Power BI does not recognize my numeric fields nor does it let me change them

[Anonymous]

I've read different posts to fix the issue with how to get Power BI to recognize numeric fields but all I get is errors that I cannot change them to whole of decimal fields.  I even modified the fields to numeric in Excel priot to loading the data.  I do not see the "sum" option nor the 'Sum' symbol next to those fields, so I am curious if that is why the total values do not make sense.  The fields that it does recognise are correct.

[eduardomejiadev]

Hi Microsoft

I tried the solution provided, but, I have not succeded. Is there any setup I should check for Power BI to recognise it as a number? I am importing an Excel file, where I have the values as number not general, I then replace all the null values with zero and then changed the type to Whole Number.

TIA

[Anonymous]

just wanted you to know, I was able to replace null and the blanks with 0 and with all th instruction provided I was able to get those fields that had null or blank in the columns to now become numeric columns showing the sum symbol next to the measure.  Tank you both!

[Anonymous]

Like I said above I thought I had replaced the blanks wih nothing, so now this is what my filter looks like:

What would I enter in the replace "(null)' to 0?

Is there a way to ever just start over in Power BI so that once you go Get Data you can do just that - start over - so it doesn't remember all the previous idiotic things you did?  I'm hoping to get the data correct from the source so there is less manual work to be done within PowerBI.  Maybe somone could recommend a good starter tutorial for a beginner like me?  Appreciate it!

[Anonymous]

First question - is there an undo?  without reading carefully, I replaced everything with null, and as I look there was nothing in the column.

Next question, so that I can make this as automated as possible, should I be ensuring the field is populated with either 1 or 0 at the source?

Thanks for your help!

[Anonymous]

Apparently I is not even finding my newest file.  I am a bit confused on the process of refreshing data when I do make changes.  Once I load the data the first time and if I replace the original source, I was doing a refresh and noticed it couldn't find it, so I started from the get data again.  Can I start over with loading the data and will it keep my charts in tack?  

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry it was pointing to an older file, I now havve it pointing to the correct file and it does show it as abc, this is what I see when I do a dropdown:

do I need to change the blanks to something else?  Maybe 0 - zeroes?

[themistoklis · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous 

As you can see for the field heading the data type of the field is text ('ABC')

To convert it to numeric please do the following steps:

1. Right click on the column --> Replace Values

2. Leave 'Value to find' box empty and in 'Replace With' box add a numeric value that you want (zero for example)

3. Click OK

then

1. Right click on column again

2. Change Type --> Whole number

3. Done

[mahoneypat]

Open the query editor (click on Transform Data) and highlight your column with numbers.  On the Transform tab under Format, try to use Trim and/or Clean on that column before you convert to number.  Also, what is the error message you see?  Can you paste a screen grab of it, if that doesn't work?

Regards,

Pat

[mahoneypat]

Can you provide some sample data in a copy/paste format to help troubleshoot?  Are there hidden characters in your data?  If so, you can first use Trim and Clean options in power query, and then change the type to number.

Regards,

Pat

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for responding so quickly!  The file that I loaded into PowerBI only has 1 or blanks.  I'm new to Power BI so I am unfamiliar with power query.  Can you point me to where I can read and learn how to run that tool within Power BI desktop?