Forum Discussion
Convert to Time Format in the Power Query Editor in Power BI while importing the data from Excel
I have some data in an EXCEL TABLE which has total hours worked and actual work hours and which resembles the Duration in the form of %s as per the below-mentioned screenshot:
Now, I would use this Excel file in POWER BI and showcase the same duration and %s. But unfortunately, In PowerBI, the data type is being considered as Text, and hence unable to convert them to the formats as per Excel file. If I try to change it to Date or Date/Time, Decimal, or Duration, it is throwing an error. I need to perform calculations like the Sum of all the Durations etc.,
Following is one type of error when I converted to Duration Data Type, likewise, it is showing an error for all the data types I tried.
Appreciate your help, thank you!
Hi mrk777 ,
I'd suggest to convert your duration column into seconds. With that you should be able to do all your calculations. You might wanna do something like the below:
And here the M code for the new column:
Number.FromText ( Text.BeforeDelimiter([duration],":") ) * 60 * 60 + Number.FromText ( Text.BetweenDelimiters([duration], ":", ":" ) ) * 60 + Number.FromText ( Text.AfterDelimiter([duration], ":", {0, RelativePosition.FromEnd}) )I used the example above in this blog post with a little bit more explanations:
https://www.tackytech.blog/how-to-swiftly-take-over-power-query/#11_Calculate_duration_from_time_columnLet me know if this helps 🙂
/Tom
https://www.tackytech.blog/
https://www.instagram.com/tackytechtom/
3 Replies
Hi mrk777 ,
I'd suggest to convert your duration column into seconds. With that you should be able to do all your calculations. You might wanna do something like the below:
And here the M code for the new column:
Number.FromText ( Text.BeforeDelimiter([duration],":") ) * 60 * 60 + Number.FromText ( Text.BetweenDelimiters([duration], ":", ":" ) ) * 60 + Number.FromText ( Text.AfterDelimiter([duration], ":", {0, RelativePosition.FromEnd}) )I used the example above in this blog post with a little bit more explanations:
https://www.tackytech.blog/how-to-swiftly-take-over-power-query/#11_Calculate_duration_from_time_columnLet me know if this helps 🙂
/Tom
https://www.tackytech.blog/
https://www.instagram.com/tackytechtom/See this answer to your identical question at Convert to Time Format in the Power Query Editor in Power BI while importing the data from Excel
Here is another approach. You can add a custom column with this expression which will get you as a decimal in days. You can then use the approach in the linked article to do your measures and then format as durations.
= let
splitlist = List.Transform(Text.Split([YourColumn], ":"), each Number.From(_))
in
splitlist{0}/24 + splitlist{1}/(24*60) + splitlist{2}/(24*60*60)Calculate and Format Durations in DAX – Hoosier BI
Pat
