unsignedInt Error Excel PT

[delks]

I have created a semantic model which is a direct query connection to Snowflake. I have connected to it using the Navigation method to the table rather than defining a query. Only 1 transformation is being applied where the column names are being renamed.

I am connecting to the model via Excel PivotTable.

All other tables work fine however there is a field which is highly unique returning an error when I drag it into the filter section. It states two messages one after another. Firstly after running an OLAP query for a couple seconds it states "The '' string cannot be converted to the unsignedInt type". Then it states "The item could not be found in the OLAP Cube.".

The field works fine when dragged into the Rows section (with some filters to bring the result down to <1000000). The column probably has around 4mil unique values.

I have also checked other fields with the same datatype at source and they work fine with the filter (VARCHAR(255)).

What could be the cause of this?

[v-pgoloju · Accepted solution]

Hi @delks,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Forum Community.

The issue you're facing is because Excel tries to load all unique values of a field when you use it in the filter section, but the field you're using has around 4 million unique values. Since your semantic model uses DirectQuery to Snowflake, there’s a default system limit that allows only up to 1 million rows in any query result (including intermediate steps). When Excel tries to retrieve those 4 million values, it exceeds this limit, which causes the error messages you’re seeing. While your admin can technically increase this limit, they’re usually hesitant because it can slow down the system, overload the data source, and increase costs. A better solution is to avoid using high cardinality fields in filters and instead place them in rows with some filtering, or create a grouped version of the column that reduces the number of unique values. Alternatively, limit the data at the source level so Excel has fewer values to process.

Best regards,
Prasanna Kumar

[lbendlin]

There is a default limit of 1M rows for Direct Query result set (including intermediate results).  Your tenant admin can increase that limit but they will be very reluctant to do so.