Filter table names in a connection to a SQL Server database

[Raul]

Hello everyone.

I have a SQL Server database that contains more than 20,000 tables. I need to connect from Power BI Desktop to that database but I want to be able to filter the selection of the necessary tables for those starting with a certain prefix, for example, those starting with CUST *.
How can I specify this initial filter so that I can subsequently select the tables I need without having to load all the tables of the database before in the Navigator screen?

Thanks a lot!!!

[v-shex-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Raul,

Please refer to below steps to filter the tables which stored in database.

Steps:

1. Connect to a database.

2. Add a filter on 'Name' column and modify the filter formula to use 'Text.StartsWith' function.(For your scenario, you should use "CUST " as keyword to filter.)

Full query:

let
    Source = Sql.Databases("xxxxx"),
    #"Filtered Rows" = Table.SelectRows(Source, each Text.StartsWith([Name],"D"))
in
    #"Filtered Rows"

BTW, please not connect too many table at one time. Large amount of tables may affect the performance and system resources.

Regards,

Xiaoxin Sheng