencies that might create errors in your model.**

For example: let’s say you create a new field, Field A, in your workbook. Then, you create another new field, Field B, that references Field A. If you were to promote only Field B to your shared model, Field B would be broken in your shared model because it doesn’t have a “Field A” to reference.

To protect against this, **Omni requires you to enter a branch first**. Then, you can promote those incremental workbook model changes to your branch, see how that impacts the shared model, and then merge the branch if you’d like.