What is Power Query?
Power Query (Get & Transform in Excel 2016+) is Excel's ETL tool built right into the ribbon. It lets you connect to hundreds of data sources, clean data, and automate refresh with zero code.
Your First Query
Go to Data → Get Data → From File → From Workbook. Select your file, choose the table, and click Transform Data. You're now in the Power Query Editor.
Key transformations you'll use every day:
- Remove duplicates
- Split columns by delimiter
- Pivot/Unpivot tables
- Merge queries (like VLOOKUP, but better)
- Custom M-language columns