The value for '[name]' cannot be determined
Power BIIn general form, with the parts that change in brackets:
The value for '[name]' cannot be determined. Either the column doesn't exist, or there is no current row for this column.
A DAX expression names something in square brackets, and Power BI cannot get a value for it. Either the name is not in the model, or it is a column used where there is no row to read it from.
- Usually
- A measure it names was deleted or is missingA measure uses a column with no aggregation
- Fix
- Find the measure with the warning.
Check your project opens the Report Doctor with this message filled in. The text travels in the URL fragment, which browsers never send to a server.
How the message appears
Copied exactly from each source. A name in square brackets replaced one from someone else's project.
The value for 'Profit YTD' cannot be determined. Either the column doesn't exist, or there is no current row for this column.1 more report of this message
The value for '[column name]' cannot be determined. Either the column doesn't exist, or there is no current row for this column.What causes it
A measure it names was deleted or is missing
A measure can use another measure by its name in brackets. If that measure is gone, nothing has the name. In our run we deleted the measure
Profit YTD, andGross Margin % YTD, which used it, showed this warning. Power BI Desktop asked only whether we were sure. In the quoted thread, measures were copied to a new report one by one, and the one that used another came first. The poster fixed it by deleting that measure and making it again.Source: Power BI Desktop 2.159.883.0, Studio fixture F13d[1], The measure M1 has a syntax or sematic error. the value of Measure M2 can not be determined........[3].
The Report Doctor finds this. It reports “DAX names something the model does not have”, with the file and line.A measure uses a column with no aggregation
A measure has no current row, so it cannot read a column on its own. In the quoted thread a measure compared a column, by name, with a number. The reply marked as the solution says to wrap the column in
SUM.Source: DAX measure if this, and this then that[2].
The Report Doctor doesn't detect this yet.
The fix
Find the measure with the warning. If the name it uses is a measure that no longer exists, put it back or change the name. If it is a column, wrap it in an aggregation such as SUM.
In tables/Sales.tmdl:
[Sales Amount] - [Sales Amount (PY)]Line 1: change P to L.
[Sales Amount] - [Sales Amount (LY)]There is no measure Sales Amount (PY), 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 the message said "column", though
Profit YTDwas a measure. - The same deleted measure, named with its table, gives Column cannot be found or may not be used.
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: DAX measure if this, and this then that. The original post, and the reply marked as the solution. Read 2026-10-23.
- [3]Microsoft forum: The measure M1 has a syntax or sematic error. the value of Measure M2 can not be determined......... The original post, and the poster's own reply marked as the solution. Read 2026-10-23.
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