How to know that a table is a reference table?

[Applicable88]

Hello,

if I make many changes on a reference table, its still loading from the "original" one and the benefit to a duplicate is that I won't run two queries to the database, hence saving data transfer, since only the original one will load data and the reference table will get his updates from that original table. 

But if I already made many changes to that reference table....how can I see that its a reference table afterwards?

Best. 

[PhilipTreacy]

Hi @Applicable88 

You can't tell unless you name the table something like Ref_xxxxx, or you could add a Description in the Query Properties that appears as a tooltip when you hover your mouse over the table name, or you check the Source step in PQ.

Regards

Phil

[Applicable88 · Accepted solution]

Hi Phil,

thanks for the quick reply.

I was very surprised to hear that PowerBi cannot "research back" if it is a standalone dupicate or a reference which adapts to the changes in the original data. I find thats important to know, especially if its an old project and you don't know what you did back then. As far I know reference doesn't need to load data from the source, only from the original import which it refers to. Thats a big difference. 

So I dig deeper and found where the connection can be seen afterwards:

In PowerQuery there is the button "query dependancies" in Views.