Is there a "general" data type?

[Sarahdb425]

Hello, I'm uploading data from excel into power query, and several of the columns have mixed data types. For example, numbers and text. In excel this data type is classified as "general", but I'm not seeing a similar data type in PBI. As a result, it's causing errors. Does this data type exist or is there a work around? My preference is to keep this data in one column. 

Thank you

[camargos88 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Sarahdb425 ,

You have the any data type (ABC123).

However, you should use this column as text.

See this reference:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-query/data-types

[Sarahdb425]

Thank you. I see that "Any" data type is an option if I select "transform data" but not "load". What is the difference here? 

[camargos88]

@Sarahdb425 ,

If you select Any, after you load the data, it will convert to text.

You only have Any using Power Query (when PQ does not know which data type should use to convert to).