Report View using a Table Visualization Wont Populate More than One Relationship at a time

[kcfanatic]

Newbie here. Im building a report using a table vis and getting an error when trying to add more than one related table to the visualization stating that PBI cant determine the relationship.  I know that the relationships are properly linked and active because I can create seperate reports with each related table and that works fine but when Im trying to add both the relationships to one report I get the error that PBI can determine relationships.   This report is listing the business process with its associated dependencies such as applications and sites.  I want all the dependencies to show on one report so Business Process, Dependenant Application, Dependent Site. 

Any help would be much appreciated.

[v-sgandrathi]

Hi @kcfanatic,

Thank you for reaching out. As our community experts correctly pointed out, this issue typically arises when the table visual includes fields from multiple tables that don’t have a clear, direct relationship in the model. Even if relationships exist, Power BI can only use one active path between tables at a time in a visual.

To resolve this:

• Ensure that the tables involved have direct, single-directional relationships.
• Avoid many-to-many relationships where possible.
• If needed, consider creating a bridge table or adjusting the model to establish a clear join path.
• Alternatively, use DAX measures or merge tables in Power Query to simplify the relationships.

If this solution worked for you, kindly mark it as Accept as Solution and feel free to give a Kudos, it would be much appreciated!

Thank you.

[danextian]

You've most likely added columns from different tables that arent direclty related to each other.

[saritasw · Accepted solution]

Hi @kcfanatic ,

Power BI throws the "can't determine relationships" error when you add fields from multiple related tables because it tries to identify a clear path between those tables to populate the visual. This error typically occurs when there's ambiguity in the data model - such as multiple relationship paths - or when there is no direct relationship between some of the fields you're using.

Try this -

Open the Model view and confirm that all relationships are set to single-direction.

Avoid many-to-many relationships unless absolutely necessary, as they can complicate relationship paths.

Start by adding only one field from each related table to the visual to test the relationships.