Dataverse Columns Renamed in Power Query Show Display Name After Close and Apply

[AlyssaL036]

Description: When using Power BI with a Dataverse source, renaming columns within Power Query does not reflect the changes after hitting “Close and Apply.” The columns revert to their original names from Dataverse. The rename step is saved and displayed correctly within Power Query, but the changes do not persist outside of the editor.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Connect to a Dataverse source in Power BI.
2. Open Power Query Editor.
3. Rename any column using the “Rename Columns” step.
4. Click “Close and Apply.”
5. Observe that the column names have not changed, instead showing their display names from Dataverse.

Expected Behavior: The renamed columns should retain their new names after applying changes and should be reflected consistently outside of Power Query.

Actual Behavior: The columns cannot be renamed using Power Query, and instead of using the names inside of Power Query, they show their display names from Dataverse after applying changes. The rename step is saved within Power Query but does not persist outside of it.

Workaround: Columns must be renamed outside of Power Query using the right-click “Rename” option, which does not percolate back to Power Query.

Environment:

• Power BI Desktop version: 2.137.1102.0
• Operating System: Windows 11

Additional Information: This issue was reported in another post in May 2023 and was marked as fixed by Microsoft in August 2023. However, user comments on the original post indicate that the issue persists, although there has been no response from Microsoft. Clearing the cache, repairing Power BI, and re-importing the data do not resolve the issue.

[AlyssaL036]

Dataverse Column Names Display Names vs. Renaming in Power BI
PowerBI changes my dataverse column names
Tables in PowerQuery editor do not reflect PowerBI data model using Dataverse connector

Here are the posts I could find with the same issue. It turns out this was actually a "Feature" Microsoft added but they didn't consider that this would cause problems and have ignored any requests for help.

Forcing any changes to names to be completed in the model view and not allowing it to be reflected in Power Query means that the two names will never be in sync, and it will always be difficult to match the model-view column to its Power Query counterpart.

We should be able to turn this feature off!

Power BI July 2022 Feature Summary | Microsoft Power BI Blog | Microsoft Power BI

[bhalicki]

Hi @AlyssaL036 ,

Thank you for the detailed summary, very much appreciated 🙂

I have retested this issue on Version: 2.137.1102.0 64-bit (October 2024).  Interestingly, this only appears to impact tables created in the new version and not tables created before the 'feature' was implemented.

I tested on a PowerBi report built on 2.116.966.0 64-bit (April 2023) (purposfully remaining on an old version until this issue was resolved).  When I add new columns to an existing table and rename, the new column name persists into the final data model.  However, if I create a new table and rename the columns, then the Dataverse column name persists into the final data model.

This "feature" makes no sense at all.  Some of the column names in our Dataverse are designed to be readable by end users (and therefore may contain descriptive text).  It is extremely difficult to identify the original field in the data model based on this descriptive text.  Renaming a column is a key feature of ETL, so I don't see why we would want the original column name to persist into the final data layer instead of what we have assigned.  I would expect the final data model to appear exactly as it does after all data transformations have been completed in PowerQuery.

[bhalicki]

On a side note... Microsoft appear to be responding to issues and classifying them as "delivered".  This doesn't necessarily mean that the issue is actually resolved - it appears this means that they have "delivered" a response and no need to follow up.  Very misleading for anyone who is trying to understand why their report is behaving the way it does.

[v-xiaoyan-msft]

Hi @AlyssaL036 ,

Based on the above information, It's a reproducible issue. I would suggest opening a Support Ticket.

If you are a Power BI Pro or Fabric licensee, you can create a support ticket for free and a dedicated Microsoft engineer will come to solve the problem for you. 
It would be great if you continue to share in this issue to help others with similar problems after you know the root cause or solution.

The link of Power BI Support: Support | Microsoft Power BI

For how to create a support ticket, please refer to How to create a support ticket in Power BI - Microsoft Power BI Community

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Caitlyn

[DemoFour]

Hay

@AlyssaL036 @bhalicki 

I initially raised this as an issue in the forum when I discovered this bug on the other thread Tables in PowerQuery editor do not reflect PowerBI... - Page 3 - Microsoft Fabric Community

At that time it was fixed after a period of time by MS, after I logged a ticket and raised this up for the community, it looks like the same issue has come back, I noticed this the other day when working with a Dataverse connection.

@v-xiaoyan-msft I think this needs to be re-raised as a bug coming back in to the system, and investigated as a separate issue, as it was fixed and it appears what ever recent changes have been made in the back end, has resurfaced this issue for the Dataverse connector. 

[bhalicki]

Hi all,

I have raised a support ticket with Microsoft to hopefully have this fixed again 🙂

Kind regards,

Ben.

[bhalicki]

Hi all,

For anyone else who comes across this, there is a hidden (undocumented?) feature in the connector to disable this functionality:

In PowerQuery, modify the initial 'Source' step, adding EnableDisplayNames=false parameter.
= CommonDataService.Database("yourconnection.crm6.dynamics.com", [EnableDisplayNames=false])

Kind regards,
Ben.

[DemoFour]

@bhalicki  Thanks Ben, that is super helpful to know.  I will go and look in my reports now. 

I have checked my connection and I have CreateNavigationProperties=false after my connection, the source only takes 1 output so I will have a look at changing this, but this is used to optimise connections Power Query Dataverse connector - Power Query | Microsoft Learn