Edit 27th June 2021: There is a complete new version of this tool that has all the bugfixes and enhancements here: Power BI Cleaner – The BIccountant
Edit 23th June 2020: Updated version (see download link at the end of the article) to reflect changes with the vpax fileformat in DAX Studio versions V11.0 upwards.
The VertiPaq-Analyzer tool is one of the great community tools that I really cannot live without. It gives me a great overview of all elements in my model and identifies potential performance problems by showing the storage requirements of each column. So when seeing expensive columns, the first question that arises is: “Do I really need this column or could I delete it?”. Luckily, this can now be answered with my new Power BI Cleaner tool. This tool shows the usage of all columns (and measures) within the tables of the VertiPaq Analyzer.
Power BI Cleaner shows unused columns in the VertiPaq-tables
Power BI Cleaner tool
So whenever there is no entry in the column “Where Used” you can go ahead and eliminate the column (or measure) from the model. Well – with two exception actually: Fields used in the definition of incremental load policies are currently not identified as well as used fields in calculation groups. So make sure to consider this before running wild 😉
In the table “Measures” you can spot which measures might not be used:
Identify unused measures with Power BI Cleaner Tool
And as a general recommendation: Always make sure to have your old version still in place and create a new version for your cleaned up file, just in case.
To learn more about the used elements, you can drill through to detail pages “Where Used Direct” and “Where used Indirect”:
Drill through to detail pages
“Where Used Direct” will show where the elements are directly used in:
Analyse directly used elements
And the next page “Where Used Indirect” will show elements that are using the selection indirectly at a later stage as well:
Elements that are indirectly used at a later stage
Please note that the drill through pages will only return values for columns and measures that have been used or referenced by used items (directly or indirectly) . So if a column or measure has been used in another column or measure this will not be shown as long as those elements haven’t been used anywhere in the report. This is intentional and reflects the purpose of the tool to be used as a cleanup-helper and not as a documentation tool.
What’s (not) covered
The areas covered for usage detection are the following:
- Calculated columns
- Measures
- Relationships
- Filters (on visual, page, report and drillthrough-level)
- Visuals
- Groups
- Roles
- Conditional formatting
And again – NOT covered are:
- Incremental load policies
Please let me know if there are areas that I’ve missed and I’ll see if I can include them as well.
Further limitations
- Columns that are only referenced by their name (without the preceding table name) will NOT be detected.
- False positives will be generated for measures that have the same name than column names: Unused measures will be flagged as used, if their column counterparts are used!
- Some custom visuals produce bad metadata which can lead to errors as well. The Network Navigator for example, renames the input table to “Table1” in the metadata. These fields will not be discoverable through this tool.
- Column and measure names including brackets “()” will currently not be picked up (this limitation might be lifted in future updates)
- There is a problem with the automatic escaping of Text boxes. So special characters in there might cause problems.
- It doesn’t work on models that are using live connections
How to use
- Retrieve vpax-file with DAX-Studio and paste path to vpax-file into parameter “FilePathVPAX”. ( ! This is a preview-feature that you have to enable like described here: https://www.sqlbi.com/blog/marco/2019/09/15/vertipaq-analyzer-2-0-preview-1/ )
- Transform pbix to pbit and paste path for pbit into parameter “FilePathPBIT” (This facilitates showing of “WhereUsed”-column in page “Tables”)
- Ignore Privacy Levels (File -> Options and Settings -> Options -> Current File -> Privacy -> Privacy Levels -> check “Ignore the Privacy Levels….”)
- Refresh All
Or check out this video for a detailed walkthrough:
How does it work
The tool uses the library and functions of the VertiPaq Analyzer and many metadata parsing algorithms of my Power BI Comparer tool. After all I want to thank Marco Russo for the support and confirmation that it is totally OK to adopt their open sourced solutions to other tools.
All the logic of this solution sits in the Power Queries. So do you want to know how this all works? Then just open the query editor and study the queries.
