Column '[name]' in table '[table]' cannot be found or may not be used in this expression

How the message appears

Copied exactly from each source. A name in square brackets replaced one from someone else's project.

Column 'Profit YTD' in table 'Sales' cannot be found or may not be used in this expression.

Column 'y' in table 'x' cannot be found or may not be used in this expression

What causes it

1. 1

   The DAX names a column or measure that was deleted

   DAX keeps a name after the object is gone. In the quoted thread, the poster deleted a calculated column, refreshed, and got this message. The reply marked as the solution says a deleted column was still used in another column or in an applied step. In our run we deleted the measure Profit YTD, which a field parameter named with NAMEOF('Sales'[Profit YTD]). Power BI Desktop asked only whether we were sure, and named nothing that used it. The warning then said "Column", though Profit YTD was a measure.

   Source: Column 'y' in table 'x' cannot be found or may not be used in this expression[2], Power BI Desktop 2.159.883.0, Studio fixture F13d[1].

   Finds thisThe Report Doctor finds this. It reports “DAX names something the model does not have”, with the file and line.

The fix

Find the DAX that still names it: the table, measure or column with the warning. Change the name to one that exists, or put back what was deleted. If the column came from Power Query, check its applied steps too, as the marked answer says.

In tables/Sales.tmdl:

sum('Sales'[Qty])

sum('Sales'[Quantity])

Sales has no column Qty, so the measure names one that does not exist.

From the SalesSense sample project by Rui Romano (MIT licence).

The Power BI Report Doctor reads a PBIP folder or .zip and lists the file and line to fix. Nothing is uploaded. For the other messages a project can stop on, listed by the file that causes each, see Power BI Desktop can't open a PBIP.

Worth knowing

• In our run, a measure named with its table, 'Sales'[Profit YTD], was reported as a column.
• The same deleted measure, named without its table, gives The value cannot be determined.
• When the DAX belongs to a calculated table, such as a field parameter, the visuals that use it fail with Failed to move the data reader to the next row.

Sources

• [1]Desktop run: Power BI Desktop 2.159.883.0, Studio fixture F13d. Our run on Wide World Importers open data: we deleted the measure Profit YTD while a field parameter, another measure and a visual still named it. The messages are typed from our screenshots. Seen 2026-10-23.
• [2]Microsoft forum: Column 'y' in table 'x' cannot be found or may not be used in this expression. The thread title, the original post, and the reply marked as the solution. Read 2026-10-23.