It’s time to expand table columns today, and get you acquainted with the ninth pitfall, which can be quite risky, as you’ll soon find out. For those of you who didn’t read my previous articles of the Pitfalls Series, you are welcome to bookmark this link, it can help you avoiding common mistakes, we always do in Power BI and Power Query in Excel.
So, what is Expand Table Column?
Expand Table Column is a transformation step which happens when you click on the highlighted button.
The highlighted button appears in a variety of scenarios in Power BI and Power Query in Excel. When you click on the expend button, the tables in the relevant column will get expended.
Let’s go over one of the main scenarios – Merging queries.
In the following table, we have a list of employees and their bonuses over the years.
The column Employee ID, can be used to find the corresponding employee name and gender in the Employees table below.
Using Query Editor’s Merge Queries in Home tab, we can combine between Bonuses and Employees, using the column Employee ID to map between each row in Employees and the multiple rows in Bonuses. If you are new to the Merge functionality, read more about it here.
Following the merge step, we can now expand the table column NewColumn.
In the expand pane, we can uncheck Employee ID, as we already have that column in the Bonuses table. Clicking OK, will reveal the 9th pitfall.
If you followed the first pitfall here, your formula bar is now active, and you can see the following code:
= Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Merged Queries", "NewColumn", {"First Name", "Last Name", "Gender"}, {"First Name", "Last Name", "Gender"})
In the previous step, we unchecked Employee ID. As a result, the Query Editor auto-generated a code that refers to the other column names in table Employees: First Name, Last Name and Gender.
The 9th Pitfall
Whenever we extract table columns, as we did above, the auto-generated Table.ExpandTableColumn formula is hard-coded with the specific column names, that were checked. So, when there is a new column name, it will be missed in the merge operation. For example, if the column First Name in Employees table, will change to FirstName, it will not be included in the expended results. Instead, First Name will have nulls, as shown here:
The Solution: List.Difference and Table.ColumnNames
As you may recall, in the example above, we unchecked Employee ID. We didn’t check each of the columns we need. We wanted them all. Luckily for us, there is a formula to do it.
Instead of calling for columns one by one:
{"First Name", "Last Name", "Gender"}
We can call for all the columns except of Employee ID:
List.Difference(Table.ColumnNames(Employees), {"Employee ID"})
And now, we can use the formula above as the second argument of Table.ExpandTableColumn as follows:
= Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Merged Queries", "NewColumn", List.Difference(Table.ColumnNames(Employees), {"Employee ID"}))
With this change, whenever the table Employees will have new or different column names, we will have them expended in the resulting table. Isn’t it cool?
Combining CSVs with varying columns
A special case to consider the 9th pitfall, is when we import multiple files from a folder. Let’s examine the basic case of CSVs, though it is relevant for other file types as well.
Imagine we have multiple CSVs from a folder. Most of the CSV files share the same format, but in few of those files, we have extra columns. Let’s import the files from a folder and see how Power BI and Power Query in Excel handle this scenario.
You can download the ZIP file from here, and follow with me.
The ZIP file contains 4 CSV files. Most of them have the columns Date, Product and Sales:
Let’s import the entire folder after you unzip the files into a folder. To import the CSV files, select Get Data in Power BI Desktop, click File, then click Folder and click Connect.
Note: This scenario is based on the recent improved combine binaries experience, read more here. If you are using Excel 2010/2013 with Power Query latest Add-In, or in Excel 2016 version 1612 Build 7668.2048 or later, you can follow the steps as well (From Data –> Get & Transform –> New Query –> From File –> From Folder).
In the Folder dialog, click Browse and select the folder with the CSV files. After you select the folder, click Edit in the preview window.
Click on Combine Binaries (highlighted below)
In CSV window, click OK
The results are as expected. We got Date, Product and Sales from all the CSV files.
But the file Tokyo.csv has sub products in the fourth column. We missed it.
Let’s understand how we missed it, by looking at the formula bar.
From the code below, you may see that Table.ExpandTableColumn expanded the column “Transform Binary from CSVs3″ by the column names that exist in the first CSV file. How do we know it? Look at the highlighted “{0}”, which refers to the first item in the table column. That is the first table we’ve expanded.
= Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Removed Other Columns1", "Transform Binary from CSVs3", Table.ColumnNames(#"Removed Other Columns1"[#"Transform Binary from CSVs3"]{0}))
Try to change the {0} part to {3}. Do you see now that Sub-Product was just expanded? You can scroll down till you reach Tokyo.csv under the first column to find sub products under Sub-Product.
= Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Removed Other Columns1", "Transform Binary from CSVs3", Table.ColumnNames(#"Removed Other Columns1"[#"Transform Binary from CSVs3"]{3}))
And here is when pitfall #9 have manifested itself. We’ve imported many CSV files from a folder, and Power BI / Power Query was only looking at the first file to determine which columns to expand. Apparently, it wasn’t sufficient to detect the sub-products in the fourth file.
How to combine a folder with varying columns in the files
When we have multiple files with varying column names, we would want to expand all the files into a unified table. Fortunately, there is a way to do it in the formula. Let’s see how we can build the solution.
Go one step back in APPLIED STEPS, before expand table column step. Select the table column, right click on its header, and click Drill Down.
The result is a list of tables:
Now, let’s wrap the formula with List.Transform which will convert each table to its list column names.
= List.Transform(#"Removed Other Columns1"[Transform Binary from CSVs3], each Table.ColumnNames(_))
The result is a list of lists. Each item in the main list is a list of column names from the corresponding table.
Now let’s wrap the formula above with List.Union:
= List.Union(List.Transform(#"Removed Other Columns1"[Transform Binary from CSVs3], each Table.ColumnNames(_)))
The result is a unified list of all the column names:
Now, we can use the List.Union formula as a second argument of the original Table.ExpandTableColumn
= Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Removed Other Columns1", "Transform Binary from CSVs3", List.Union(List.Transform(#"Removed Other Columns1"[Transform Binary from CSVs3], each Table.ColumnNames(_))))
And voila, all the columns are detected and expanded.
So, when I’ve added the column Discount in Tokyo.csv it is detected and expanded on refresh, without further changes.
Conclusions
Power Query Formula Language (M) can be your friend. You can use List.Difference and List.Union on Table.ColumnNames as shown above to avoid the ninth pitfall, and automatically detect new columns when you expand table columns.
Coming Next: The 10th and last pitfall – Remove Duplicates.
When it comes to Power Query, personally I would say your posts are the most valuable. I leaned from you a lot of stuffs I never knew. I do appreciate it.
Thank you Julian. Perhaps you are ready to share your knowledge on DataChant. Want to be a guest author?
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Can the List.Difference be used to exclude more than 1 column? I find in many cases that I have multiple columns that I want to exclude from expansion.
Sure. You can add multiple columns as the second argument: List.Difference(all_columns, {“col1”, “col2”})
Gil,
Excellent posts just started reading and your ability to show detailed steps is amazing.
I found a small typo at the top ‘expend’ vs ‘expand’ “When you click on the expend button, the tables in the relevant column will get expended.” <–
Thank you for the great feedback, and for detecting the typo. Fixed 🙂 Hope you will find the posts useful.
Hi, Gil
Nice trick to solve the annoying error. I tried to reconstruct what you did here but couldn’t get expected result, auto refreshed columns. When I try to see the column names from thes list of Tokyo after typing List.Transform(…), I only see 3 column names out there. I think this should be because of “Transform Sample Binary from CSVs3” query where the Source hardcoded [column = 3] that prevents users from seeing the other 2 columns when the first file with 3 column names was assigned for sample file…
Just wonder if I missed something or not
Thank you for sharing. You may try removing the [column = 3] altogether and see if that will create the right number of columns.
That works perfectly this time. Thanks a lot!
In above post you have shown Table.ExpandColumns with merge queries. I had a query in which I used group by and selected all rows based on column. Then I used Table.Transpose function on column containing All Rows with “table” link. I now wanted to expand it and was using List.Difference(Table.ColumnNames… but it did not work. Can you please help.
Can you share a screenshot or the M expression?
Respected Gil Raviv. Wonderful post as I was expecting similar solution for a problem mentioned by “Funlife” above.
