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Clarify limitations of text to numeric conversion #5287
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@eugman : Thanks for your contribution! The author(s) and reviewer(s) have been notified to review your proposed change. |
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Learn Build status updates of commit df8967c: ✅ Validation status: passed
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Pull request overview
This PR adds a clarification about the limitations of converting text data to numeric values for data reduction in Power BI Import models, specifically noting that such conversion provides no benefit when columns are used in relationships.
Key Change:
- Added a note explaining that text-to-numeric conversion doesn't reduce storage when columns are used in relationships, as they're always hash encoded
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| In this example, we recommend that you set the column default summarization property to `Do Not Summarize`. It helps to avoid inappropriate summarization of the order number values. | ||
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| Converting the text data to numeric values does not help if the column is being used in a relationship, because it will always be hash encoded. |
Copilot
AI
Dec 3, 2025
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The sentence structure is awkward with "does not help." Consider revising to: "Converting text data to numeric values doesn't help if the column is used in a relationship, because it's always hash encoded."
This improves readability by:
- Using the contraction "doesn't" (consistent with Microsoft Writing Style Guide conversational tone)
- Changing "the column is being used" to "the column is used" (simpler present tense)
- Changing "it will always be" to "it's always" (more concise and uses present tense)
| Converting the text data to numeric values does not help if the column is being used in a relationship, because it will always be hash encoded. | |
| Converting text data to numeric values doesn't help if the column is used in a relationship, because it's always hash encoded. |
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@denglishbi - The intent of the change in this PR seems to be not to fix the content but to raise an issue. You might want to close this PR and address the issue in a new PR in the private repo. #label:"aq-pr-triaged" |
Just to clarify, this is intended to add a clarification to the content, not to raise an issue with the DAX engine. I was having a conversation on Reddit with a user who felt the docs contradicted the official behavior of the engine. |
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@eugman Ah ok, thanks for the clarification. Can you review the proposed changes? Important: When the changes are ready for publication, adding a #label:"aq-pr-triaged" |
Sources:
https://www.sqlbi.com/articles/choosing-between-date-or-integer-to-represent-dates-in-power-bi-and-tabular/?hl=es-US https://www.maxwikstrom.se/performance/power-bi-data-types-in-relationships-does-it-matter/