Power Query is a data transformation and data preparation engine that is embedded in Excel and other Microsoft products. It allows users to import data from various sources, such as text files, CSV files, web, or Excel workbooks, and then clean and prepare the data for analysis. Power Query comes with a graphical interface for getting data from sources and a Power Query Editor for applying transformations.
Some key features of Power Query include:
- Connectivity: Power Query enables connectivity to a wide range of data sources, including data of all sizes and shapes.
- Data Transformation: Power Query allows users to perform many tasks on columns, such as adding, removing, renaming, splitting, and expanding them.
- Data Refresh: Power Query queries can be refreshed manually or by taking advantage of scheduled refresh capabilities in specific products (such as Power BI) or even programmatically (by using the Excel object model) .
Power Query is designed to help users address the challenges of data preparation, which can often take up to 80% of a business users time. By automating the process of data preparation, Power Query allows users to focus on analysis and decision-making.
To use Power Query in Excel, users can select the Data tab on the ribbon to see the Get & Transform Data and Queries & Connections groups. From there, users can import and refresh data from a wide variety of data sources, and then shape the data in a step-by-step transformation that gradually creates a unique, tabular shape to fit their data analysis needs.
Overall, Power Query is a powerful tool for data preparation and analysis tasks that can help users save time and streamline their workflows in Excel and other Microsoft products.
