Chris Webb continues a series on optimizing Power Query merge performance:
In my last post I demonstrated how the size of a table affects the performance of Power Query merge operations on non-foldable data sources in Power BI. Specifically, I showed that removing columns from the tables involved in a merge before the merge took place improved performance. But does it matter when you remove the columns? Is it enough to only select the columns you need when you expand the nested table returned by a merge, for example, or just to remove columns after the merge step? So, today’s question is:
Does it make a difference to Power Query merge performance if you remove unwanted columns from your source tables in the step before the merge or in the step afterwards?
Read on for the result, as well as a pleasant surprise around Power BI’s capabilities.