Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Compete to become Power BI Data Viz World Champion! First round ends August 18th. Get started.

Reply
Curious1_209
Frequent Visitor

Is it possible to create a many-to-many relationship between two columns in the same table?

I was given a table and two columns on the table have a many to many relationship. I know that I can create two new tables and create the relationships between them and the original table. But I would like to know Powerbi Desktop can allow me to create a many-to-many relationship between two columns in the same table. This would be a straight and simplest solution.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Anonymous
Not applicable

HI @Curious1_209,

AFAIK, current power bi does not support multiple active relationship keys between two tables. (power bi will use one major relationship to mapping and analysis table records, the others will turn to inactive)

Did you mean the standalone many to many relationships on two columns or the combo relationship based on multiple fields?

If you mean the second one, you can take a look at the following link to know how to create relationships based on multiple fields.

Relationship in Power BI with Multiple Columns - RADACAD

Regards,

Xiaoxin Sheng

View solution in original post

2 REPLIES 2
Anonymous
Not applicable

HI @Curious1_209,

AFAIK, current power bi does not support multiple active relationship keys between two tables. (power bi will use one major relationship to mapping and analysis table records, the others will turn to inactive)

Did you mean the standalone many to many relationships on two columns or the combo relationship based on multiple fields?

If you mean the second one, you can take a look at the following link to know how to create relationships based on multiple fields.

Relationship in Power BI with Multiple Columns - RADACAD

Regards,

Xiaoxin Sheng

lbendlin
Super User
Super User

Separating these columns out into their own dimension tables seems to be the right approach here. Hard to tell without sample data and more context.

 

"straight and simple" and "many to many" do not go well together.

Helpful resources

Announcements
August Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - August 2025

Check out the August 2025 Power BI update to learn about new features.

August 2025 community update carousel

Fabric Community Update - August 2025

Find out what's new and trending in the Fabric community.

Top Solution Authors