Download file: As mentioned above, this article is outdated, so please use the version from the latest blog here: Power BI Cleaner Gen2 now covers Analysis Services Models as well (thebiccountant.com)
Troubleshooting: If the file doesn’t work for you despite checking all prerequisites and limitations, please send me your pbit and vpax files so I can examine further. (info at thebiccountant.com)
Enjoy and stay queryious 😉
Tried to use the PBI Cleaner file but am getting errors when trying to refresh, multiple queries are giving errors with a [Source] column, tried to step through the queries to fix but struggling to tell what should be setup to fix in some cases. Can you please advise? Tx
Please try this version and let me know if that helps: https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=de165ddf5d02daff&id=DE165DDF5D02DAFF%2193293&authkey=!ADx4CKF-sLfOTPE
Thanks, Imke
That version would refresh but still seemed to have an issue as it wasn’t identifying used fields correctly. After looking at the queries I modifed the UserFields1 Query, Step “Inserted Text Before Delimiter” to use [Value] instead of [Source] and that seems to have things working now.
Thanks, Chris.
Thanks Chris for reporting this.
Have uploaded a new version to the blogpost – please try this as well.
Thanks, Imke
Thanks so much for sharing this project – it looks extremely useful.
I tried it out on a file just now (that I need to tidy up), and first struck the same error as Chris (ref earlier comment). While the actual error was avoided using the v2 version, the report then doesnt show any results for Where Used = Visuals, Relationships, DAX Expressions, possibly others. All I see in Where Used is columns and hierarchies.
As I described in an earlier comment, my query: UsedFields1 is showing an error at step: _GetRoles –
Expression.Error: The field ‘roles’ of the record wasn’t found.
I also noticed my query: UsedFields2 is showing an error at step: Result –
Expression.Error: We cannot apply field access to the type Null.
I tried deleting one unused Custom Visual – the report still uses Bullet Chart by OKViz which is up-to-date.
I hope that info is useful. I can share the pbit and vpax files if that helps. I’m very keen to help get this working.
Thanks again, Mike
Thanks Mike,
currently working on another update – might upload later today!
Cheers, Imke
This is a great addition to vertipaq analyzer. It’ll remove the manual effort of finding references, especially within visuals.
Will this be integrated into DAX Studio?
Will there be any effort to detect columns without a table name?
Hi Jon,
thanks for the feedback.
There will be no integration with DAX-Studio, as the data for the visuals isn’t included in any DMV.
I could possibly create a version where detecting column names without the table name is an option. But as you can use the same column name in multiple tables, this would create false positives for those cases.
So this would require additional documentation to highlight that risk. Let me see when I can manage that.
/Imke
Imke,
I have 3 measures
[Total Sales]
[PY Sales]
[% YOY Sales] =DIVIDE([TotalSales]-[PY Sales],[PY Sales])
On the measures tab for [PY Sales] “WhereUsed” is empty.
I don’t think this is intentional, or is it?
Hi Frank,
hast [% YOY Sales] been used anywhere in the report?
[PY Sales] should only be shown in the “Where Used” if it has been used somewhere in the report. Directly or indirectly.
So if [% YOY Sales] hasn’t been used anywhere in the report the measures that define it also shouldn’t show up.
Otherwise: I have a new version with some bugfixes that you might want to try. Just give a me a shout please.
/Imke
Thanks!
I expected “DAX expression” to be shown, but your approach makes more sense.
Hi Imke,
This tool is great but I have the same problem as Frank Tonsen.
I can assure that [% YOY Sales] is used in my PowerBi but I get still no use for [Total Sales] & [PY Sales]. I would like to test this updated version you mentioned.
Hi Ilona,
please check out the new version here: https://www.thebiccountant.com/download/8620/
Feedback very much appreciated.
Thanks and kind regards,
Imke
Hi Imke
I’ve tested the new version and the Problem still persists, but I can tell you that it is another Problem than I thought. The real problem is, that some measures and columns are not detected as used. Therefore the indirect used measures are also not detected.
