Binary.FromText

Binary

Decodes text encoded as Base64 or hexadecimal into a binary value.

Syntax

Binary.FromText(text as nullable text, optional encoding as nullable number) as nullable binary

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`text`	`text`	Yes	The Base64 or hex-encoded text to decode.
`encoding`	`number`	No	The binary encoding format: BinaryEncoding.Base64 (default) or BinaryEncoding.Hex.

Return Value

binary — The binary value decoded from the text.

Remarks

Binary.FromText decodes a text string that represents binary data in Base64 or hexadecimal format. The encoding parameter determines which format to expect:

BinaryEncoding.Base64 (default) — standard Base64 encoding (e.g., "SGVsbG8=").
BinaryEncoding.Hex — hexadecimal encoding (e.g., "48656C6C6F").

This is commonly used when APIs return binary data encoded as Base64 strings (e.g., image data, file attachments).

Examples

Example 1: Decode Base64 text

let
    Base64Text = "SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ=",
    Decoded = Binary.FromText(Base64Text, BinaryEncoding.Base64),
    AsText = Text.FromBinary(Decoded)
in
    #table({"Encoded", "Decoded"}, {{Base64Text, AsText}})

Applied Steps

The final output — a single-row table showing the original Base64 string alongside the decoded text.

	Encoded	Decoded
1	SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ=	Hello World

Example 2: Decode hexadecimal text

let
    HexText = "48656C6C6F",
    Decoded = Binary.FromText(HexText, BinaryEncoding.Hex),
    AsText = Text.FromBinary(Decoded)
in
    #table({"Hex", "Decoded"}, {{HexText, AsText}})

Applied Steps

The final output — a single-row table showing the original hex string alongside the decoded text.

	Hex	Decoded
1	48656C6C6F	Hello

Compatibility

✓ Power BI Desktop✓ Power BI Service✓ Excel Desktop✓ Excel Online✓ Dataflows✓ Fabric Notebooks

Contributors