Forum Discussion
How to append only specified columns?
Hi,
I am appending several tables into 1 big table. I don't need all the columns so I have manually deleted the unnecessary columns after the append. Please can you tell me how to specify which columns I want to append, so that I don't have to then manually delete the columns that aren't required? Or is it not possible?
Thanks,
CM
15 Replies
Appending as new (otherwise you could start at second step and add to an existing query):
let
Source = Table.SelectColumns(Table1,{"Column1"}),
#"Appended Query" = Table.Combine({Source, Table.SelectColumns(Table2,{"MatchingColumn"})}),#"Removed Duplicates" = Table.Distinct(#"AppendedQuery", {"Column1"})
in
#"Removed Duplicates"
You can test it with an index column (sort descending).
If this is about Power Query, then you can simply select the columns you require, rather than removing the unnecessary columns.
Hi Marcel, I'm using query editor (accessed via the "Edit Queries" button). Then I'm going to "Home" -> "Append Queries" -> "Append Queries as New", then I see the below screenshot. Please can you tell me how to select which columns to append (currently I can only see how to append entire tables)?:
Thanks,
CM
Actually you can't select columns during the append step, but you can select prior to, or after, the append.
What I meant, is that you can either:
- remove unwanted columns (select the columns, right-click and choose "Remove", resulting in code using Table.RemoveColumns), or
- select required columns (select the columns, righ-click and choose "Remove Other Columns", resulting in code using Table,SelectColumns).
In below example, from Source table with columns1-10, columns1-3 result after selection/removal:
let Source = #table(10,{{1..10}}), #"Removed Other Columns" = Table.SelectColumns(Source,{"Column1", "Column2", "Column3"}), #"Removed Columns" = Table.RemoveColumns(Source,{"Column4", "Column5", "Column6", "Column7", "Column8", "Column9", "Column10"}) in #"Removed Columns"So I was reacting to "I have manually deleted the unnecessary columns after the append" with the intention to state that you don't need to indicate which columns must be deleted; instead you can also indicate which columns need to be kept.
It was not my intention to state that you would be able to select columns during the append step; you can't.
