Chapter 38: Introducing Power Query
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Once you’ve selected your file, the Navigator pane will activate, showing you all of the data
sources available in the workbook. The idea here is to select the data source you want and
then either load or edit the data using the buttons at the bottom of the Navigator pane.
The Load button allows you to skip any editing and import your targeted data as is. Use the
Edit button if you want to transform or shape the data before completing the import.
In terms of Excel workbooks, a data source is either a worksheet or a defined named range.
The icons next to each data source let you distinguish those sources that are worksheets
and those that are named ranges. In Figure 38.17, the source called MyNamedRange is a
defined named range, while the source called National Parks is a worksheet.
You can import multiple sources at once by clicking the Select multiple items check box and
then placing a check next to each worksheet and named range that you want to import.
FIGURE 38.17
Select the data sources with which you want to work and then click the Load button.
Getting data from CSV and text files
Text files are commonly used to store and distribute data because of their inherent ability
to hold many thousands of bytes of data without having an inflated file size. Text files can
do this by forgoing all the fancy formatting, leaving only the text.
Comma-separated value (CSV) files are text files that contain commas to delimit (separate)
values into columns of data.