In Power BI, numeric columns defined in Power Query using type number are often still treated as categorical in visuals unless manually adjusted in the model. This behavior breaks reproducibility and makes it impossible to fully version-control a Power BI solution.
As a developer, I want to enforce that numeric columns are always treated as aggregatable (i.e., as measures) directly from Power Query (M), without needing to:
- Create DAX measures
- Manually change summarization settings in the model
- Use external tools like Tabular Editor
This would allow for consistent, predictable behavior and better integration with version control systems (e.g., Git), especially in enterprise environments where reproducibility and automation are critical.
Requested feature:
- Enable a way in Power Query (M) to define default summarization behavior (e.g., Sum, Average) for numeric columns.
- Prevent Power BI from automatically treating numeric columns as categorical based on heuristics like low cardinality.
This would significantly improve the professional usability of Power BI for data modelers and developers who rely on automation and version control. [new idea formulated by CoPilot after a good chat]