Moving/Rearranging Calculated Columns

RE: Moving/Rearranging Calculated Columns

The original thread has almost 50k views!

This is such a common and unexpected annoyance.

https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Desktop/Data-View-column-order-change/m-p/135960#M58284

RE: Moving/Rearranging Calculated Columns

What is taking so long to implement this?

RE: Moving/Rearranging Calculated Columns

Logic should not require votes. The fact that Power BI Desktop depicts a single entity in three completely different orders is illogical.

• Data Pane represents fields by alphanumeric order (logical).
• Power Query by user preference (very logical)
• Data View in order of pftlstheipshiofhsdfsowefcvicanoacew23908h (illogical).

The inefficiency caused by the above is not Power Query nor the Data Pane. Rather, it is caused in Data View where many users revert to this view in order to create Calculated Columns and manipulate / transform their data.

This update should not be viewed by Microsoft as an "Idea." It should be viewed as conforming with better practice standards.

RE: Moving/Rearranging Calculated Columns

Still waiting for this

RE: Moving/Rearranging Calculated Columns

Still waiting :)

RE: Moving/Rearranging Calculated Columns

How is this still not done.

RE: Moving/Rearranging Calculated Columns

This is one of the few things that Power Pivot does better. Completely ridiculous that I have similar column spread all over the view . On some tables i have bunch of calculated columns first then the data off screen to the right as i changed the power query after writing a bunch of calculated columns.

All these fancy new visuals are just irrelevant when you can understand your data structure easily

RE: Moving/Rearranging Calculated Columns

@Microsoft please update this! It is extremely annoying and messy when the column order is the same order like you created them.

RE: Moving/Rearranging Calculated Columns

I'm a little confused by those who say that tables should at least load in the order they are arranged to in Power Query, because, for me, that does appear to happen. I would be content, at least as an interim solution, with a situation where the order of the PQ imported columns is fixed (by Power Query) and always at the left, but, where new calculated columns in the modelling layer (of whatever kind) could then be re-arranged as needed within the block to the right of the imported PQ columns. I also support the idea of having some visual cue, as there is in Excel Power Pivot datamodel, showing which are imported columns from PQ and which are being calculated in the model layer.

I hope I now find out that this is now possible as a recently introduced feature, but, I guess I won't.

RE: Moving/Rearranging Calculated Columns

There seems to be some confusion about this among some here and in the wild generally. Columns order from Power Query is defined there and is easily changed there before loading the table to the modelling layer. What the problem seems to be is that calculated columns added in the "modelling" layer of power bi cannot be inserted where would make sense but always appear in the furthest right column and then cannot be moved from there. AFAIK there is no easy way to re-group them into a sensible order that makes sense to the modeller (or later perhaps to others who are having to adopt the model or develop it further). There is a solution suggested using the function SELECTCOLUMNS but it seems an unsatisfactory and unnecessary workaround, even if it works, I will look, users need to be able to drag and drop. I annoyed too that what would seem to most to be a basic requirement is taking so long to implement, with, as ever, no dialogue that I know of from MS explaining why this is taking so long or is so difficult.