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

The Power BI Data Visualization World Championships is back! Get ahead of the game and start preparing now! Learn more

Reply
Scales
New Member

Merge specific text from multiple columns into new column

Hello all,

 

There may be a much smarter way to acheive this, however my scenario is as follows.

 

I have a list of users which features 4 columns against them and tracks the licences they have applied to their accounts. My issue is that they are scattered between the columns, and I need to sort them into unique columns.

 

Current State

UserLicence 1Licence 2Licence 3Licence 4
Tony StarkOfficeExcelVisioOutlook
Black WidowOutlook   
Steve RogersExcelVisio  

 

Desired State

UserLicence 1Licence 2Licence 3Licence 4
Tony StarkOfficeExcelVisioOutlook
Black Widow   Outlook
Steve Rogers ExcelVisio 

 

The columns were created by splitting a single column by a delimiter, however I cannot seem to find the correct command to arrange these into a helpful format. I've been attempting to search the full range and create a new column where only "Office" is identified, for example. 

 

I would then repeat for the other 3 licences types.

 

Many thanks for any input. 

Chris

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Ashish_Mathur
Super User
Super User

Hi,

Another input table you will have to share will be a 2 column table with all software listed in column A and numbers in the second column showing the order in which each software should appear in the result table.


Regards,
Ashish Mathur
http://www.ashishmathur.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/excelenthusiasts/

View solution in original post

2 REPLIES 2
Ashish_Mathur
Super User
Super User

Hi,

Another input table you will have to share will be a 2 column table with all software listed in column A and numbers in the second column showing the order in which each software should appear in the result table.


Regards,
Ashish Mathur
http://www.ashishmathur.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/excelenthusiasts/
lbendlin
Super User
Super User

Let the data model/DAX do the work for you.  Properly unpivot the data and then you can display it any way you want

 

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WCsnPq1QILkksylbSUfJPS8tMTgUyXCuSU3OAdFhmcWY+SKK0JCc/P1spVidaySknMTlbITwzJb8cSUZHSQGOQaqCS1LLUhWC8tNTi4qxGAhCsbEA", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [User = _t, #"Licence 1" = _t, #"Licence 2" = _t, #"Licence 3" = _t, #"Licence 4" = _t]),
    #"Unpivoted Other Columns" = Table.UnpivotOtherColumns(Source, {"User"}, "Attribute", "Value"),
    #"Removed Other Columns" = Table.SelectColumns(#"Unpivoted Other Columns",{"User", "Value"}),
    #"Filtered Rows" = Table.SelectRows(#"Removed Other Columns", each ([Value] <> "" and [Value] <> " "))
in
    #"Filtered Rows"

 

lbendlin_0-1631324465704.png

 

 

Helpful resources

Announcements
Power BI DataViz World Championships

Power BI Dataviz World Championships

The Power BI Data Visualization World Championships is back! Get ahead of the game and start preparing now!

December 2025 Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - December 2025

Check out the December 2025 Power BI Holiday Recap!

FabCon Atlanta 2026 carousel

FabCon Atlanta 2026

Join us at FabCon Atlanta, March 16-20, for the ultimate Fabric, Power BI, AI and SQL community-led event. Save $200 with code FABCOMM.