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Overview

Power Query Fundamentals Overview

Master the art of efficient data handling with Power Query, a vital tool for modern data professionals. This course guides you through data extraction and transformation essentials, teaching you to seamlessly integrate data from multiple sources. You’ll learn common techniques for cleaning and restructuring datasets, ensuring they are analysis-ready. By mastering these skills, you’ll transform time-consuming data preparation into an efficient, automated process. Dive into the practical applications of Power Query in real-world scenarios. We’ll cover automation of data connections, consolidation of data from multiple files, and effective troubleshooting of common issues. Designed for both Excel-focused analysts and Business Intelligence professionals, this course equips you with the expertise to spend less time on data manipulation and more on delivering impactful insights.

Power Query Fundamentals Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

Identify the characteristics of good and bad data using the principles of data normalization.
Extract data from CSV and Excel files and automate basic transformations such as Pivot and Unpivot.
Extract information from fields that combine two or more values.
Transform datasets by grouping or combining data from different tables or even multiple files from the same folder.
Avoid, interpret, and fix errors and exceptions that you experience in Power Query.
Load transformed data into Excel for use as automated data feeds.

Who should take this course?

This Power Query course is perfect for anyone who wants to build up their understanding of Business Intelligence. This course is designed to equip anyone who desires to begin a career in data analysis, quantitative analysis, business intelligence, or other areas of finance with the fundamental knowledge of Power Query.

Power Query Fundamentals

Led by Sebastian Taylor

Get Started

Level 3

Approx 6h to complete

100% online and self-paced

Get Recognized With CFI

See All Certification Programs

What you'll learn

Lesson

Multimedia

Exams

Files

Getting Started

Introduction to Power Query Free Preview

Course Outline Free Preview

Download Power Query

Overview of Course Files

Basic Transformations

Basic Transformations Objectives Free Preview

What is a CSV File Free Preview

Database Normalization Free Preview

Basic CSV Unpivot Free Preview

Import CSV File Free Preview

The Power Query Editor Free Preview

Manipulating Column Headers

Loading Query 1a to the Worksheet

Exercise 1b - CSV Import N Columns

Duplicating Queries

Modifying the Source

Importing an Unknown Number of Columns

Futureproofing Queries

Exercise 1c - Filter Non Dates

Import CSV File 1c

Identify Correct Column Headers

Remove Unwanted Columns

Unpivot and Rename

Date Settings

Interpreting and Filtering Dates

Loading as Connection Only

Exercise 1d - Grouped Row Headers

Fill Values Down

Thinking about the Order of Steps

Pivot Grouped Headers

Adding a Duplicate Column

Finishing up Exercise 1d

Exercise 1z - Student Exercise

Exercise 1z - Clues

Exercise 1z Review

Consolidating Data

Consolidating Information Objectives

Exercise 3a - Grouping Data

Setting Up Our Query

Aggregating Multiple Columns

Identifying a Specific Month

Grouping Rows

Exercise 3b - Merging Tables

Two Queries from the Same File

Merging Queries

Expanding Merged Columns

Exercise 3c - Combining Identical Files

Create Query from Folder

Modifications Required before Combining

The Combined Query

Extracting Data from Each Filename

Using Filters for Investigation

Exercise 3z - Student Exercise

Exercise 3z - Clues and Challenges

Exercise 3z - Review

Dealing with Errors

Dealing with Errors Objectives

Exercise 4a - Basic Errors

Tracking Down Errors

Managing Errors in the Power Query Editor

Using Find Replace to Fix a Character Error

Exercise 4b - Errors with Date Locales

Changing a Column Date Locale

Exercise 4c - Dealing with Exceptions

Creating a Conditional Column with a Columnar Output

Creating a Conditional Column with a Text Output

Exercise 4d - Errors with File Locations

Creating a Parameter

Using a File Location Parameter

Opening the All Queries File

Exercise 4z - Student Exercise

Exercise 4z - Clues

Exercise 4z - Review

Course Summary

Conclusion

Qualified Assessment

This Course is Part of the Following Programs

Why stop here? Expand your skills and show your expertise with the professional certifications, specializations, and CPE credits you’re already on your way to earning.

Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)® Certification

Power Query Fundamentals is part of the Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)® certification, which includes 42 courses.

