Get certified for free when you join Fabric Data Days 2026 and dive into Fabric, Power BI, SQL, AI, and other essential data skills.
Join nowJuly 7 - July 17 | Round 2 of the Power BI Dataviz World Championships. Don't miss your chance! Learn more
Hi,
Has anyone seen this issue before.
I'm trying to load a large 550Mb fixed width file with M into PBI Desktop and it only loads 19,645 out of 226,559 rows
I tried a different file and got the exact same number of rows.
It's got lots of columns but it doesnt seem change if only bring in the first few.
let
Source = Csv.Document(File.Contents("MyFile.txt"),7,{0, 3, 22, 41, 43, 44, 45},null,1252),
#"Removed Columns" = Table.RemoveColumns(Source,{"Column7"}),
#"Grouped Rows" = Table.Group(#"Removed Columns", {}, {{"Count", each Table.RowCount(_), type number}, {"lastCust", each List.Max([Column2]), type text}})
in
#"Grouped Rows"If I load without spliting it loads all 226K rows
let
Source = Table.FromColumns({Lines.FromBinary(File.Contents("MyFile.txt"), null, null, 1252)}),
#"Grouped Rows" = Table.Group(Source, {}, {{"Count", each Table.RowCount(_), type number}})
in
#"Grouped Rows"I'm only using 30% of my Ram.
Anyone got any thoughts on why it might be limiting the rows?
I suspect a bad character, but cannot see anything with notepad++ around that row.
The Guys at powerpivotpro seem have a workaround that could help, but still curious what is stopping the fixed width load.
https://powerpivotpro.com/2016/03/power-query-fixed-width-magic/
let
Source = Table.FromColumns({Lines.FromBinary(File.Contents("MyFile.txt"), null, null, 1252)}),
#"Split Column by Position" = Table.SplitColumn(Source,"Column1",Splitter.SplitTextByPositions({0, 3, 22, 41, 43, 44, 45}, false),{"Column1", "Column2", "Column3", "Column4", "Column5"}),
#"Grouped Rows" = Table.Group(#"Split Column by Position", {}, {{"Count", each Table.RowCount(_), type number}, {"MaxCust", each List.Max([Column2]), type text}})
in
#"Grouped Rows"
Phil
Solved! Go to Solution.
Thanks.
I rewrote it by loading then splitting and I got all 226K rows.
Hi @stretcharm,
Based on my research, to load data from a fixed width file, we have to split a single column into multiple columns, as mentioned in above link. For how the Power Query load data and why it doesn't load all records without spliting column, I would suggest you post question on Power Query forum for professional advice.
Regards,
Yuliana Gu
Thanks.
I rewrote it by loading then splitting and I got all 226K rows.
Join us in Barcelona for FabCon and SQLCon, the Fabric, Power BI, SQL, and AI community event. Save €200 with code FABCMTY200.
Join Fabric Data Days 2026: 60 days of free live/on-demand sessions, challenges, study groups, and certification opportunities.
| User | Count |
|---|---|
| 65 | |
| 41 | |
| 40 | |
| 39 | |
| 39 |