At the moment I cannot tell you anything these measures and columns have in common. The problem seems to appear completely random.
Nevertheless is your tool very helpful, but I have to be very carefully before deleting anything.
Hi Ilona,
that’s a pity.
If you could share your pbit and vpax-file, I’m happy to investigate.
info at thebiccountant.com
Thanks and cheers, Imke
Hi Imke,
Its’ really kind, that you offer to investigate, but I am not allowed to share these files with you.
Kind regards
Ilona
Thanks Ilona.
/Imke
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Hi, I love the Power BI Cleaner tool! I’ve spotted a potential bug, so I thought I’d post about it to help ongoing development of the tool. I’m using measures to create dynamic card titles, and where I’ve used conditional formatting of a card’s title to directly reference a measure, that measure doesn’t get reported as being used.
Hi KyokoHunter,
thanks for this hint – will try to fix it with the next release.
/Imke
Have uploaded a new version that picks up DAX expressions used in conditional formatting rules as well.
Hi Imke,
Thank you so much for this tool – very useful.
Could you please add a usage detection for conditional formatting on titles?
Thanks!
Hi Dor,
let me check later, it should be in there already…
/Imke
Hi Imke,
Great tool! Keep on going this project.
Is there a one link we can find the latest version now and in the future?
Hi Bartek,
I will include in the post once ready.
/Imke
Hi Imke
Many thanks for this wonderful tool.
Does this have an issue working with pbix files which has ‘Store datasets using enhanced metadata format’ enabled? Bcoz on such files, I am getting an error in the ‘Columns’ table – “We found extra characters at the end of JSON input.” when the data is refreshed.
Yes, it doesn’t work with that new format unfortunately.
Have updated the post accordingly.
Working on a fix – should be out Mid July.
Sorry about this – Imke
Thanks for the update.
Hi Imke
Has this issue been fixed?
Hi Gopa,
yes if you use the latest PBI versions.
/Imke
Hi Imke
The issue still persist with the new version also. Am I missing something?
Hello Gopa,
sorry to hear, but for me it’s all working fine.
Please check the instructions again on how to use it.
/Imke
Figured it out, TextEncoding.Utf16 needs to be used as the optional text encoding option for the Text.FromBinary() function on TableAllFields and RLStaging tables. Once that is added it should run correctly.
Hi Ethan,
Thanks for the heads up and feedback!!
I had the same problem. I used the TextEncoding.Unicode function inside Text.FromBinary and it worked.
Does this tool works with Live Connection PBIX ? I’m trying to use with PBIX which connects to Azure Analysis Service when I try I get error Error loading queries from other visuals
Hi Nathan,
it cannot work with live connection, as no query or model data is stored in pbix/pbit.
/Imke
Hi – I’m getting an error after setting the paramaters for my file names and refreshing. for the FieldUsageDetails, i get this error – FieldUsageDetails
OLE DB or ODBC error: Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040E4E. Any ideas whats causing this?
No, haven’t come across this error message.
But you can find a lot on the internet about it.
/Imke
Not sure why that happened but my file ended up showing a duplicate for each item in the measures list, 1 with the proper data type, 1 showing null. i did a remove duplicates step on the query, and now it ran. Thanks for creating this.
Thanks – great to hear!
Hi Imke! Thanks for providing this tool. It looks very promising. However I seem to have several measures that are reported as not used (column “Used In” in the Measures report page is empty for the measure) although I indeed see that they are used in a visual. I cannot see anything particular with these measures.How can I troubleshoot this? i downloaded the latest version of the tool today fyi.
Thanks
Fredrik
Hi Fredrik,
sorry to hear.
I believe you’ve read the section about limitations?
There is no easy way to troubleshoot this other than stepping through the underlying queries.
Would you be able to share your files (vpax and pbit)? I’d be very interested to sort this out.
Thanks, Imke
Sorry for the late reply, I did not receive any notification (or maybe it’s in the spam folder). I will certainly dig up the files and share with you. I have read the limitations and don’t think they apply.
