What's New in PowerTable - December 2025
Following the v1.2 release in November, we are rolling out a patch update that introduces a range of key feature enhancements and improvements. This update includes:
Support for importing .mpp and .xer project files to create tables
Improvements to checkbox field - adding custom values, default value and enhanced validation
Additional aggregation types, column-level access control, and date hierarchy support in crosstab layouts
Let's look at them in detail.
1. Time Zone Adjustment Option for DateTime fields
We have now introduced adjustable time zone settings for Date-Time columns, allowing you to specify how date and time values are displayed to users and how they're adjusted for time zones.
Whether you require user-localized timestamps or absolute timestamps, PowerTable now provides a clear and consistent setup for managing time-zone behavior, allowing you to work with global datasets more accurately and reliably.
A new option has been added to the column configuration window, where you need to select one of two options: User Local or Time Zone Independent. Also, when you insert database columns of the DateTime type, you can select one of these time zone adjustment options.
The User Local option converts the entered date and time to UTC for storage and then adjusts it to each user’s local time when displayed. For example, you can use 'User Local' for attendance or activity log timestamps to ensure that each employee sees times in their own local time zone.
The Time Zone Independent option stores in UTC and displays the timestamps exactly as they were entered, without any time zone conversion. For example, select this option for a contract milestone date for a project that must be consistent across all invoices, regardless of who opens the report.
Let's consider a user in the time zone UTC-8 entering 2025-02-21 14:29:00.00 in the table app. Users in the time zone UTC+5.30 might see the date and time as follows based on the configuration:
User Local
2025-02-22 03:59
Time Zone Independent
2025-02-21 14:29
The configured time adjustment setting applies uniformly across the configured fields, forms, writeback, import/export, and other such interactions.
2. Import Project Files (.mpp, .xer) Directly into PowerTable
You can now import .mpp (Microsoft Project) and .xer (Primavera) files when creating a new table, making it easier to bring in project schedules and resource data directly into PowerTable. This reduces manual effort, speeds up onboarding time, and ensures data consistency and accuracy.
You can upload .mpp and .xer files up to a maximum size of 25 MB.
As always, PowerTable automatically detects and maps column data types during column configuration, and you can modify them if required.
After you've created tables with the imported files, you can visualize the project and resource data using PowerTable's Gantt and Resource views.
3. Manual Refresh for Semantic Model
PowerTable now supports manual refresh for tables connected to a semantic model, allowing users to bring in the latest inserted or updated records from the model without affecting their locally added or edited data.
Previously, PowerTable supported only scheduled refreshes when connecting tables with semantic models. You can schedule the refresh in the initial configuration window while assigning fields or through automation. We now allow users to manually sync the table with the semantic model on demand.
Click on the Semantic Model option beside the Refresh button to refresh the table with the semantic model.
Refresh: Updates the table to show the most recent changes made by other users in the database.
Semantic Model: Updates the table with the most recent changes and new records from the semantic model.
Newly added and modified records within the semantic model are included and synchronized. Manual refresh does not overwrite newly added or edited local rows in Power Table.
Deleted records in the semantic model are not removed from the table during the sync to prevent data loss.
The Audit screen captures a complete log of inserted and updated rows as a result of the sync, including the user name, row details, old and new values, and timestamp.
4. Color picker for Manual Options Column
We have now added a color picker for 'Manual Options' columns in Power Table, enabling users to assign and display custom colors for each option to improve visual differentiation and readability across the grid and visuals. You can select your preferred colors to indicate priority and enable faster interpretation.
5. Selective Historical Tracking in Type 2 SCDs
When Type 2 SCDs are enabled, historical tracking is applied to all table columns by default. You can now specify which fields' histories should be tracked, while changes to other fields are simply overwritten.
Once configured,
Updates to the selected SCD Type 2 columns will result in the creation of a new record, with a new surrogate key to preserve historical data.
Updates to non-selected columns (those that are not tracked) will simply be overwritten during the writeback, and no new record will be generated.
This setup provides flexibility for users to manage which columns require historical versioning and which can be updated in place.
6. Checkbox Field
6.1. Custom Checked and Unchecked Values
The checkbox field now accepts custom values for checked and unchecked options, in addition to the default values of true and false. With this update, you can now set up any text or number field with two unique values as a checkbox field.
Note:
If a user attempts to convert fields with more than two unique values to checkboxes, PowerTable will display appropriate error messages, ensuring it doesn't happen.
The values specified for checked and unchecked values are case sensitive.
6.2. Manual Default Option for Checkbox Field
The checkbox field now supports adding a default value. Whenever a new record is inserted, the checkbox field is automatically filled with one of the two default values (checked or unchecked). The default value for the checkbox field is 'Unchecked', which you can modify as shown below.
6.3. Enhanced Field Validation in Table Configuration
When creating a new table, PowerTable now validates the values in all fields and shows the 'Check Box' type configuration option only for the fields containing the default true and false values or completely null fields.
Let's demonstrate the valid possibilities for checkbox columns using the table below. Here, the checkbox configuration is allowed only for the columns - column5 through column9. This is because other columns either have more than two unique values or do not contain the default checked and unchecked values. You can, however, modify the default values after creating the table as explained here.
Note:
A field with the values true, false, TRUE, and FALSE does not display the checkbox configuration. Because the values are case sensitive, it is assumed that the field contains four distinct values.
7. Crosstab Layout
7.1. Additional Aggregation Options
Crosstab layout can now support most of the aggregation options, such as count, count distinct, sum, average, minimum, and maximum, etc., based on the data type of the values. Based on the aggregation selected, the values are aggregated at the subtotal and grand total cells.
7.2. Date Hierarchy Drill-down
The crosstab layout allows for drill-down into date hierarchies. You can customize the drill-down levels and also add the required text to the date hierarchy levels.
8. Filter Pane
8.1. Support for Formula Columns in the Filter Pane
The Filter Pane supports formula columns so you can apply filters to them directly, enabling filtering based on calculated or derived values. After adding a formula column, it automatically appears in the pane, and filter options adjust dynamically based on the formula’s return type—Date, Numeric, Text, or Boolean.
Date
Basic, Advanced Filter and Top N
It features standard date filter conditions (is before, is after, is between, is on or before) and supports Top N filters, such as Top 10 by Date.
Numeric
Basic, Advanced Filter only
It supports numeric filter conditions (>, <, =, is between). Top N tab is not applicable.
Text
Basic, Advanced Filter and Top N
It supports text filter conditions such as "contains," "starts with," "is," and "is not," as well as Top N filters based on the number of occurrences.
Boolean
Basic Filter only
It supports two selectable options: true and false. There are no Advanced or Top N filters available.
This enhancement makes formula-driven analysis more flexible and intuitive across your datasets.
8.2. Re-order Filters in the Filter Pane
You can now reorder filters in the Filter Pane using drag-and-drop. Simply drag a filter to your preferred position to organize complex filter sets more efficiently. This improvement makes it easier to manage multiple filters, prioritize key conditions, and streamline your analysis workflow.
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