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AliceW's avatar
AliceW
Icon for Power Participant rankPower Participant
6 years ago

DataFormat.Error: We couldn't parse the input provided as a Date value // From a Salesforce Reports

Hi guys, I get this error and I have no idea what do next. So, I've connected to a report I've created in Salesforce via Salesforce Reports. So far, so good, right? Unfortunately, I get this error...
Need Help
metrica's avatar
metrica
Icon for Post Prodigy rankPost Prodigy
3 months ago

Hi AliceW ,

 

This looks like the Salesforce Reports connector is failing while parsing one of the report date fields during the Navigation step. That is tricky because the table does not load far enough for you to fix the column type in Power Query.

 

A few things I would try first:

  1. Duplicate the Salesforce report and remove date fields one by one to find the problematic column.

  2. Check for mixed date formats, blank values, text like “N/A”, or locale-specific dates.

  3. If possible, expose the same data through Salesforce Objects, then handle date conversion after the data loads.

  4. Rebuild the report with simple date fields first, then add calculated or formatted date fields later.

Salesforce Reports connector can be fragile here, and it also has the frustrating 2,000-row limit.

Another option is to prepare the Salesforce data before it reaches Power BI.

 

Power BI Connector for Salesforce by Metrica Software can help:
https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=31526f0e-abd8-4cb5-bd1a-3bd56b5c0577

It lets you create data sources from Salesforce reports or from selected Salesforce objects and fields, apply filters, preview the output, and connect Power BI to a prepared source. This will not fix Power BI’s native date parser directly, but it can help avoid the Salesforce Reports connector path that fails before the data loads.

 

Docs and support:
https://metricasoftware.com/docs/salesforce/
https://metricasoftware.com/docs/salesforce/contact-support/

 

Cheers,
Metrica Team