Thanks Fredrik
Hi Imke, I am working with version (V7) and spotted some issues with “Where used” column.
It shows blanks where in fact a column was used in a table visual or another one as a visual filter. In a first case the “Merge Queries” step in “Filed Usage” query retrieves null values when the columns used in join does not precisely match each other.
Hi Bartek,
sorry for inconvenience. Are you able to share a sample file?
/Imke
Calculation Items
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Columns
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Columns Segments
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Columns Hierarchies
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Measures List
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Relationships
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Roles Expressions
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Tables
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
User Hierarchies
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
FieldUsageDetails
WhereUsed
Hi Viktor,
sorry to see that you’ve run into issues.
Are you able to share the files you’ve used? info at thebiccountant.com
Thanks,
/Imke
Wow, Imke, what a great work you did! Helped me a lot with my around-100 tables model. Please advise if I can donate some money for using it, you saved me hours of work.
Thanks Maria for the feedback. Very glad to hear it helped.
This tool is a free contribution to the community.
It would be great if you could pay it forward or make a donation to a charity of your choice.
Thanks and cheers,
Imke
Hey Imke, what a great work . I’m starting to useit and have already removed the unnecessary fields for some powerBI applications . The content is much completer then powerBI helper from Radacad. The only issue I’m facing is that the update of the report is very slow ( 30 – 45 min ) and in query editor it is very very slow to make changes if necessary. Did you ever had the same issue ? I’m running it on laptop with 16 gb of memory .
Hi Alain,
make sure that background refresh is disabled (see first point here: https://www.thebiccountant.com/speedperformance-aspects/ )
Otherwise: These queries take quite some time to refresh, because there is a lot to be done. (As you have recognized, it covers areas no other tool is doing currently).
But I haven’t had a workbook where the refresh would take that long.
How many measures do you have in there? And how many visuals? (Roughly)
/Imke
Hi Imke,
Thank you for sharing the tool and it is super useful for data cleansing!
I have a question on how to use your tool when connecting to “PowerBI dataset”.
The setup of my PowerBI is as follow:
– PowerBI model – 1 file with all the tables linked to SQL Server (eg. Model.pbix)
– PowerBI reports – 10 files connecting to the same PowerBI model (ie. Model.pbix) by using “PowerBI dataset” (eg. ReportA.pbix, ReportB.pbix, ReportC.pbix…..etc)
I was trying to convert one of report to PBIT file and also convert the PowerBI model to VPAX file like this:
-> Model.pbix ==> converted to Model.vpax
-> ReportA.pbix ==> converted to ReportA.pbit
Then I used your tool to import the above 2 files and hit refresh, but the operation was failed and it says some refresh errors about “loading blocked by failures with other queries”. I am not sure if the tool can still be used if I split the model and reports in separate files?
I also tried to convert the PowerBI model to PBIT file and and also convert the same PowerBI model file to VPAX and it was successful (it took almost 5 hours to complete the full refresh):
-> Model.pbix ==> converted to Model.vpax
-> Model.pbix ==> converted to Model.pbit
Based on my settings with “PowerBI dataset”, am I allow to use your tool for analyzing my reports?
Thank you!
Best regards,
Emily
Hello Emily,
currently you can only use this tool on one file. So not with splitted files like yours, unfortunately.
/Imke
Hi Imke,
No worries, thanks for your reply!
Best regards,
Emily
Hi Imke I have found the issue with my problem “cannot convert null to text”. The issue occur when the dataset contains a Role in RLS without any condition. The table for roles will fail for that row with the error. I have added a replace error in the middle but this might help you reproduce the error to build a even better script 😉
Hope that helps 😛
Thanks a lot for sharing, Ignacio!
/Imke
Hello Imke, When loading data I get this error message:
Calculation Items
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Columns
We found extra characters at the end of JSON input.
Columns Segments
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Columns Hierarchies
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Measures List
We found extra characters at the end of JSON input.
