Date Tables

Hi Mark,


Thank you for the forum question.

Power BI is quite flexible when it comes to handling different date formats. It can automatically recognize and convert various date formats, so you generally don't need to create separate adaptations for each format. However, it's a good practice to ensure consistency in your date formats to avoid any potential issues.

To handle different date formats, you can use the Power Query Editor in Power BI. Here, you can transform and standardize your date formats before loading them into your model. For example, you can use the "Change Type" option to set the column to a Date type, which helps Power BI understand and convert the dates correctly.

Regarding the "Mark As Date Table" feature, this is an important step in Power BI. When you mark a table as a date table, Power BI validates that the table meets certain criteria, such as having unique, contiguous date values with no nulls. This ensures that time intelligence functions, like year-to-date or month-to-date calculations, work correctly. It doesn't add intelligence to convert date formats, but it does help Power BI understand how to use the dates in your model effectively.



Kind regards

Jens Bonde
Microsoft Office Specialist Trainer

Tel: 0207 987 3777
STL - https://www.stl-training.co.uk
98%+ recommend us

London's leader with UK wide delivery in Microsoft Office training and management training to global brands, FTSE 100, SME's and the public sector

Hi Mark,


Thank you for the forum question.

Power BI is quite flexible when it comes to handling different date formats. It can automatically recognize and convert various date formats, so you generally don't need to create separate adaptations for each format. However, it's a good practice to ensure consistency in your date formats to avoid any potential issues.

To handle different date formats, you can use the Power Query Editor in Power BI. Here, you can transform and standardize your date formats before loading them into your model. For example, you can use the "Change Type" option to set the column to a Date type, which helps Power BI understand and convert the dates correctly.

Regarding the "Mark As Date Table" feature, this is an important step in Power BI. When you mark a table as a date table, Power BI validates that the table meets certain criteria, such as having unique, contiguous date values with no nulls. This ensures that time intelligence functions, like year-to-date or month-to-date calculations, work correctly. It doesn't add intelligence to convert date formats, but it does help Power BI understand how to use the dates in your model effectively.



Kind regards

Jens Bonde
Microsoft Office Specialist Trainer

Tel: 0207 987 3777
STL - https://www.stl-training.co.uk
98%+ recommend us

London's leader with UK wide delivery in Microsoft Office training and management training to global brands, FTSE 100, SME's and the public sector