Get certified for free when you join Fabric Data Days 2026 and dive into Fabric, Power BI, SQL, AI, and other essential data skills.
Join nowJuly 7 - July 17 | Round 2 of the Power BI Dataviz World Championships. Don't miss your chance! Learn more
In one of my text columns, I see an error explained as: DataFormat.Error: Invalid cell value '#NAME?' In the Excel source file, I have rows which contains = before the text, which is interpreted as a formula. And it's not. Is there a way to force Power Query show what I can actually see in Excel and then drop this = sign and just keep the text. I am not entitled to change the source file. directly.
Thank you in advance.
Solved! Go to Solution.
Hello @Anonymous
there is no way power query gets to this data. For power BI This is simply a database. And it reads what it gets, and this in an error.
The only way you can bypass is, to open excel file, run a programm that fixes this issue create a local version and use this as your data source
If this post helps or solves your problem, please mark it as solution (to help other users find useful content and to acknowledge the work of users that helped you)
Kudoes are nice too
Have fun
Jimmy
Hello @Anonymous
there is no way power query gets to this data. For power BI This is simply a database. And it reads what it gets, and this in an error.
The only way you can bypass is, to open excel file, run a programm that fixes this issue create a local version and use this as your data source
If this post helps or solves your problem, please mark it as solution (to help other users find useful content and to acknowledge the work of users that helped you)
Kudoes are nice too
Have fun
Jimmy
Join us in Barcelona for FabCon and SQLCon, the Fabric, Power BI, SQL, and AI community event. Save €200 with code FABCMTY200.
Join Fabric Data Days 2026: 60 days of free live/on-demand sessions, challenges, study groups, and certification opportunities.