Relationships
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Roles Expressions
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Tables
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
User Hierarchies
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
FieldUsageDetails
We found extra characters at the end of JSON input.
WhereUsed
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
PBI version is2.87.762.0
Dax Studio is 2.13.1
Could you help, please
Regards
Andrea
Hi Imke. I’m using your Cleaner tool. Really works well. Thanks a lot for this! But I do have a question.
If I’m using column [COL1] in Power Query (so not DAX) to create another column [COL2] in the table and I don’t use the first column [COL1] anymore in the report, will it be reported as “not used”? Will the PowerQuery still be working ok if I remove [COL1]? Or does it depend on when I do that?
Thanks a lot!
Marco.
Hello Imke.
Thanks for the help, but the whereused column is not working in the PowerBICleanerV7 version.
Metrics are being used and the column is empty.
Hi Imke,
Thanks for the amazing tool you built. I’ve used it a couple of times so far and it has been really helpful for cleaning up some files with more than 700 measures.
I’m now trying to do the same with a similar file but having some trouble to refresh your template after changing the parameters.
Apparently the problem comes when uploading “FieldUsageDetails” and “WhereUsed” tables.
Do you have any pointers of why can this be or what can I try to fix it?
Cheers,
Joaquín.
Hi Joaquin,
please check out he new version that I’ve just uploaded.
If it still doesn’t work, please send me your pbit and vpax file for further investigation.
Thanks and cheers, Imke
Hi Imke,
I removed the roles from the model and it worked just fine.
Thanks for the reply and the new version!
Joaquin
Hi just wanted say many thanks, this is a very useful tool, thanks for share it with the community. I also had to removed the role level security filters and worked as intended.
Hi,
Maybe I’m missing something obvious but there doesn’t appear to be a PowerBICleanerV10 PBIX file within the PowerBICleaner.zip file linked in the article.
If it’s there, could you advise of the path to the PBIX in the Zip file?
Hi Eddi,
change the file extension from .zip to .pbix, that’s solve the problem.
Thanks
Hi Imke, thanks very much for this tool, very helpful! However, it seems that fields that are used in tables (not matrices) aren’t picked up by it. Could you please verify or point me towards a solution? I unfortunately cannot share my pbit/pbix files 🙁
Hi Imke, thanks so much for this awesome tool! I’ve been using it for documentation purposes since last year and the output has been consistently amazing. Seems like compared to the previous versions, v10 runs much faster and the visual titles are captured more accurately (at least on the pbix file I’m running). I may have missed some details though, but is there a link where I can find additional information on the version updates? I’m curious to know how v7 differs from v10
Hi Cha,
that’s great to hear.
It just some bugfixes and improvements, but no major new features.
If you want to compare the underlying code, you can use my comparer tool here: https://www.thebiccountant.com/2019/09/14/compare-power-bi-files-with-power-bi-comparer-tool/
/Imke
Hi Imke, thanks so much for Power BI Cleaner!
Could you please tell me where I should find the cause of the problem with the missing “Value” column and how to solve it?
Calculation Items
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Columns
The column ‘Value’ of the table wasn’t found.
Columns Segments
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Columns Hierarchies
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Measures List
The column ‘Value’ of the table wasn’t found.
Relationships
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Roles Expressions
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Tables
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
User Hierarchies
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
FieldUsageDetails
The column ‘Value’ of the table wasn’t found.
WhereUsed
The column ‘Value’ of the table wasn’t found.
Thank you in advance!
Hi Elizaveta,
are you able to share your pbit and vpax files for me to investigate?
info at thebiccountant.com
Thx!
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Hi Imke Feldmann, I have the same problem like Elizaveta, can you fix this?
Hi Imke, thank your for sharing this tool.
I am also facing the same issue like Elizaveta.
Could you check it for us.
I’m having errors as well….
First of all, thank you so much for taking your time to create this App.
