Power Query Editor

• Power Query Editor is a data transformation and cleansing tool available in Power Bl.
It is used to connect to various data sources, transform and shape data, and load the
resulting data into the Power BI data model.
• Power Query Editor provides a graphical interface for performing data transformations
using a series of intuitive steps. You can use it to combine data from multiple sources,
filter data, split columns, remove duplicates, change data types, and more.
• Once the data has been transformed, you can preview the changes and load the data
into Power BI. The resulting data can then be used to create visualizations, reports,
and dashboards. Power Query Editor can be accessed by selecting the "Transform
Data" option in the Home tab of the Power BI Desktop ribbon.
• With Power BI Desktop you can connect to the world of data, create compelling and
foundational reports, and share your efforts with others - who can then build on your
work, and expand their business intelligence efforts.

Power BI Desktop has three views:

• Report view - You can use queries that you create to build compelling visualizations,
arranged as you want them to appear, and with multiple pages, that you can share
with others.
• Data view - See the data in your report in data model format, where you can add
measures, create new columns, and manage relationships.
• Model view - Get a graphical representation of the relationships that are established
in your data model, and manage or modify them as needed.

Access these views by selecting one of the three icons along the left side of Power BI Desktop.
In the following image, Report view is selected, indicated by the yellow band beside the icon.
Power BI Desktop also comes with Power Query Editor. Use Power Query Editor to connect to
one or many data sources, shape and transform the data to meet your needs, then load that
model into Power BI Desktop.

How to access Power Query Editor

• To get to Power Query Editor, select Transform data from the home tab of Power BI
Desktop.

• With no data connections, Power Query Editor appears as a blank pane, ready for data.

• After a query is loaded, Power Query Editor view becomes more interesting. If you connect
to the following Web data source, Power Query Editor loads information about the data,
which you can then begin to shape
Power Query Editor Interface
1. In the ribbon, many buttons are now active to interact with the data in the query.
2. In the left pane, queries are listed and available for selection, viewing, and shaping.
3. In the center pane, data from the selected query is displayed and available for shaping.

Each of these four areas will be explained later: the ribbon, the Queries pane, the Data view,
and the Query Settings pane.

Query ribbons
• The ribbon in Power Query Editor consists of four tabs: Home, Transform, Add Column,
View, Tools, and Help.
• The Home tab contains the common query tasks.
• To connect to data and begin the query building process, select New Source. A menu
appears, providing the most common data sources.

• The Transform tab provides access to common data transformation tasks, such as:
✓ Adding or removing columns
✓ Changing data types
✓ Splitting columns
✓ Other data-driven tasks

• The Add Column tab provides more tasks associated with adding a column, formatting
column data, and adding custom columns. The following image shows the Add Column
tab.
 • The View tab on the ribbon is used to toggle whether certain panes or windows are
displayed. It's also used to display the Advanced Editor. The following image shows the
View tab.

• It's useful to know that many of the tasks available from the ribbon are also available
by right- clicking a column, or other data, in the centre pane.

The left (Queries) pane

The left pane, or Queries pane, displays the number of active queries and the name of the
query. When you select a query from the left pane, its data is displayed in the centre pane,
where you can shape and transform the data to meet your needs. The following image shows
the left pane with a query.
The centre (Data) pane
• In the centre pane, or Data pane, data from the selected query is displayed. This pane
is where much of the work of the Query view is accomplished.
• The following image shows the Web data connection established earlier. The Overall
score column is selected, and its header is right-clicked to show the available menu
items. Notice that many of these items in the right-click menu are the same as buttons
in the ribbon tabs.

• When you select a right-click menu item (or a ribbon button), the query applies the
step to the data. It also saves step as part of the query itself. The steps are recorded in
the Query Settings pane in sequential order, as described in the next section.

The right (Query Settings) pane

• The right pane, or Query Settings pane, is where all steps associated with a query are
displayed. For example, in the following image, the Applied Steps section of the Query
Settings pane reflects the fact that we just changed the type of the Overall score
column.
• As more shaping steps are applied to the query, they're captured in the Applied Steps
section.
• It's important to know that the underlying data isn't changed. Rather, Power Query
Editor adjusts and shapes its view of the data. It also shapes and adjusts the view of
any interaction with the underlying data that occurs based on Power Query Editor's
shaped and modified view of that data.
• In the Query Settings pane, you can rename steps, delete steps, or reorder the steps
as you see fit. To do so, right-click the step in the Applied Steps section, and choose
from the menu that appears. All query steps are carried out in the order they appear
in the Applied Steps pane.
Advanced Editor:
• The Advanced Editor lets you see the code that Power Query Editor is creating with
each step. It also lets you create your own shaping code. To launch the advanced
editor, select View from the ribbon, then select Advanced Editor. A window appears,
showing the existing query code.

