Forum Discussion
Model object names must be non-empty error message
Hi,
First time user working with an excel file. I'm making changes to the query as I clean-up the data for reporting and am getting the message "Model object names must be non-empty" when applying my query changes.
Some of the changes I have made include:
- Changing null values to zero
- Removing rows
- Merging columns
- Transposing data
Thank you!
15 Replies
Hello,
I had got the same error. The cause was that I promoted first row as header, but in a couple of columns it was empty, so I got the error. I renamed the missing columns and it was solved.
Hope it helps.
Same thing happened to me, but with a merge that created a column without name.
No horse with no name, no column without name either.
Jose
One of your column might not have any name. You can give the colum a name in the query editor and try again.
One easy way to spot a column without a name is to pick "Choose Columns" from the "Home" Tab - You'll see a blank column which is the root of your problem.Basically, this error is saying that you can't have empty column headers. Find all of your columns that are empty and delete them from your excel sheet first.
For those who persistently encounter the error even though you are sure there is no empty headers in Power BI (which happened to me), you must go back to the source instead. For me, it was Excel and I deleted (not just clear) all columns that are not used even though they look empty. Problem solved.
agiga May I ask where are you making these changes. If you've used PBI dekstop to connect to data source then changed columns in data source and you try to refresh in powerbi it will not work. I would suggest you import raw data source as it is, and make below changes you've mentioned in powerbi via query editor.
I ran into the same issue tonight. I went back into "edit queries" and removed the last few changes I made (using the "x" by the applied steps), to the last know good step. Then I made one change at a time closing and applying each time. Until everything worked.
I hope that works for you.
Hi,
I am getting same error.
I tried deleting the last changes I have made. But the issue is still there.
I had this error today.
From a db export in xls format
There was an extra blank column that i deleted
Hi Had same error msg. It turned out to be a result of a pivoting action done with a large api dataset in Query creating a new column with no header. Removed column and error fixed.
If the file shows up blank, then you should download it from MS Teams. Go to your download file. Right click on the downloaded file and select properties. In the top text box with the file name, replace the last value (mine showed .4) to .pbix and that should convert the file type to PowerBi and you can then download it into PowerBi