Skills Learned Financial modeling and valuation, sensitivity analysis, strategy
Career Prep Investment banking and equity research, FP&A, corporate development

Learn More

Business Intelligence & Data Analyst (BIDA)® Certification

Power Query Fundamentals is part of the Business Intelligence & Data Analyst (BIDA)® certification, which includes 25 courses.

Skills Learned Data visualization, data warehousing and transformation, data modeling and analysis
Career Prep Business intelligence analyst, data scientist, data visualization specialist

Learn More

Data Analysis in Excel Specialization

Skills Learned Data Modelling & Analysis, Data Transformation, Data Visualization
Career Prep Data Analyst, Business Intelligence Specialist, Data Scientist, Finance Analyst

Learn More

Business Intelligence Analyst Specialization

Skills learned Data Transformation & Automation, Data Visualization, Coding, Data Modeling
Career prep Data Analyst, Business Intelligence Specialist, Finance Analyst, Data Scientist

Learn More

What our students say

Really useful
A good course for anyone who wants to learn PoweQuery

Christian Quiñones

Test Exam
In my opinion, increasing the kind of solving tests in exams It would be better.

Zeynab Tabrizi nejad malek mohammad

Amazing Content
Thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience. Course content and delivery of content both are excellent.

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Excellent Power Query Introduction
Learning Power Query seemed daunting at first, but CFI PQ Fundamentals Course was extremely practical. It was broken down into easily digestible modules for non-technical people like myself to understand. Would highly recommend!

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Power Query is Powerful and happy to learn more
Power Query is so powerful. It's quite complicated at first, but now i got clearer picture and this is the good first step for me to deep dive understanding the function of power query which i haven't touch before

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Excellent
I am an FP&A Assistant manager in the medical insurance field which I deal with a huge amount of transactions that must be analyzed, I have an experience with Power Query because I had a Data analytics course but this course from CFI (Power Query Fundamentals) surprised me about the practical issues that may everyone encounter in his real life and how he or she can solve it. Thank you CFI.

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The best
This was by far the best Powerquery course I have ever taken. It is beginner-friendly and easy to understand.

Elizabeth Oyindasola

Informative
The content is segmented into manageable bites which help to engage the student and not overwhelm them with too much information. This facilitates learning since the material is not hard to understand, it's just new.

Richard Dyman

Good module to analysis study
if you have problem to analysis much data, please take this course, and meet solve your problem

Handi Sumarna

Informative and engaging
It was a delightful journey throughout the course.

Belal Almomani MCIPS Chartered - PMP

The notes are way to much summarized. Need more explanation; so as to help revise concepts from notes in future.

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Cutting Edge Education
The courses are are highly professional,well though and relevant to work in different spheres of Finance

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Beautify Structured Course
Beautify Structured Course. Hats off to CFI for such an amazing course.

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Amazing course
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detailed experience
I recommend all students to take these courses serious

Makore Iveny

Excellent cours pour débuter la manipulation des fichiers
Ce cours sur les fondamentaux de Power Query permet d'acquérir l'essentiel des compétences pour débuter avec un outil méconnu de la majorité des utilisateurs d'Excel. La puissance de Power Query est impressionnant, mais il plante assez souvent ! Un conseil : enregistrer fréquemment, sans attendre la fin des exercices. L'apprentissage est long, et nous ne voyons que les bases. J'attends avec impatience un cours d'approfondissement.

Christian HARDY

I love Power Queries
Thank you, Scott, for this great course.

Ekaterina Stanimirova

Teaches you how to prepare data before analysis
The most important step is actually having clean data to analyze on. This course teaches you different ways of handling untransformed data. You feel confident in handling most cases after taking the course.

Benjamin Kia

Fulfills basic requirement for data analysis
The course teaches basic skills necessary for anyone who is related to data analysis such as simply making charts & graph or pivot tables from data imported from an ERP.

Farooq Anwer

Immediately Applicable on the Job
I make decisions worth more than $10m with these tools and skills!! Course is great for learning fundamental concepts and best practices!

Michael Castelli

One of the Best Power Query Courses
One of the Best Power Query Courses in a very simple good way of teaching I enjoyed this course .

Alamir Alshafaey

Learning a lot
Life changing knowledge.