• You can directly edit the code in the Advanced Editor window. To close the window,
select the Done or Cancel button.

Saving your work

• When your query is where you want it, select Close & Apply from Power Query Editor's
File menu.
• This action applies the changes and closes the editor.
 • As progress is made, Power BI Desktop provides a dialog to display its status.

• When you're ready, Power BI Desktop can save your work in the form of a .pbix file.
• To save your work, select File > Save (or File > Save As), as shown in the following
Image

Uses of Power Query Editor in Power BI:

Power Query Editor is a powerful data transformation and cleaning tool in Power BI that helps
in preparing data for analysis. Some of the main uses of Power Query Editor in Power BI are:

• Data cleaning and transformation: Power Query Editor allows for data cleaning and
transformation by removing unwanted columns, splitting and merging columns,
changing data types, filtering rows, and more. This ensures that the data is in a usable
format for analysis.
 • Data merging and consolidation: Power Query Editor allows for data merging and
consolidation from multiple sources. This helps in combining data from different
sources into a single dataset for analysis.
• Data filtering and sorting: Power Query Editor allows for data filtering and sorting by
applying specific conditions to the data. This helps in narrowing down the data to
specific subsets for analysis.
• Data shaping and modelling: Power Query Editor allows for data shaping and
modelling by creating new columns, aggregating data, and pivoting data. This helps in
creating new insights and trends from the data.
• Data enrichment and augmentation: Power Query Editor allows for data enrichment
and augmentation by adding new columns or data from external sources. This helps in
creating more comprehensive and insightful data models.
Overall, Power Query Editor in Power Bl is a powerful tool for data transformation and
cleaning, and it enables users to prepare data for analysis in an efficient and effective way.

• Here are the steps to perform the Promote Header, Split to Limiter, Add Columns,
Append, and Merge Queries in Power Query Editor in Power Bl:
• Promote Header: If your table has a header row, you can promote it to a table header.
To do this, select the header row by clicking on it, and then select the "Transform" tab
in the Power Query Editor ribbon. From the "Any Column" dropdown, select "Use First
Row As Headers". This will promote the header row to a table header.

Procedure:
1. To open a query, locate one previously loaded from the Power Query Editor, select a
cell in the data, and then select Query > Edit.
2. Do one of the following:
➢ To promote the first row to column headers, select Home > Use First Row As Headers.
➢ To demote column headers to the first row, select Home, select the arrow next to Use
First Row As Headers, and then select Use Headers as First Row.

Split to Limiter: If you have a column with values separated by a delimiter, you can split them
into separate columns using the "Split Column" option. To do this, select the column to be
split, and then select the "Transform" tab in the Power Query Editor ribbon. From the "Split
Column" dropdown, select "By Delimiter" and specify the delimiter. This will split the column
into separate columns based on the delimiter.
Add Columns: You can add new columns to a table using the "Add Column" option. To do this,
select the "Add Column" tab in the Power Query Editor ribbon, and then select the type of
column you want to add. You can choose to add a custom column, a conditional column, or a
calculated column. This will add a new column to the table based on your selection.
You can split a column with a text data type into two or more columns by using a common
delimiter character. For example, a Name column that contains values written as <LastName>,
<FirstName> can be split into two columns using the comma (,) character.
1. To open a query, locate one previously loaded from the Power Query Editor, select a cell
in the data, and then select Query > Edit.
2. Select the column you want to split. Ensure that it is a text data type.
3. Select Home > Split Column > By Delimiter. The Split a column by delimiter dialog box
appears.
4. In the Select or enter a delimiter drop-down, select Colon, Comma, Equals Sign,
Semicolon, Space, Tab, or Custom. You can also select Custom to specify any character
delimiter.
5. Select a Split at option:
a. Left-most delimiter If there are several delimiters, the first split column is based on
the delimiter farthest to the left and the second split column is based on the rest
of the characters on its right.
b. Right-most delimiter If there are several delimiters, the second split column is based
on the delimiter farthest to the right and the first split column is based on the rest
of the characters on its left.
c. Each occurrence of the delimiter If there are several delimiters, split each column
by the delimiter. For example, if you have three delimiters, you end up with four
columns.
6. Select Show advanced options, and the enter the number of columns or rows to split into.
7. If you choose Custom in Select or enter a delimiter drop-down list, you may need to enter
an alternative quote character or a special character.
8. Select OK.
9. You may want to rename the new columns to more meaningful names.

