Automating Data Cleaning in Power Query
We already know that Power Query automates tasks — and even in our small sample dataset (the one we used to guide Sarah through her project), automation stood out both as a skill and a task type.
Research agrees — it’s one of the most in-demand Excel capabilities today.
So the question is: how exactly is Power Query used in automation, and how can you do it yourself?
The Idea Behind Automation
Sometimes, the real work isn’t in cleaning data — it’s in doing the same steps over and over again every month.
Think about it: your client sends you January sales data. You clean it — fix the headers, remove duplicates, maybe filter out blanks. Then February comes in. Same structure. Same messy columns. Same steps.
Wouldn’t it be nice if that cleaning just happened the moment you loaded the new file?
That’s exactly what Power Query allows you to do.
Setting It Up
To make this work, you first connect your data folder in Excel — the folder where all your monthly files (January, February, March, etc.) are stored.
Each time you get a new file, you simply drop it in this same folder.
Power Query then pulls all files together into one table and applies the exact same cleaning steps you define once.
Cleaning in Power Query
Now, this is where you handle all your cleaning — inside Power Query.
Depending on the data, that could mean:
Removing duplicates
Splitting columns by delimiter
Changing data types
Replacing errors or blanks
Filling down missing values
Filtering out unnecessary rows
Renaming columns for consistency
Each of these actions becomes a recorded step in Power Query — like a recipe.
Once it’s done, Power Query automatically remembers it.
🎥 I recorded a short walkthrough so you can see how this setup works — from connecting the folder to watching how the query loads your data into Power Query.
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The Takeaway
What’s exciting here is that automation in Excel doesn’t have to mean coding.
It’s simply about letting Excel do the repetitive work — freeing you to focus on the insights, not the manual cleaning.
Power Query remembers your cleaning steps.
Next time new data comes in, you won’t have to repeat a single click — just refresh.
But that part — seeing the actual update happen when new data (like April’s) comes in — we’ll save for the next post.
That’s where you’ll really see automation come alive.