Forum Discussion
Add an extra field from a data source
- Anonymous
If I didn't misunderstood you, when you refresh in power bi desktop your new added column will automatically be imported.
I have this issue also and it is very frustrating. We add addional columns and fields to source csvs all the time.
I have a work around that used to work...until today.
This way you will not lose any of your steps, which is very important especially if you have a complicated report that could break.
The work around is this:
1) refresh everything, make sure the new column is in the source csv
2) under applied steps in query editor, go to source and hit the settings gear icon to right of "source"
3) Choose Open file as "Automatic" hit OK
4) Your table will dissappear, double click the csv file icon, hit "insert" when the insert step box pops up
5) Your newly added column will appear at step 1 "source"
6) to make sure it stays , under "choose columns" or if you have a "removed columns" ...make sure the check box for that new column is checked
7) Your column is good to go now
This usually works. Except today it started giving me a wierd error after applying query edits Which is why I am here searching.
EDIT* I fixed my error. I was being dumb. My work around works again.
I wish that trick worked for me. It's not though. I can't believe this is even an issue for users. It should not be so complicated to add columns and have them show up that you have to take risks breaking things to add a new bit of data. Boggles the mind how bad that is as a feature in the software. I might look elsewhere for my reporting solution. Did this issue reoccur for you each time and become a big pain over the years, as people ask for changes in the reporting and supply new bits of data? Or did you find a way to keep using PowerBI even though this is a pain? Was it worth the pain? Or would you recommend other more flexible solutions?
hi Terrence
what type of data source do you have?
I have CSV data files. But could save them into loads of other formats,. if that makes any difference...
mine are all CSV and the above two methods work 100% fine; if you cannot follow the steps, do you want me to do pics one by one.... that will cost me a bit of time, but I dont want you to be flummoxed; for CSV it works a charm
HI Terrence, I agree completely with you that it should not be this complicated for sure. This is actually my first attempt at creating and modifying my data but it's easy to tell that this will be a problem anytime you import data and need to add new columns. Hopefully in future patches and/or upgrades they'll simplify this process.
