I’m having trouble with Airtable data in Power BI. When I import multi-select fields, they show up as ‘List’ instead of individual values. For example, a column with country options like Indonesia, Philippines, and Qatar just appears as ‘[List]’ in Power BI.
I used Power Query to get the data from an Airtable view. The code I used is pretty long, so I won’t paste it here. It’s a mix of pagination logic and data transformation steps.
I’ve tried making new columns in Airtable and looking online for solutions, but no luck so far. Does anyone know a simple fix for this? I’m not great with complex formulas, so easy-to-follow advice would be really helpful.
Also, I tried a solution someone suggested, but it gave me an error. The error message said something about a token not being valid.
Any ideas on how to get those multi-select fields to show up properly in Power BI? Thanks!
I’ve dealt with this Airtable-Power BI issue before. One workaround that worked for me was using the ‘Table.TransformColumns’ function in Power Query. Here’s what you can try:
- In Power Query, go to ‘Advanced Editor’
- Find where your data source is defined
- Add this line after it: = Table.TransformColumns(Source, {{“YourColumnName”, each if _ is list then Text.Combine(_, ", ") else _}})
Replace ‘YourColumnName’ with your actual column name. This should convert the list to a comma-separated string.
If that doesn’t work, you might need to check your Airtable API settings. Sometimes, the multi-select fields don’t come through properly if the API isn’t set up correctly. Make sure you’re using the latest version of the Airtable connector in Power BI as well.
Lastly, if you’re still stuck, you might want to consider exporting your Airtable data to CSV first, then importing that into Power BI. It’s a bit of a roundabout method, but it can sometimes bypass these tricky list issues.
hey there, i’ve run into this before. it’s a pain! have u tried expanding the list column in power query? click the little arrow next to the column header and choose ‘expand to new rows’. that might do the trick. if not, u could try using the Text.Combine function to join the list values into a single string. good luck!
I encountered a similar issue when working with Airtable data in Power BI. One effective solution I found was to use the ‘Split Column’ feature in Power Query. After importing your data, select the problematic column, go to the ‘Transform’ tab, and choose ‘Split Column’. Then select ‘By Delimiter’ and enter the delimiter used in your Airtable multi-select field (often a comma). This should separate the values into individual columns.
If that doesn’t work, you might need to dive into some M code. Try adding a custom column with this formula: = Text.Combine(YourColumnName, ", "). This should concatenate the list items into a single string.
Remember to refresh your data in Power BI after making these changes. Hope this helps solve your multi-select field issue!