Forum Discussion
Expand Values - Records and Lists
I need to be able to expand the all of the values within the column of the query without making a new table. Right now there is only one list and all others are records (this will change as more data is added). When the "Records" are expanded they are "null". The only way i know to expand the "List" is to select only "List", right-click - Drill Down - To Table - and then expand, which will give me the full text for the List. But, this action removes the connection to the original table.
How do I expand all values: "Records" and "Lists" so that they remain in their original table column titled: "Value"?
1 Reply
You have to transform the record and lists into a common format (or if you're really sure that records can be ignored, turn them into lists).
This blogpost describes the general technique: https://www.thebiccountant.com/2017/07/25/how-to-expand-a-column-that-cannot-be-expanded-in-power-bi-and-power-query-in-excel/
But in general I'm a bit suspicious when I see such a scenario. Often it means that these are very different data that should be channeld into 2 different tables. So again, if the records are all null and should be ignored, you can just add a condition that returns an empty list instead.
