I Used to Hate Cleaning Excel Data—Now I Look Forward to It
1 min read
Summary
Power Query is an automated data transformation engine built into Excel that handles the tedious data tasks professionals face when working with spreadsheets.
It has a simple, step-by-step approach that makes it easy and intuitive for users to manipulate data.
It connects to and fetches data from multiple sources such as Excel files, CSVs, databases, web pages and cloud services, and can tidy up messy spreadsheets quickly and efficiently.
To set up Power Query, select the data range, go to Data, click From Table/Range, which will open the Power Query Editor; once cleaning is complete, click Close & Load to apply changes.
It is crucial to clean data efficiently and consistently, especially when new data arrives, and Power Query’s automation can make this process seamless.
Power Query won’t solve every data problem, but it can handle the majority of repetitive cleanup tasks that consume hours of manual work, making data cleaning quicker and more efficient.
This article explores Power Query’s functionality for cleaning spreadsheets and handling common data issues.
