Missing column when refreshing

[Anonymous]

I'm a relatively new user, so I don't know if this is a known error, but couldn't find anything on it by searching the internet.

I've created and maintained a report in PowerBI Desktop since the start of this year and had no trouble with it at all. Today i wanted to add the latest week's data, but whenever I try to update between Excel and PowerBI, I get an error claiming that "Column 4" in one of my tables is missing. only, there never was a "Column 4" in that table. There has only been 3 columns in it from the start.

I'm at a loss for how to fix this, so can any of you help?

[davejl]

hi, i noticed this error too when i have data refresh via pbi online dataset refresh. An error appears saying that there is "Missing ColumnXX" even when the Column is not even coded in the query.

When we download the actual pbi file and do a manual refresh, no error happens and just reupload the refreshed pbi file. Kind of weird that such an error can happen when we refresh our dataset online but doesnt happen when we do it via pbi desktop and it inevidently becomes a fix.

It is as though, there is a shadow code in the background that influence the refresh via pbi online.

Any thoughts from the community on this?

[WhiteBusLady]

First thing I always ask is "WHO touched my report?"  If no one answers, check the data.  Finally, check the queries.

For Excel data, the most common error I might expect for this errror is an unexpected comma.  Maybe a number entered with commas (1,000) when that isn't supposed to be allowed.  Or a comma in the middle of a first or last name without quote marks surrounding it. OR a missing comma.  Especially at the top of a data set.  The commas control the column count.

As a long time data developer, if I'm reasonably certain no one has touched the program/report, then I assume a data problem and am usually right.  Especially if these spreadsheets are created by hand or can be edited by hand after being exported by some program.

If there is any chance some has opened the report in Power BI Desktop and looked at the queries, then you can use Edit Queries to look through the Applied Steps for column lists.  You don't need to know the syntax to recognize a list of column names and determine that there is an extra one or that one is missing.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your answer and your time.

Ufortunately, noone's been in the report (nobody else knows how or has a license), and there haven't been made any changes to the Excel file that causes the error. The data that gets updated weekly is in another Excel file entirely.

I actually ended up just removing that particular sheet/table from the report, since it was data that I only might be needing in the future. Now everything is back to normal in the report.