Jefferson Matewa

Power Query Fundamentals
Very Interesting, Good Instructor With Clear Video Demonstrations

Abdullahi Ibn Mohammed

Satisfied and empowered
I gained good knowledge of using MS. Power Query to import, consolidate, manipulate and rectify and prevent errors in different files. Satisfied and boosted in knowledge

Ibrahim Dare Adebayo

Enjoyed the course and it greatly improved my skillset

Wallace Takura Museka

Good
I will definitely recommend to everyone around me

Adewale Ojomo

Quality education delevered
CFI is the education centre to be for your analysis

Minoo Wambua

Fundamental course to PowerBi
Really really enjoyed this course. Loved all the short videos to keep you engaged, along with hands on practice after each "chapter". Would definitely recommend this to anyone using excel as well as PowerBI.

Natalie Rodrigues

Power Query Fundamentals
The course is very well structured and gives knowledge which can be immediately applied in a daily work.

Narine Hakobyan

Great course
Good fundamentals on the topic

Carlos Eduardo Rangel Sánchez

Easy to follow
Easy to follow and understand. Hands on practice as well

Cecil Oduro-Nyarko

Great Course Content
Great Course Content

Rudolf Nutor

Strong and effective material
Strong and effective material

Marco George Saad

fantastic
Wonderful experience

Uzoamaka Chinyem

Awesome
I edge everyone to choose this course

ISAAC ADDO

POWER QUERY
This is a new area of knowledge and experience for me, i am excited to be part of this learning.

DANJUMA GIDEON AMANA

Crucial information
The skills learned in this course are necessary when collaborating with others in a professional workspace

Will Maples

Amazing
This course really helped me improve my excel to a data analyst i couldn't do before.

Oyewale Michael Olayiwola

Great learning for non-technical people
Being in non-technical field, this is such a valuable and knowledgeable course to add advanced skills.

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Great content and simple to Understand
So far all the courses are well balanced and simple to Understand.

SHARIQ PARVEZ

Best Course
I like the descriptions and examples in the lectures.

Salvador de la Cruz

Very insightful
Equipping me with the tools and framework to futureproof my queries was very insightful and a true winner

Moremogolo Tsatsi

Power Query made easy
Understand Power Query easily by taking this course

Kenneth Kiarie

Power Query: Game changer
Power Query really revolutionizes how one uses Excel. Power Query is the game changer, this course demonstrated transformation and extraction of data, consolidating data, and how to deal with errors, in a way that saves time. Well organized course with clear illustrations. Great work CFI.

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This course is simple excellent. Enriching

Maurice Apee

Enthusiastically motivating
The course is awesome new things , learning the hard way

Tinashe Madondo

It was very informative.
There was a lot of information and it is important that you use all the resources so that you have more practice and a greater understanding of the material.

Benson Yoder

Intense
Solid content. I had to watch the videos a number of times to deepen my understanding

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EXCEPTIONAL
The course is very informative and challenging at the same time but worth it all together.

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Amazing
An opportunity to run with for sure.

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impressive
the course harnessed my skills

Kenneth Maina

Very Important Course
very detailed and interactive course content with insightful examples and exercises.

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Awesome
Great learning experience

Charles Awematu Azakem

Great Experience
It's always exciting learning new topics at CFI.

VICTOR KAKANU

Superb
Keep doing the hard things

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Amazing
Power Query is the real deal

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Fantastic!
Extremely helpful for automation and saving time!

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superb
CFI courses are always interesting, educative and challenging

Akano Afusat

Excellent course materials
Excellent business intelligence courses covering both BI and Data Science critical areas: from data storage and collection, data transformation, data analysis, and modeling, to data visualization.

ZAIN SYED

Tricky end of module questions, pay deepest attention to the Instructor during the lessons

Tapiwa Mufunde

I had a good experience
Thank you for the course

John Fynn

I love the course because it makes me think outside the box and it is challenging

MAINASSARA EZRA

Very engaging contents
Best online learning experience so far!

Tusher Ahmed Apu

Great tutor.. I enjoyed the course
What an insightful experience

Emmanuel Kwadwo Amoah Boadi

Dealing with data made easy
Dealing with data was made to look easy

Pule Molise

Power Query in a nutshell
Great course to start exploiting usage of PowerQuery!!

Francisco Garcia Soria

Easy to follow industry related material and exercises
Well-put-together and comprehensive material with step-by-step instructions and demonstrations that make it easy to follow along and consolidate the learning as you go.