M expression
let
Source = Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name=”StateSchoolRanking”]}[Content],
State.Group = Table.Group(Source, {“State”}, {{“AllRows”, each _, type table}}),
State.Rank = Table.AddColumn(State.Group, “fnRanking”, each fnRanking([AllRows], “Strength”, “Residential”, “Grd.GQPI”, “Grd.Average”, “Grd.QPI”, “Grd.Percent”, “State.Rk”)),
#”Works” = Table.ExpandTableColumn(State.Rank, “fnRanking”, {“SchoolCode”, “BlockCode”, “DistCode”, “Block_E”, “District”, “Strength”, “School”, “Management”, “Area”, “Residential”, “Medium”, “HM_Name”, “Mobile”, “eMail”, “Block”, “No.01”, “Grd.A+”, “Grd.A”, “Grd.B+”, “Grd.B”, “Grd.C+”, “Grd.C”, “Grd.NC”, “Grd.Tot”, “Grd.Marks”, “Grd.Average”, “Grd.QPI”, “Grd.Pass”, “Grd.Percent”, “Grd.GSr”, “Grd.GQPI”, “Grd.Boy.A+”, “Grd.Boy.A”, “Grd.Boy.B+”, “Grd.Boy.B”, “Grd.Boy.C+”, “Grd.Boy.C”, “Grd.Boy.NC”, “Grd.Boy.Tot”, “Grd.Boy.Marks”, “Grd.Boy.Average”, “Grd.Boy.QPI”, “Grd.Boy.Pass”, “Grd.Boy.Percent”, “Grd.Boy.GSr”, “Grd.Boy.GQPI”, “Grd.Girl.A+”, “Grd.Girl.A”, “Grd.Girl.B+”, “Grd.Girl.B”, “Grd.Girl.C+”, “Grd.Girl.C”, “Grd.Girl.NC”, “Grd.Girl.Tot”, “Grd.Girl.Marks”, “Grd.Girl.Average”, “State.Rk”}),
#”NotWorking” = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#”Works”, “fnRanking”, List.Difference(Table.ColumnNames(#”Expanded fnRanking1″), {“State”,”AllRows”}))
in
#”NotWorking”
In the step #”Works” I am expanding columns from function “fnRanking”
I am trying similar thing using Your method so that I can mention only columns not to be displayed
Thank you in advance
Can the function fnRanking return different column names for each call in Table.AddColumn? If not, you can apply this line, which gets the column names from the first result of fnRanking, and excludes Column1 and Column2, instead of #”Works” above:
#”Works” = Table.ExpandTableColumn(State.Rank, “fnRanking”, List.Difference(Table.ColumnNames(State.Rank[fnRanking]{0}), {“Column1”, “Column2”}))),
Thanks mate, you are doing a great service here!
Sir you are simple brilliant. Your code works like a charm.
Sir just one more doubt
How to find minimum or maximum value in a row (record) and also column header
Eg: Name Lang1, Lang2, Lang 3, Mat, Science, Social
xyz 70, 80, 65, 55, 82, 90
abc 75, 65, 85, 100, 80, 60
For xyz min is 55 (Mat), max is 90 (Social)
For abc min is 65 (Lang2) max is 100 (Mat)
Thank you sir
Question may be at a wrong place!?!
Hi Steve,
The fastest place to get these answers is the Power BI Desktop forum. Since your question is not related to this blog post, it can take me a while till I answer here.
Probably the best way is to Unpivot all columns but Name, and then use DAX/Measures
Thank you sir.
Hi there,
I toiled over this myself for hours, but this is exactly what I was looking for thank you.
However, in my situation I have over 80 columns, and for each column it seems to have to pull all the data across, and so is really really slow. When I remove all but the top row in the union list, it loads all the data once and when keep two rows does it all twice. As that increases the time exponentially increases, so by the time I get to 80 rows it just doesn’t finish.
Any advice?
Thanks
This is great site for power query lovers… Pitfall series is great one .. thanks for the efforts
Hello! I am trying to do the List.Difference trick, but it’s throwing an error says we cannot convert … to type Table. 🙁
Can you be more specific here? Can you share the code?
I am having the same problem as tyw214. I am loading an Excel workbook and loading the range from one worksheet.
Below is the is the code I am using. The commented out bit works fine on the number of columns can change.
Source = Excel.Workbook(File.Contents(File_Path), null, true),
#”Removed Other Columns” = Table.SelectColumns(Source,{“Data”}),
MyTable = #”Removed Other Columns”,
#”Expanded Data” = Table.ExpandTableColumn(MyTable, “Data”, Table.ColumnNames(MyTable[Data])),
// #”Expanded Data” = Table.ExpandTableColumn(MyTable, “Data”, {“Column1”, “Column2”, “Column3”, “Column4”, “Column5”}),
Hi Nigel,
I think you are missing the index for the table object in the row you would like to use to expand all tables. MyTable[Data] returns a list of tables (all the tables in Data). But you should provide here a single table for Table.ColumnNames function.
