Collapsing a JSON field (opposite of expanding)

[CarlJoseph]

I'm not familiar with PowerBI but need some help. We provide a JSON file to our customer and PowerBI appears to be expanding a certain column based on what it reads in the first line of the file. So some files we send it expands and other files it doesn't.

Scenario 1: PowerBI doesn't automatically expand `organization`

{"id":12345, "name":"Joanne Smith", "organization":null}
{"id":99999, "name":"P. Sherman", "organization":{"name": "ACME Corp", "id": 1566446, "address": "42 Wallaby Way, Sydney"}}

Scenario 2: PowerBI automatically expands `organization`

{"id":99999, "name":"P. Sherman", "organization":{"name": "ACME Corp", "id": 1566446, "address": "42 Wallaby Way, Sydney"}}
{"id":12345, "name":"Joanne Smith", "organization":null}

We want all files to be treated like the first scenario where `organization` isn't automatically expanded. This way, the user can select which attribute in the organization array they want to expand and which to ignore as in the image below.

Want we want to do with all files

When PowerBI encounters scenario 2, is there any way to undo the auto expansion of that column without having to manually delete each field (there are lots of them so it's time consuming to do each time!)

Thx.

[danextian · Accepted solution]

Hi @CarlJoseph ,

When Power BI accesses a JSON file, oftentimes it automatically expands it based on what it thinks how you want to expand it which may not always be the case. The steps though are recorded which should be in the applied steps or in the advanced editor.

[CarlJoseph]

Thanks. Is it possible to undo a step that was automatically applied? Here is what the applied steps looks like, and I would like to remove the expanded organization steps it automatically applied.

[danextian]

An "X" icon appears when you hover over a step. Clicking it will delete the step, effectively "unrecording" it. Please note that deleting a step will impact all subsequent steps and may cause errors.  Deleting cannot also be undone. You can click through the steps one by one to ensure they represent the desired transformations, then delete any unwanted steps after that.