Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Don't miss out! 2025 Microsoft Fabric Community Conference, March 31 - April 2, Las Vegas, Nevada. Use code MSCUST for a $150 discount. Prices go up February 11th. Register now.

Reply
J0hNN13
Frequent Visitor

Changing a column from Any data type to decimal

Hi, community.

 

I am new to this community and Power BI Desktop but have built a basic dashboard successfully through the help of some online resources.  I am also unfamiliar with DAX.

I have imported Excel data into Power BI, but I noticed that by default, Power BI puts certain values in columns with Data Type as "Any" by default.

 

In the first screenshot below, is an example of my data in such a column.  One value is a whole number, the other is a decimal number.  The null value is not a problem for me and thus, not applicable in this issue.  In the second screenshot, I always receive an Error on the decimal value, when changing the data type to decimal, or Whole Number.  I need both numbers in the same column, rounded to one decimal. Can you please guide me on how I can achieve this?

 

Thank you in advance

 

PBi_1.jpgPBi_2.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 ACCEPTED SOLUTIONS

I think you need to check regional setting of your machine ..







Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution! Appreciate your Kudos!!

Proud to be a Super User!




View solution in original post

@FarhanAhmed, thank you for the advice.  I tried getting my regional computer settings sorted, to no avail. However, I found a workaround by using the locale function with the data type. This solved my problem. 

View solution in original post

5 REPLIES 5
FarhanAhmed
Community Champion
Community Champion

Can you please click on the error to see the details and also share with us

Also make sure that there are no "Leading/Trailing" spaces in your numbers causing your data to become Text. therefore try to Clean and Trim the data before changing the data type of it by right click on the column and perform such operations.

 

FarhanAhmed_0-1655986153298.png

 







Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution! Appreciate your Kudos!!

Proud to be a Super User!




Hi @FarhanAhmed,

 

Thank you for your response.

 

On your first request, see the error details below when I try to change the data type to Decimal Number:

Error returned when changing data type from "Any" to "Decimal Number'"Error returned when changing data type from "Any" to "Decimal Number'"

 

 

I am not familiar with "Leading/Trailing" spaces, but I did try your suggested fix.  After applying both "Trim" and "Clean" options, the data type changed to "Text" by default. See below.

Data Type = "Text" after trim and cleanData Type = "Text" after trim and clean

 

When I then change the data type to "Decimal Number", I receive the same error as above.  See below:

 

Error returned after Decimal TypeError returned after Decimal Type

 

What did I miss?

I think you need to check regional setting of your machine ..







Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution! Appreciate your Kudos!!

Proud to be a Super User!




@FarhanAhmed, thank you for the advice.  I tried getting my regional computer settings sorted, to no avail. However, I found a workaround by using the locale function with the data type. This solved my problem. 

Okay, what should it be if not my locale?

Helpful resources

Announcements
Las Vegas 2025

Join us at the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference

March 31 - April 2, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Use code MSCUST for a $150 discount! Prices go up Feb. 11th.

Feb2025 Sticker Challenge

Join our Community Sticker Challenge 2025

If you love stickers, then you will definitely want to check out our Community Sticker Challenge!

Jan25PBI_Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - January 2025

Check out the January 2025 Power BI update to learn about new features in Reporting, Modeling, and Data Connectivity.

Jan NL Carousel

Fabric Community Update - January 2025

Find out what's new and trending in the Fabric community.