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Super
The course is comprehensive. it is exciting and quite easy to follow

Agyei Twum Boakye

It gets interesting!
Get ready to do the hard things.

Oluwaseun Emmanuel Ogunjobi

Great!
I am impressed with the systematic approach adopted by the tutors.

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AWESOME COURSE
Very Very informative and detailed

Mosunmola Fadumo

drilling
I thought it was something I can flex with, but it was highly informative and drilled. Enjoyed every bit of the learning.

Taiwo Bukola Falayi

The Exams were really challenging
I had to think and think. They pushed to the limit... guess what? I passed every practical questions asked

Muhammad Yahya

Good clear videos. Well thought presentation.
Great platform and practical exercises.

Ndumba Methuselah Chisengi

Time to equip yourself.
Best learning platform for techsavvy

Otieno Ng'ong'a

This was my first introduction to Power Query
I liked how the lessons were doing instead of book learning.

Jason Lampi

Headline
Invaluable insights for a beginner

GIRISH KRISHNA

I LOVE IT
ENGAGE YOURSELF AND MAKE MONEY

Emmanuel Ackah

A must tools for big data transformation and automation
If you are working on daily/weekly/monthly reports and want to save a lot of time, then use Power Query.

Joseph Elhakem

Comment
One on the best courses that I done on this page.

Patryk Banasik

Great Course
This course would be great for beginners or as a refresher for an experienced Power Query user.

Lindsey Irving

Great Introduction
Great Introduction to the basics and common issues in Power Query

Takura Midzi

Confident in using Power Query Now
This course allowed me to be ready for a project I just received last week. I am going to use this to automate some steps for this report I have to create. I am more than confident in using Power Query. I wish I would have did this course a while back in my previous role

Marquestriana Alexander

very good course , very informative
i recommend this course to any one want to enrich his knowledge about using practical skills in his job.

Mohamed HosamEldin Mahmoud

Good Course!
I very thorough course with great content.

Joe Madrid

The time is now
Brillant overview of this tool

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The courses are very well organised and the instructors are top notch

Michael Kamba

Fantastic
You do not have to miss this. It keep getting better as time goes

CHARLES NGBADIKE

Insightful
The power query fundamentals course is full of essential insight that makes the difference in automating reports in excel.

Happy Chukwudike Azutoru Ibe

Nice Experience! Very informative
Explanations are clear and well detailed!

Aristide W. SAWADOGO

Power Query Fundamentals
Power Query Fundamentals Course is great to learn an advance excel tool for data transformation and it is delivered by great CFI instructor.

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A learning curve worth charting.
I am grateful for the chance to learn from the best.

KEVIN MOCHOGE

challenge
really need alot of efort

Ronnie Nkomo

Good Content
Comprehensive course

Mutiat Sode

great learning
great learning power query

kehinde olajide

Engage with the exercise

Jehoiarib Umoren

Fabulous
It was very educative

Micheal Ogunlana

Fabulous
It was very educative

Micheal Ogunlana

Enriching

Tinashe Hemish Katanda

Frequently asked questions

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Absolutely! All the files and templates needed in a course are available for download. Just look for a module that shows Downloadable Files within the course dashboard. See here for a visual guide on how to do this.

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How are the exams conducted?

Students are required to complete an online assessment (Multiple choice questions, Fill-in-the-Blanks, and Excel Questions) at the end of each course. You can take the exams on your own schedule and will need to earn at least 80% to pass the course and earn your certificate of course completion. Please note that course exams can be repeated as many times as you need. Students are also required to complete the FMVA® final exam to earn their certification. How to Take a Qualified Assessment

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While the courses are designed mainly for self-study, we are happy to provide email assistance for general or technical support inquiries. The Full Immersion bundles include a premium email support function that allows you to communicate directly with in-house experts regarding course content. This is one of the key features that sets the Full Immersion bundle apart and makes it a worthwhile upgrade over the more affordable self-study bundle. You can compare more features in our bundles here.

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Based on hundreds of reviews from thousands of students we know how CFI courses have helped so many people advance their finance careers. Our courses are designed to be extremely practical and simulate the experience of being trained as a professional financial analyst…the ultimate way to advance your career. For real-world examples and to help delve even deeper into the course concepts, please look into our free career resources library.