Power Query Basics

What is Power Query?

Power Query is Power BI's tool for cleaning messy data before you use it.

Open it: Home > Transform Data

The Interface

Common Transformations

Remove Columns

Right-click column > Remove

Filter Rows

Click dropdown arrow on column > uncheck values to hide

Change Data Type

Click the icon left of column name > pick correct type (Text, Number, Date)

Rename Column

Double-click column header > type new name

Remove Duplicates

Select column > Home > Remove Duplicates

Split Column

Select column > Home > Split Column > By Delimiter

Example: Split "John Smith" into "John" and "Smith" by space

Merge Columns

Select multiple columns (Ctrl+click) > Transform > Merge Columns

Applied Steps

Every action you take creates a step on the right panel.

• Click any step to see data at that point
• Delete step by clicking X
• Steps run in order - be careful reordering!

When You're Done

Click Home > Close & Apply

This saves your transformations and loads clean data into Power BI.

Quick Reference

Made a mistake? Just delete the step and try again. Power Query doesn't change your original data.