order of columns in csv DATA SOURCE

[hgauhar]

hello

i have built reports using a csv data source in power BI e.g. order of columns is col1,col2,col3

now i have another csv file with same columns but in different order e.g.col3, col1,col2, col4(a new col)

can i use the same power bi file to visualize this new csv file??

please help

thanks

[edhans]

You can, but it may throw an error on the import, or not show you column 4 at all.

This is a test file I just imported. Pay attention to the first line of the M code used to import the file:

let
    Source = Csv.Document(File.Contents("C:\Users\UserName\OneDrive\errors.csv"),[Delimiter=",", Columns=19, Encoding=1252, QuoteStyle=QuoteStyle.None]),
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{"Column1", type text}, {"Column2", type text}, {"Column3", type text}, {"Column4", type text}, {"Column5", type text}, {"Column6", type text}, {"Column7", type text}, {"Column8", type text}, {"Column9", type text}, {"Column10", type text}, {"Column11", type text}, {"Column12", type text}, {"Column13", type text}, {"Column14", type text}, {"Column15", type text}, {"Column16", type text}, {"Column17", type text}, {"Column18", type text}, {"Column19", type text}})
in
    #"Changed Type"

Notice how it says "Columns=19"

That means if I import a new file with 20 columns, column #20 will not be imported. 

You can just delete the Columns=19, or Columns=3 in your case, but there is another issue.

The Changed Type step automatically set the data types for the 19 columns above. Even if column #20 comes in, it will not get typed, and come into Power BI either as text (which might be ok) or as ABC/123, or Any, which is bad. So....

• Get rid of the Columns=3 in your first step
• Validate the data types of all of the columns and make sure they are right in the second step.

As @parry2k said though, after that, the order is irrelevant.

[parry2k]

@hgauhar order of the columns doesn't matter as far as column names are the same.

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