“Elizaveta16.03.21 @ 6:54 PM
Hi Imke, thanks so much for Power BI Cleaner!
Could you please tell me where I should find the cause of the problem with the missing “Value” column and how to solve it?”
I am having the same issue at the PowerBICleanerV11_2_p version.
Do you have any idea about how we can solve it?
Thank you again.
P.S.: I noticed that the problem is exactly at the ‘UsedFields1_Filters’ table, there are some errors on the ‘Applied steps’ at that table that make the column Value disappear.
how can i fix “UsedFields1_Filters” please ?
For the folks hitting the refresh error “The column ‘Value’ of the table wasn’t found”, Cha on our team found one trigger for this is if your source PBIX file has no Page-level filters on any page. A workaround that got a successful refresh of Power BI Cleaner was to add a Page-level filter to our source PBIX file.
We’ve shared our files with Imke and she is looking at a fix.
Hi Mike, thank you for your interest. In my case the source PBIX has a page-level filter at the page called ‘Tables’. I set WhereUsed[Details] filter on the rest of them and still hitting the error related to the colum [Value].
Hi Thiago, did you apply the page-level filter on your original PBIX file, not the Cleaner file?
1. Original / Source PBIX file – We edited our source PBIX file with a page-level filter first, then ran the vpax and saved the pbit file afterwards.
2. Cleaner File – We used these 2 new files as input to the parameters, before hitting the refresh button.
Everything seemed fine on our end.
This worked!!! Thank you so much for your help.
Cheers
Hi Imke tool is very user full but i face problem in refresh
Calculation Items
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Columns
We found extra characters at the end of JSON input.
Columns Segments
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Columns Hierarchies
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Measures List
We found extra characters at the end of JSON input.
Relationships
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Roles Expressions
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Tables
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
User Hierarchies
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
FieldUsageDetails
We found extra characters at the end of JSON input.
WhereUsed
The column ‘Value’ of the table wasn’t found.
Solved right above!
Cheers
Hello Imke,
I love your Power BI Cleaner tool. Very useful when dealing with some messed up data models and trying to reduce memory usage. Thanks for making it available!
But right now I’m having the same problems Ivan Mihajlov described on 4/26/21 5:29am.
I downloaded the version from the article above. Did I get the wrong version or is there currently a bug regarding newer .vpax files.
Hope to see you again in the near future.
Uwe
I add page level filter but the result is the same
Sorry that this has taken so long, but here is a new version: https://wp.me/p6lgsG-2pi
Please let me know if you run into any issues with it, thanks.
How did I never use this before? I don’t know but I just tried it last night and it’s now one of my favorite tools. Right up with DAX Studio. Great work!!! This will save SO much time reducing someone else’s report.
Hi there.
I was really looking forward to use your tools BUT, no matter what i do i keep on getting this (source is Azure SQL tabel):
Calculation Items
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Columns
The column ‘Value’ of the table wasn’t found.
Columns Segments
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Columns Hierarchies
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Measures List
The column ‘Value’ of the table wasn’t found.
Relationships
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Roles Expressions
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
Tables
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
User Hierarchies
Loading blocked by failures with other queries.
FieldUsageDetails
The column ‘Value’ of the table wasn’t found.
WhereUsed
The column ‘Value’ of the table wasn’t found.
I am using your latest version.
Hey folks, sorry to hear about the troubles.
I will publish a new version tomorrow evening.
Kind regards,
Imke
that will be great… tnx in advanced
Sorry, but due to sickness there will be a delay.
Hope to get it out at the weekend.
Imke… did you manage to fix it?
Sorry that this has taken so long, but here is a new version: https://wp.me/p6lgsG-2pi
Please let me know if you run into any issues with it, thanks.
Sorry that this has taken so long, but here is a new version: https://wp.me/p6lgsG-2pi
Please let me know if you run into any issues with it, thanks.
Hi, thanks for your great job!
Have the same problem
“We found extra characters at the end of JSON input.”
in my case PQ looks
“DataFormat.Error: We found extra characters at the end of JSON input.
