Choosing which variables are available to export

[Anonymous]

Hi,

On a report I have created I can right-click on a visualisation and select 'Show data point as a table' to get a view of the underlying data. What I find unusual is that not all the variables from the initial dataset are available here, which is annoying as I would like to include them when I export the data. Does anyone know how Power BI chooses which variables to include when displaying the data, and how I could add more to the export?

Thank you

[v-alq-msft]

Hi, @Anonymous 

If you take the answer of someone, please mark it as the solution to help the other members who have same problems find it more quickly. If not, let me know and I'll try to help you further. Thanks.

Best Regards

Allan

[amitchandak]

The information you have provided is not making the problem clear to me.

[Anonymous]

Hi Amit,

I have a visual like this:

I can select 'Show data point as table' to see some of the other variables in the data e.g. Age, Address, Name, and then I can choose to export by clicking the ellipsis (...). Choosing 'See Records' does a similar thing.

The problem I have is that not all the variables from the underlying data are there, in my case 'Test Score' is missing. So, my question is how does Power BI decide which variables to include in the list available for export, and how can I add variables to the view so that I can export them. 

[v-alq-msft]

Hi, @Anonymous 

A Power BI visualization is constructed using data from your datasets. If you're interested in seeing behind-the-scenes, Power BI lets you display the data that is being used to create the visual when you select 'show data as table'. You may refer to the article .

About 'Export data', there are two ways.

Export summarized data

Select the option for Summarized data if you want to export data for what you see in that visual. This type of export shows you only the data (columns and measures) that are being used to create the visual. If the visual has an aggregate, you'll export aggregated data. For example, if you have a bar chart showing four bars, you'll get four rows of Excel data. Summarized data is available in the Power BI service as .xlsx and .csv and in Power BI Desktop as .csv.

Export underlying data

Select this option if you want to see the data in the visual and additional data from the dataset (see chart below for details). If your visualization has an aggregate, selecting Underlying data removes the aggregate. Power BI flattens the data, it doesn't aggregate it.

For further information, you may refer to the document .

Best Regards

Allan

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[Anonymous]

Thank you Allan for such a detailed answer, although I still don't understand why some variables appear in the view whereas others don't. I have two variables side-by-side in the same table (raw variables with no calculations), one will appear in the 'See Records' but the other will not. Is there a reason for this?  

[v-alq-msft]

Hi, @Anonymous 

When you choose 'Export summarized data', the result will be the same as what you said. It shows you only the data (columns and measures) that are being used to create the visual. If another variable is not used in the visual, It won't appear.

Best Regards

Allan

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi Allan,

Thank you for your help. I think I can see how to change the variables provided now. When I choose 'Show data point as a table', the list of variables in the provided for the records is determined by a list under the Visualisation menu. Adding the variable I want by dragging it across from the Fields menu gives me what I want.

Strangely though, the updated variable list for the visualisation is not saved so if go back to the report and choose 'Show data point as a table' again, the new variable I added to the list is not there anymore and I need to re-add it.