Append: You can append tables vertically using the "Append Queries" option. To do this,
select the tables to be appended, and then select the "Combine" tab in the Power Query
Editor ribbon. From the "Combine" dropdown, select "Append Queries". This will append the
tables vertically, creating a new table with all the data.

1. To open a query, locate one previously loaded from the Power Query Editor, select a cell in
the data, and then select Query > Edit.
2. Select Home > Append Queries. The default action is to do an inline append. To do an
intermediate append, select the arrow next to the command, and then
select Append
The Append dialog box appears
3. Decide the number of tables you want to append:

a. Select Two tables, and then select the second table in the drop down list box to
append.
b. Select Three or more tables. From the Available tables box, add the tables you want to
append to the Tables to append. Use the arrows on the right of that box to change
sequence.
4. Select OK.
➢ Result
➢ If you chose to do an inline append in step 2, a new step in the current query is created.
You can continue adding steps to the same query to append additional queries.
➢ If you chose to do an intermediate append in step 2, a new query is created. You can
continue creating additional queries.
Merge Queries:
➢ You can merge tables horizontally using the "Merge Queries" option. To do this, select the
tables to be merged, and then select the "Combine" tab in the Power Query Editor ribbon.
From the "Combine" dropdown, select "Merge Queries". Specify the join type and the join
columns, and then select the columns to be included in the merged table. This will merge
the tables horizontally, creating a new table with the merged data.
➢ A merge query creates a new query from two existing queries. One query result contains
all columns from a primary table, with one column serving as a single column containing
a relationship to a secondary table. The related table contains all rows that match each
row from a primary table based on a common column value. An Expand operation adds
columns from a related table into a primary table.
There are two types of merge operations:
➢ Inline Merge You merge data into your existing query until you reach a final result. The
result is a new step at the end of the current query.
➢ Intermediate Merge You create a new query for each merge operation.
➢ To see a visual representation of the relationships in the Query Dependencies dialog
box, select View > Query Dependencies. At the bottom of the dialog box, select the
Layout command to control the diagram orientation.
Perform a Merge operation
➢ You need at least two queries that can be merged and that have at least one or more
columns to match in a join operation. They can come from different types of external data
sources. The following example uses Products and Total Sales.
➢ To open a query, locate one previously loaded from the Power Query Editor, select a cell
in the data, and then select Query > Edit.
➢ Select Home > Merge Queries. The default action is to do an inline merge. To do an
intermediate merge, select the arrow next to the command, and then select Merge
Queries as New.
➢ The Merge dialog box appears.
➢ Select the primary table from the first drop-down list, and then select a join column by
selecting the column header.
➢ Select the related table from the next drop-down list, and then select a matching column
by selecting the column header.
➢ Ensure that you select the same number of columns to match in the preview of the
primary and related or secondary tables. Column comparison is based on the order of
selection in each table. Matching columns must be the same data type, such as Text or You
can also select multiple columns to merge.
5. After you select columns from a primary table and related table, Power Query displays the
number of matches from a top set of rows. This action validates whether the Merge operation
was correct or whether you need to make changes to get the results you want. You can either
select different tables or columns.
6. The default join operation is an inner join, but from the Join Kind drop down list, you can
select the following types of join operations:
Inner join Brings in only matching rows from both the primary and related tables.
Left outer join Keeps all the rows from the primary table and brings in any matching rows from
the related table.
Right outer join Keeps all the rows from the related table and brings in any matching rows
from the primary table.
Full outer Brings in all the rows from both the primary and related tables.
Left anti join Brings in only rows from the primary table that don't have any matching rows
from the related table.
Right anti join Brings in only rows from the related table that don't have any matching rows
from the primary table.
Cross join Returns the Cartesian product of rows from both tables by combining each row
from the primary table with each row from the related table.
7. If you want to do a fuzzy match, select Use fuzzy matching to perform the merge and select
from the Fuzzy Matching options.
8. To include only those rows from the primary table that match the related table, select Only
include matching rows. Otherwise, all rows from the primary table are included in the
resulting query.
9. Select OK.

Expand the Table column:

After a Merge operation, you can expand the Table structured column to add columns from
the related table into the primary table. Once a column is expanded into the primary table,
you can apply filters and other transform operations.
1.In the Data Preview, select the Expand icon next to the New Column header.
2.In the Expand drop-down box, select or clear the columns to display the results you want.
To aggregate the column values, select Aggregate.
3. You may want to rename the new columns.