Data load - Column type predetermined by Power BI

[Anonymous]

Hi Community

I am having some difficulty selecting data type for columns I import.

When I import an Excel file on the Desktop version, after selecting 'get data', I am presented with this screen:

As you can see it says data has been truncated due to size. At this point Power BI has also already decided what it would it believes each column type to be.

As you can see, is believes the first column is text, and the second numerical.

POSITION A: I will refer back to this position just now.

I will then select "Edit" and move on to the Power Query Editor screen:

At this point I should be able to change the data type of the columes, which you know I can do by clicking on the ABC, 123, etc. 

My problem comes in that, for example with column two, Power BI has already decided at POSITION A that this column is numerical. So when I change it to text, all the cells you see will move to the left hand side, as it is now text, which is obviously not a problem. The problem is that when it decided at POSITION A that the column is numerical, further down there were other cells in the column that had some letters in (which it did not look at when making its initial choice), which were thus text, and since not being numerical they were already read as errrors as soon as we moved to the second screen above. So after I change the column to text as it should be, or even if I leave it, how Power BI has already predetermined that this column is a certain type based on only a few rows is causing me obvious problems.

Only workaround I have at the moment is to first pull in a dummy file with all the same heading and ensure that the type of data that I want power bi to pick up is in the first few rows, as after POSITION A for me to try and change it is worthless.

Any advice on how I can either get Power BI to look at all the rows on the first load when determining the data type of each column, or how I can get it to not enforce its initial data type selection as strongly will be much appreciated.

Many thanks.

Regards

Renier

[v-lili6-msft · Accepted solution]

HI, @Anonymous 

Just click File->Options and Settings->Options

Then currenrt file and disable Type Detection

Best Regards,

Lin

[gpiero]

@Anonymous 

Hi,

this one could be an option. It gives you the complete control to change datatype according your needs.

Otherwise you could select "Based on entire dataset".