Course Description
Power Query is a feature that is built into Excel 2016 and later, and it can be added for free to Excel 2010 and 2013. In this course, Excel expert David H. Ringstrom, CPA, helps you get started with this feature, which enables you to create set-and-forget data extractions and reports. The course leads off with creating a self-updating list of worksheets in any Excel workbook. You'll then see how to extract text from cells that even worksheet functions can't handle. You'll see how Power Query can wrestle even the most convoluted accounting report exports into in an analysis-ready format. You'll also see how to unpivot any report that has separate columns by account, class, or other measure into a list that is far better suited to data analysis.
David demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in the subscription-based Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) version of Excel. David draws your attention to any differences in the older versions of Excel (2021, 2019, 2016, 2013, and earlier) during the presentation as well as in his detailed handouts. David also provides an Excel workbook that includes most of the examples he uses during the course.
Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based product that provides new feature updates as often as monthly. Conversely, the perpetual licensed versions of Excel have feature sets that don't change. Perpetual licensed versions have year numbers, such as Excel 2019, Excel 2016, and so on.
Who should attend:
Professionals that import and manipulate any sort of reports in Excel or that need to transform data from one format to another
Level: Intermediate
Topics typically covered:
- Appending data from two or more worksheets into a self-updating consolidated list with Power Query
- Configuring Power Query queries to update automatically in the most efficient manner possible
- Exploring the Queries & Connections task pane that shows data connections used within a given workbook
- Extracting data from PDF files with Power Query in Microsoft 365
- Managing data security prompts that may appear when you link external data into Excel spreadsheets
- Understanding how you can work backwards through applied steps in Power Query to visually step through data transformations
Learning objectives:
- Demonstrate how to use Power Query to extract text from cells based on non-breaking spaces
- Identify the location of the Power Query commands within Microsoft Excel
- Recall how to unpivot a report into an analysis-ready format
Review our course policies and procedures page for further information