Not being able to create a column in Direct Query. How analysts deal with that?

[Yiota]

Hi, any help here will be much appreciated.

I am new to PowerBI and my company uses DirectQuery connection. As a data analyst, I find it very difficult to create reports as I cannot create columns(When connected on DirectQuery you cannot do that). This is a huge limitation for me as there are many occassions where I want to create a column to help my analysis (i.e. group values etc.) but can't. I wanted to see how other analysts handle this. Do most companies use the import mode rather than DirectQuery?It seems to be impossible for an analyst to work seamlessly without this feature. Or maybe I am missing something as a newbie in PowerBI? Thank you!

[v-mdharahman]

Hi @Yiota,

Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community forum.

You are right that working in DirectQuery mode can feel restrictive, especially when you're trying to build calculated columns or shape the data for analysis. This is one of the common limitation with DirectQuery, while it enables real-time data access and aligns well with governance policies (no data duplication), it does limit certain modeling capabilities like creating new columns or tables directly in Power BI.

That said, you're not alone in facing this. Many analysts run into this when their organization prioritizes data freshness or centralized control. A few common ways teams handle this are pushing required logic (like grouping or categorization) into the data source itself, using measures instead of columns where possible, or setting up hybrid models that import smaller reference tables while keeping large tables in DirectQuery.

Also, depending on your scenario, it might be worth evaluating if Import mode could work for your reports many companies do prefer it for analytical work where flexibility and speed are key, even if the data isn't real-time.

I would also take a moment to thank @rajendraongole1 and @Deku, for actively participating in the community forum and for the solutions you’ve been sharing in the community forum. Your contributions make a real difference.

If I misunderstand your needs or you still have problems on it, please feel free to let us know.  

Best Regards,
Hammad.
Community Support Team

If this post helps then please mark it as a solution, so that other members find it more quickly.

Thank you.

[v-mdharahman]

Hi @Yiota,

As we haven’t heard back from you, so just following up to our previous message. I'd like to confirm if you've successfully resolved this issue or if you need further help.

If yes, you are welcome to share your workaround and mark it as a solution so that other users can benefit as well. If you find a reply particularly helpful to you, you can also mark it as a solution.

If you still have any questions or need more support, please feel free to let us know. We are more than happy to continue to help you.
Thank you for your patience and look forward to hearing from you.

[v-mdharahman]

Hi @Yiota,

I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. If my response has addressed your query, please accept it as a solution so that other community members can find it easily.

Thank you.

[v-mdharahman]

Hi @Yiota,

May I ask if you have resolved this issue? If so, please mark the helpful reply and accept it as the solution. This will be helpful for other community members who have similar problems to solve it faster.

Thank you.

[rajendraongole1]

Hi @Yiota - can you please refer the below solved thread.

Solved: How to create Calculate column in Direct Query Mod... - Microsoft Fabric Community

Hope this helps.

[Yiota]

Thanks for your response @rajendraongole1 . The suggestd solution to create a measure instead of a column does not work all the time, especially when you have to create a visual where it only accepts a specific data type(i.e. calculated column instead of a calculated measure).

[Deku]

99% import 1% DQ

When working with DQ you should create (cache) columns in the data source to reduce overhead