So, let’s say you want to expand the Data column by the column names in the first table object in Data column. You can use the {0} portion to achieve it, as shown here:
#”Expanded Data” = Table.ExpandTableColumn(MyTable, “Data”, Table.ColumnNames(MyTable[Data]{0}))
Many thanks Gil, that worked. Thanks for the fast response too.
Thanks Gil, this is great!. Is it possible to add a prefix to the added columns like Table.NewColumn instead of just NewColumn. When you do this via the GUI you can choose the prefix.
Hi Gil,
Thanks for this really useful post.
I have a basic working knowledge of M and have followed your instructions in the this post.
My two tables that I am combining each have about 100 columns (with different headers in each), most don’t have data in them (at this development stage). I am finding that all columns (both with and without data) of “Table 1” are pulling in to the ‘final’ dataset but only about 5-6 columns of “Table 2” are being pulled in.
I have placed data into one of the columns not being pulled in to test if it is blanks that are excluded – this column remains excluded. Have I reached a column limit or something like that?
Thank in advance for any light you could shed.
Jack
Hi Gil,
I am trying to reproduce the steps above in “How To Combine A Folder With Varying Columns In The Files” using Power Query in PowerBI, April 2019. The steps do not correlate. Is this due to the new version? Thanks.
Steve Ross
When I do this on a folder with only a few files it works well, but I have a folder that will result in 100+ files, It throws me a DataSource.Error: SharePoint: Request failed. Have you encountered this issue?
Yes. SharePoint has some limitations when it receives high number of simultaneous calls. You may want to split your logic to multiple queries, and consider using Function.InvokeAfter https://blog.crossjoin.co.uk/2015/04/30/using-function-invokeafter-in-power-query/
Hi,
Hi I am using the How To Combine A Folder With Varying Columns In The Files, it works on folders with very few files, but when I try with a folder with 50+, it throws me a DataSource.Error: SharePoint: Request failed. Is this a size issue? Any way to resolve?
Since I reuse the following, over and over, I am wondering if I can turn it into a function that could be invoked via add column, in power bi? Since I have many excel files to process and with different numbers of columns, is there a way to modify the following so that it would work with all columns that a spreadsheet might contain?
#”Expanded table.Data” = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#”Kept First Rows”, “table.Data”, {“Column1”, “Column2”, “Column3”, “Column4”, “Column5”, “Column6”, “Column7”, “Column8”}, {“table.Data.Column1”, “table.Data.Column2”, “table.Data.Column3”, “table.Data.Column4”, “table.Data.Column5”, “table.Data.Column6”, “table.Data.Column7”, “table.Data.Column8″}),
Should this approach work although modified? Is MyTable a user defined variable?
#”Expanded Data” = Table.ExpandTableColumn(MyTable, “Data”, Table.ColumnNames(MyTable[Data]{0}))
I get the feeling that you might suggest somehow doing something like this, but I’m not sure how to do it.
= Table.ExpandTableColumn(#”Removed Other Columns1”, “Transform Binary from CSVs3”, List.Union(List.Transform(#”Removed Other Columns1″[Transform Binary from CSVs3], each Table.ColumnNames(_))))
I’ve noticed that there is a bit of a performance hit when using the List.Union() as opposed to the generated list of columns. Not sure why.
Hi Gil,
Thank you so much for this post
You solved my very old problem of expanding columns
You are just amazing!!!!
From now on, I will follow you for all power query related questions
I am glad you find it helpful 🙂
“The highlighted button appears in a variety of scenarios in Power BI and Power Query in Excel.”
Could you explain some occasions where these buttons appear? I can see those buttons with tables in one database but not the other and don’t understand how I could make them appear.
Mr Raviv… this was an excellent trick ( Varying Columns)… Just your book in Amazon a week ago… and I will follow your exercise. Do you have a blog so that i can post a problem where i am trying to unwind a very messy unstructured data?
Thank you Luis. I don’t think you will get a timely answer in my blog. I recommend posting in the public Microsoft Power Query forum https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Power-Query/Welcome-to-the-Power-Query-forum/td-p/1985552
Mr Raviv… this was an excellent trick ( Varying Columns)… Just your book in Amazon a week ago… and I will follow your exercise. Do you have a blog so that i can post a problem where i am trying to unwind a very messy unstructured data?
Thank you. I recommend trying the Power Query community forum here
Thank you Gil, its has been an exciting experience studying your book. I have learnt alot from it already.