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Adding column and moving it to the beginning of table|Power Query|Excel Forum|My Online Training Hub

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sp_CrumbsHome HomeExcel ForumPower QueryAdding column and moving it to the …
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Adding column and moving it to the beginning of table
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jaryszek
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October 5, 2021 - 11:29 pm
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Hi,

i have table1:

Col1Col2

a b

 

and query where i am creating additional column.
How to reorder automatically and move added column to the beginning of table?

let
Source = Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name="Table1"]}[Content],
#"AddColumn" = Table.AddColumn(Source, "Col3", each "")
in
#"AddColumn"

Best,
Jacek

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Philip Treacy
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October 5, 2021 - 11:38 pm
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Hi Jacek,

After adding the column, if you drag it into position so it's the first column, a new step is created which will do this every time.

Regards

Phil

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jaryszek
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October 6, 2021 - 4:43 pm
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Thank you Philip.

The issue is that it will only work to this one particular table.
Imagine that you are adding this colun to 5 others with different number of columns.

How to make this automatic in the M language? 

let
Source = Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name="Table1"]}[Content],
#"AddColumn" = Table.AddColumn(Source, "Col3", each ""),
#"Reordered Columns" = Table.ReorderColumns(AddColumn,{"Col3", "Col1", "Col2"})
in
#"Reordered Columns"

So Col1, and Col2 in this case can change...

Best,
Jacek

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Velouria
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October 6, 2021 - 5:44 pm
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There are probably simpler solutions, but you could get a list of the column names, remove the last one (the new column you added) and then combine that with the new column name like this:

 

= Table.ReorderColumns(AddColumn,List.Combine({{"Col3"}, List.RemoveLastN(Table.ColumnNames(AddColumn), 1)}))

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jaryszek
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October 7, 2021 - 5:33 pm
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thank you it worked.

but i have another issue. 
Sometimes Col3 can be not last one but next-to-last and RemoveLastN will not work.

I tried with:

= Table.ReorderColumns(AddColumn,List.Combine({{"Col3"}, List.RemoveMatchingItems(Table.ColumnNames(AddColumn), "Col3")}))

but i am getting error:

"We cannot convert the value "Col3" to type List.

How to avoid this? 

Query:

let
Source = Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name="Table1"]}[Content],
#"AddColumn" = Table.AddColumn(Source, "Col3", each ""),
#"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(AddColumn, "Col4", each 1),
LastStep = Table.ReorderColumns(AddColumn,List.Combine({{"Col3"}, List.RemoveMatchingItems(Table.ColumnNames(AddColumn), "Col3")}))
in
LastStep

Best,
Jacek

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October 8, 2021 - 12:50 am
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It's expecting a list of items to remove so use {"Col3"} instead of just "Col3":

 

let
Source = Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name="Table1"]}[Content],
#"AddColumn" = Table.AddColumn(Source, "Col3", each ""),
#"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(AddColumn, "Col4", each 1),
LastStep = Table.ReorderColumns(AddColumn,List.Combine({{"Col3"}, List.RemoveMatchingItems(Table.ColumnNames(AddColumn), {"Col3"})}))
in
LastStep

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jaryszek
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October 8, 2021 - 8:55 pm
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Thank you!

Best,
Jacek

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