Details:
Value=@
Position=4251″
in JSON this looks like:
… {\”value\”:\””@5= …..
Sorry that this has taken so long, but here is a new version: https://wp.me/p6lgsG-2pi
Please let me know if you run into any issues with it, thanks.
Hi again.
In this version you have made 2 parameters. The first one in asking for port number for localhost.
I am not using local host but AAS. Moreover, you have hardcoded localhost into you reports connection so there is no other options to connect to AAS as we do.
Therefor i cant use it (and want to real bad ).
What should i do? any other ways?
Tnx in advance
Br.
Yair
Followed all of the directions, but when I click refresh all the procedure fails with the error message: Columns
The column ‘Value’ of the table wasn’t found. Same error for Measures List, FieldUsageDetails & WhereUsed.
Any ideas what went wrong and how to fix it?
Hi Michael,
as stated in the first sentence, there is a new version available that has all the bugfixes here:
https://www.thebiccountant.com/2020/01/01/tidy-up-power-bi-models-with-the-power-bi-cleaner-tool/
Cheers, Imke
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Hi Imke, great tool!
Small bug report: if you have RLS roles without any filters the AllFields table that calls fnAllTextBetweenDelimiters. Worked great after I deleted the roles.
I’ve also noticed if a field is used only as a Visual Level filter it’s not marked on “Where Used”
Thanks!
Thanks for reporting, Augusto,
will include that in the next version.
/Imke
Hi Imke
This is great work on your part! Unfortunately I cannot get the tool to work with Power BI. It seems to be a file path problem as there is an error in power query. Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name=”pbitPath”]}[Content]{0}[Column1].
Should the power BI version be looking for an Excel file?
When I try to ignore privacy levels the file goes into an endless loop asking for the privacy levels again and again.
I am using V12_SimplePBIX.pbit.
Help please.
Best regards
Tony
Hi Tony,
please use the download from this page: https://www.thebiccountant.com/2021/06/27/power-bi-cleaner-gen2-is-here/
Should come as V12_SimplePBIX
Sorry, this tool has a lot of iterations already 🙂
/Imke
Hi Imke
I have tried the file you suggest with Power BI and still receive the same error. The tool is still looking for a non existent Excel file. Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name=”pbitPath”]}[Content]{0}[Column1].and this shows as an error in PQ.
Tony
Hi Tony,
I’ve cleaned up the file and fixed some bugs. Please use the current download.
Thanks for the heads up and cheers,
Imke
Hi Imke
I downloaded the new Power BI version and the path problem is fixed. However after entering the 2 initial parameters the native query popup appears twice so I clicked run each time. the refresh starts to run and I am NOT asked for credentials or to ignore privacy levels. The query then crashes with the following errors:
AllFieldsUsed
Query ‘DMV_Columns’ (step ‘Inserted Merged Column’) references other queries or steps, so it may not directly access a data source. Please rebuild this data combination.
DistinctFields_Used
Query ‘DMV_Columns’ (step ‘Inserted Merged Column’) references other queries or steps, so it may not directly access a data source. Please rebuild this data combination.
Thank you for your help
Tony
Hi Tony,
sorry for the inconvenience.
I’ve included a passage in the blogpost now on how to ignore privacy levels through the menu if the pop up doesn’t appear (any more).
Cheers, Imke
Hi Imke
I was able to resolve the privacy levels issue using options and settings, however I now get the following errors.
AllFields_Used
The specified distinct criteria is invalid.
DistinctFields
The specified distinct criteria is invalid.
Tony
There is no “where Used” column in the “Tables” tab of the VertiPaq Analyser Report.
Sorry, yes – will fix that in the next update.
But you can drag it from the fields section yourself until then.
I looked through all the available fields and there is no “where used”.
Can this tool determine where columns/measures are used if the source is a shared dataset? We have many reports using data tables in a shared dataset and are struggling to identify if a measure is being used outside of the PBIX that contains the data model.