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

Join the FabCon + SQLCon recap series. Up next: Power BI, Real-Time Intelligence, IQ and AI, and Data Factory take center stage. All sessions are available on-demand after the live show. Register now

Reply
MichaelBN
Frequent Visitor

Problem with city data and a forced many-to-many relationship

I have two tables and I want to compare values between the two. The two tables both have a COUNTROWS() measure, and a City column (I basically want to measure rows per city) --- N.B The tables also have other columns such as user_id, longitude and latitude etc. 

 

The tables both look like this:
expt 1.PNG

 

For some reason, when I try and make a relationship between the two, it forces a many-to-many relationship. To circumvent this problem, I have introduced a new custom table with City Names, which only has distinct entries. It looks like this:

 

expt 2.PNG

 

In the picture below, I want to make a relationship between the left table[By] and the middle table [Bynavn], AND between the right table[city] and the middle table [Bynavn], in order to get a common denominator. 

 

excpt 3.PNG

 

However, when I make the relations stated above I get a forced many-to-many relationship for both tables, and I am trying to figure out why. 

 

[Both tables are connected to a 'Date' table, if that matters]. 

3 REPLIES 3
v-diye-msft
Community Support
Community Support

Hi @MichaelBN 

 

You can refer to the similar solved post for help: 

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Forced-to-use-many-to-many-relationship/td-p/681147 

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Forced-into-many-to-many-relationship/td-p/486504 

 

Community Support Team _ Dina Ye
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more
quickly.
judspud
Solution Supplier
Solution Supplier

Hi @MichaelBN 

 

Is it possible you have multiple Nulls in the bridging table?

 

if so, filter these out in the query editor and retry creating the relationship 🙂

 

Thanks,

George

Hi @judspud 

 

I don't seem to have any null values in either of the three tables. Any other idea about what might be causing this issue?

 

 

/Michael

Helpful resources

Announcements
April Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - April 2026

Check out the April 2026 Power BI update to learn about new features.

New to Fabric survey Carousel

New to Fabric Survey

If you have recently started exploring Fabric, we'd love to hear how it's going. Your feedback can help with product improvements.

Power BI DataViz World Championships carousel

Power BI DataViz World Championships - June 2026

A new Power BI DataViz World Championship is coming this June! Don't miss out on submitting your entry.

FabCon and SQLCon Highlights Carousel

FabCon &SQLCon Highlights

Experience the highlights from FabCon & SQLCon, available live and on-demand starting April 14th.