Power Query for Beginners: Transform Your Data Without Formulas
Power Query can replace hours of manual data cleaning with repeatable transformations. Here's how to get started.
Power Query (also called “Get & Transform Data”) is Excel's built-in ETL tool. It can import data from almost anywhere, clean it, transform it, and load it into Excel — all without writing formulas.
The real magic: your transformations are recorded as steps. When source data updates, one click refreshes everything.
Why Power Query Matters
Consider a monthly task: download a CSV from your ERP, remove the first 5 rows of header garbage, split a column, change data types, remove duplicates, and load to Excel.
Without Power Query: Manual work every month. Risk of missing a step. Different people do it differently.
With Power Query: Build the transformation once. Next month, point to the new file and click Refresh. Done in seconds.
Getting Started
Data tab → Get Data → Choose your source (File, Database, Web, etc.)
Power Query Editor opens. This is where you build transformations using clicks, not code.
Common Transformations
- Remove rows: Delete header rows, blanks, or rows meeting conditions
- Split columns: Separate “FirstName LastName” into two columns
- Merge columns: Combine City, State, Zip into Address
- Change types: Convert text to numbers, dates, etc.
- Unpivot: Transform wide data into long format
- Group: Aggregate data by categories
The Applied Steps Panel
Every action you take becomes a “step” in the Applied Steps panel on the right. You can:
- Click any step to see data at that point
- Delete steps you don't need
- Reorder steps
- Rename steps for clarity
Loading Data to Excel
When done transforming: Home tab → Close & Load
Data loads to a new sheet as an Excel Table. The connection to your query is preserved — right-click the Table and choose Refresh to update from source.
Import SQL Data Directly into Excel Cells
Skip the copy-paste workflow. XLNavigator SQL Import lets you run queries and place results exactly where you need them.
Related Reading
- Excel to SQL Server — moving data between Excel and databases
- Power Query vs Direct SQL — when to use each approach
- Large Datasets from SQL — performance tips for big data
Official Resources
- About Power Query in Excel — overview and capabilities
- Import data from external sources — connecting to databases and files
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