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frithjof_v
Super User
Super User

Rename source and navigation step

Hi,

 

I think it's a good practice to rename the applied steps in Power Query, so that the step names can be a useful part of the "documentation" and explanation of what's going on inside my M queries.

 

This includes the Source and Navigation steps in my M queries. I would like to give these steps also more meaningful names. 

E.g. rename the Source step to contain the name of the source system, and rename the Navigation step to contain the name of the source table. 

In the case of a referenced query, I'd like to rename the Source step to contain the name of the referenced query. So it's easy to get a quick overview of what's going on in Applied steps and how my queries are connected.

 

Unlike other steps, it's impossible to rename the Source and Navigation steps directly in the UI. The options to rename these steps are greyed out in the UI.

So I will need to rename these steps inside the Advanced editor.

 

I'm wondering if there is some risk attached to renaming these steps in Advanced editor?

(I.e. is there a special reason why the option to rename these steps is greyed out in the UI, and thus we shouldn't do that in Advanced editor also?) Is there anything "magical" about these step names (Source and Navigation)?

 

As far as I know, each step in an M query is a variable, and it should not matter - with regards to the functionality of our M queries - which names we choose for the variables. I understand that Source and Navigation are the default names which gets created for these steps when using a connector to get data. However I think I can rename these steps and still have exactly the same functionality. At least that is my experience.

 

Anyone knows some more about this?

 

Thanks in advance!

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
PwerQueryKees
Super User
Super User

I regularly rename the source step in advanced editor without problems. The navigation steps is not really one step normally. I just leave it alone normally...

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1 REPLY 1
PwerQueryKees
Super User
Super User

I regularly rename the source step in advanced editor without problems. The navigation steps is not really one step normally. I just leave it alone normally...

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