Delete column from power query

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Just trying to create a simple scenario from complex one.

Can someone please confirm if I bring excel file with many columns including Name, ID and Score. Visuals are developed in a report and shared with users. No visual is used to bring "Name" from dataset. 

if I want to delete "name" column in Power Query and then deploy the report. Will user be able to see deleted column from dataset in PBIX file as it saves as a step which shows column removed. How this can be achieved effectively.

many thanks

[Anonymous]

Thanks for such a detailed reply which makes perfect sense.

Many thanks to both @MFelix  and @parry2k .

[MFelix]

@parry2k,

Sorry was answering at the same time as you.

Regards

[parry2k]

@MFelix Hey buddy, I hope you are doing well. Take it easy my friend, we all are PBI family and trying to share our knowledge and help here. Be Safe!!

[MFelix · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

When you make changes to a query all the steps are referenced in the query editor (as you refer) but the query editor will only be visible on the PBIX file, so if you are making the upload of your data to the service and deploying the report the users will not have access to the columns you delete from the dataset (in your case name).

Again if the user doesn't have access to the PBIX file there will be no access to the name, if they have access to the file but not to the source file, when they try to go to previous steps they will get an error of source not found, so even if they are abble to see the steps it will be difficult to check if there is a deleted column with name.

If they are advanced users they can read the code for the deletion of the column, but without acces to the excel base they will not see the contents of the data.

[parry2k]

@Anonymous if Name is not used, removing will have no impact except user will not see that column,

I would ❤ Kudos if my solution helped. 👉 If you can spend time posting the question, you can also make efforts to give Kudos whoever helped to solve your problem. It is a token of appreciation!

[Anonymous]

Thanks @parry2k 

yes I am sure report will work perfectly. Just wanted to confirm if user will be able to see deleted column(if required by him). Main purpose is to not share sensitive data in dataset. 

Many thanks for prompt reply.