Meet The Fantastic Four of Power Query

Today, I’m excited to introduce you to the superheroes of Power Query: The Fantastic Four! These incredible four will help you seamlessly combine files from a folder, making your data processing more efficient and accurate. Let’s get to know each member of this extraordinary team and their superpowers!

I think they’re even more fantastic than these 4!👇

🚩 The Problem:

Imagine you’re tasked with consolidating monthly sales reports stored as individual Excel files in a folder. Doing this manually every month is not only tedious but also prone to errors. There has to be a smarter way to handle this repetitive task, right?

✨ The Easy Solution

Power Query’s ‘Combine Files’ from a Folder feature is your simple solution! Using this feature generates ‘The Fantastic Four’ aka the helper queries.

These helper queries allow you to efficiently manage and transform data from multiple files, ensuring they are combined and processed in the same way.

Let’s meet The Fantastic Four one by one:

1️⃣‘Parameter1 (Sample File)’:

Superpower: The team Navigator - it navigates the helper queries to the sample file.

How It Works:

1. When you combine files from a folder, Power Query prompts you to select a file from your folder as the sample file.

2. Power Query then automatically assigns the selected sample file to ‘Parameter1’ as seen in the screenshot below of the ‘Combine Files’ dialogue box.

3. It then displays as a helper query in your Query Editor where:

   • It is used as the input to the ‘Transform File’ function (a helper query).

   • And it’s used as the source file in the ‘Source’ step of the ‘Transform Sample File’ (a helper query).

2️⃣‘Sample File’:

Superpower: The team Blueprint - this file has the blueprint to determine the format and file structure for combining all other files. Having a sample file allows you to develop and test transformations on a single file before applying them to the entire set of files.

How It Works:

1. When you combine files from a folder, Power Query prompts you to select a file from your folder as the sample file. The sample file is usually the first file in the folder. (As shown in the ‘Combine Files’ dialogue box above).

2. This sample file is then used as the input to the helper query, ‘Parameter1’.

3️⃣‘Fx Transform File’ (Transform File function):

Superpower: The team Executor - this function is the powerhouse of the team. It holds the transformation steps that you want to apply to each individual file in your folder.

How It Works:

1. This function is programmed to automatically hold the transformations steps that you’ve applied in the ‘Transform Sample File’ helper query.

2. It is automatically invoked in the end query where it applies the transformation steps from the ‘Transform Sample File’ across all files in your folder. This ensures consistency and accuracy across all files.

4️⃣‘Transform Sample File’:

Superpower: The team Manager - just like a manager ensures that all team members follow the same guidelines, the ‘Transform Sample File’ makes sure that all files in the folder undergo the same transformations.

How It Works:

1. The ‘Transform Sample File’ is a duplicate of the sample file - it uses ‘Parameter1’ as it’s source file (Parameter1 has the path to the sample file).

2. The ‘Transform Sample File’ is where you will make your transformations to the sample file.

   • These transformations are then applied in the end query (combined Sales Data), when the ‘Transform File’ function is invoked.

The End Query is the combined ‘Sales Data’ query:

1. This query combines all the individual files from the folder into a single query, in the screenshot below it’s called ‘Sales Data’.

2. The transformations from the ‘Transform Sample File’ are applied when the ‘Transform File’ function is invoked. This ensures that the combined data has a consistent structure.

🔍Why This Matters:

Understanding The Fantastic Four is crucial for leveraging the full power of Power Query. By knowing how each component works, whether your data comes from different departments or external sources, this approach guarantees that when combined, the data from each file is processed in the same way as all files will be based on a consistent structure derived from a sample file. This helps in maintaining uniformity and accuracy in the combined dataset. This not only saves you time but also reduces the risk of errors, ensuring you get accurate and consistent results every time.

So, the next time you’re faced with a folder full of recurring data files, remember that Power Query’s Fantastic Four are here to make your data processing a breeze. Embrace their power and transform the way you handle data!

🎥Watch the Video:

In my latest video I show you how this works step-by-step from selecting your ‘Sample File’ to performing transformations. This includes renaming columns with inconsistent column headers in the ‘Transform Sample File’ query. Best of all, I show you how to do this with just your Power Query Interface, without needing any M Code or formulas!

Please click here to watch the video and if you’re joining from ‘The Query Editor’, please let me know in the video comments!

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Until next time, keep those queries rolling, and may your data always be clean and your transformations swift!

Happy Querying!

Thanks for reading.

Miss Microsoft