Power BI Desktop Missing Data Features

[teolachev]

What's the Power Pivot equivalent in Power BI Desktop of:

1. Existing Connections - so that the end users can change the server name in one place.

2. Table Properties - so that the users can bring new columns or remove columns no longer needed.

[andre]

@teolachev In Excel, Power Pivot can connect to data sources directly or via Power Query.  Power BI Desktop only connects to data sources via Power Query, therefore, features of Power Query that were available in direct connect mode are not available in the Desktop (therefore no to Existing Connections, Query Builder and table properties among other things)

[teolachev]

I understand the difference between Power Query and Power Pivot import options. So, if I want to switch to another server, e.g. from QA to PROD, and I have imported 20 tables, I have the change the server name 20 times, right?

@Greg_Deckler, thanks for pointing this out but it doesn't let me change the server name.

[andre]

@teolachev there is no elegant way to do it (although my definition of elegant may be drastically different from yours) .  here is a tutorial on how to do it in less than perfect but workable way (the tutorial is for PQ in Excel)

http://businessintelligist.com/2015/05/12/power-bi-tutorial-how-to-parameterize-connection-variables...

[Greg_Deckler]

Not entirely sure I understand what you are going for, but File | Options & Settings | Data Source Settings will bring up your existing data sources.

You can remove and hide fields in the Fields chooser by right-clicking the field.