Every time I format a column it moves the screen back to the first column

[smallean]

I realize that I can not format multiple cilumns at a time which is a huge problem for people that have very large tables.  What is worse is when I go to format each column one by one, once the formatting has been updated, the screen shifts back to the first column so I have to scroll back to where I left off.  Is there some trick to get the screen to stay put on the columns I am editing versus shifting back to the first column as it is taking hours.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi smallean,

Based on my test, you can open Query Editor to format multiple columns.

In addition, you can also use the power query to format columns, it can format multiple columns in one formula:

let

    Source = OData.Feed("services.odata.org/V4/Northwind/Northwind.svc/"),

    Orders_table = Source{[Name="Orders",Signature="table"]}[Data],

    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Orders_table,

    {

    {"OrderDate", type datetime},

    {"RequiredDate", type date},

    {"Freight", type number}

    })

in

    #"Changed Type"

Regards,

Xiaoxin Sheng

[smallean]

Thank you both for your responses.  In terms of using the query editor, I have done that for the field type and it works very well in that I can select multiple columns.  I am speaking about the output mask to show say $ or use commas.  Each field must be handled individually taking an enormous amount of time.

In terms of the table width, while I stated they are large they are ddesigned correctly and do not have hundredms of columns or anything.  However, I have dozens of tables all which require output masks and all of which need to be hand done which is extremly time consuming.

I ended up simply spending the time to update each field.

[norahfox]

I agree! It drives me nuts - it also applies to hiding a column or setting the sort by column. It's especially annoying every time I set up a new date table, since I always have a bunch of text columns that get sorted by numeric columns (for instance, month name and month number) and then I hide the numeric columns. 

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@smallean Not to minimize the issue of jump back, but... if your table that you are importing is that wide... are you really using all the columns? ie. Could you minimize the workload by reducing the number of columns you need to update?