Forum Discussion

Anonymous's avatar
Anonymous
Not applicable
7 years ago

Create a Custom Column That Categorizes Data from Another Column

Hi,

 

I have a column of data with about 200 distinct values over thousands of rows. I'd like to create a column that assigns one of about 20 different categories to the values. The only way I've found to do this is to create a conditional column that has a new rule for each of the 200 distinct values. This is very inefficient. Is there a better way to do this?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Need Help
Tutorial Requests

4 Replies

    • Anonymous's avatar
      Anonymous
      Not applicable
      7 years ago

       

      For example, if I had a table like this, with the first two columns, but I wanted to create the third column, categorizing the values in the first into about 20 different categories. But imagine that the first column has about 200+ distinct values over thousands of rows.

      Unfortunately this can't just be offloaded onto someone else as a data management issue.

      • v-danhe-msft's avatar
        v-danhe-msft
        Microsoft Employee
        7 years ago

        Hi Anonymous,

        Based on my test, you could refer to below steps:

        Sample data:

        Create a distinct table:

        Distinct table = DISTINCT('Table1'[Item])

        Create a calculate column in this table:

        Type = IF('Distinct table'[Item]="Apples"||'Distinct table'[Item]="Oranges"||'Distinct table'[Item]="Grapes","Fruit",
        IF('Distinct table'[Item]="Beef"||'Distinct table'[Item]="Chicken","Meat",
        IF('Distinct table'[Item]="Potatoes","Vegetable","Nuts")))

        Create relationships between the two tables:

        Create a calculated column in your row table:

        Column = RELATED('Distinct table'[Type])

        Result:

         

        You could also download the pbix file to have a view.

         

        Regards,
        Daniel He

  • v-danhe-msft's avatar
    v-danhe-msft
    Microsoft Employee
    7 years ago

    Hi Anonymous,

    Could you please offer a sample data and post your desired result if possible?

     

    Regards,

    Daniel He