The Power Query Editor

The Power Query Editor is the primary tool that you will utilize for applying transformations and cleansing processes to your data. This editor can be launched as part of establishing a connection to your data, or by simply clicking Transform Data on the Home ribbon of the Power BI Desktop. When the Power Query Editor is opened, you will notice that it has its own separate environment for you to work in. The environment encapsulates a user-friendly method for working with all of the queries that you will define. Before you dive deep into the capabilities of the Power Query Editor, let's first start by reviewing the key areas of the Power Query Editor interface, as shown in Figure 2.1:

Figure 2.1: First view of the Power Query Editor

Following the numbered figures, let's review some of the most important features of the Power Query Editor:

1. New Source: This launches the interface to establish your connection details, which is the same interface as the Get data button that you learned about in Chapter 1, Getting Started with Importing Data Options.
2. The Queries pane: A list of all the queries that you have connected to. From here, you can rename a query, disable the load and modify report refresh capabilities, and organize your queries into groups.
3. Query Settings: Within this pane, you can rename the query, but more importantly, you can see and change the list of steps, or transforms, that have been applied to your query. If you ever accidentally close this pane, you can relaunch it from the View menu.
4. Advanced Editor: By launching the Advanced Editor, you can see the M query that is automatically written for you by the Power Query Editor.
5. Close & Apply: Choosing this option will close the Power Query Editor and load the results into the data model.

With this basic navigation understood, let's start to discuss some of the basics of working with various transforms.