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LastThird

PowerBI Desktop copies entire column when user attempts to copy a value in Data View

Submitted by Microsoft Employee on ‎03-01-2023 06:02 PM

It's not obvious that -- when a user attempts to copy a single value in the Data View pane -- PowerBI actually copies the entire column into the clipboard. On large tables, this can cause PowerBI to lock up: in the best case eventually failing with an 'out of memory' error; in the worst case actually crashing PowerBI and losing any unsaved progress.

Status: Delivered
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3 Comments (3 New)
Comments
Anonymous
Not applicable
‎03-02-2023 09:02 PM

Hi @LastThird ,

 

Does the problem occur in the data view of Power BI Desktop or in the Query editor? Or do you mean in one of the charts?

Is it possible to provide some screenshots or reproduction steps to illustrate the problem? (Please be careful not to show sensitive information)

 

Best regards.
Community Support Team_ Caitlyn

LastThird
Microsoft Employee
Microsoft Employee
‎03-06-2023 05:16 PM

Hi... yeah, the problem is in the Data View pane of Power BI Desktop:

LastThird_0-1678151373691.png

To repro:

  1. highlight a cell/value
  2. right-click
  3. click Copy

LastThird_1-1678151493158.png

You can see in this screenshot that -- even though I highlighted and right-clicked on the value -- the column is highlighted. My guess is that this is meant to indicate to the user that the column is what will be copied, but this visual cue is too subtle, given that doing this can cause Power BI Desktop to lock up or crash.

There are a couple of possible approaches:

  • Make the Copy option copy the highlighted value instead of column. This would address the core issue, but since it's a change to functionality might be too costly to justify the work.
  • Change the context menu option to say "Copy column". This doesn't fix the problem, but it would at least make it clear to the user what they're about to do (and likely avoid hitting the issue in the first place).
Anonymous
Not applicable
‎03-29-2023 02:51 AM

Hi @LastThird ,

 

Unfortunately it is by design at this time.

If you would like to suggest  feature improvements, you may  vote the idea and comment here  to improve this feature. It is a place for customers provide feedback about Microsoft Office products . What’s more, if a feedback is high voted there by other customers, it will be promising that Microsoft Product Team will take it into consideration when designing the next version in the future.

 

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Caitlyn

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