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Excel Power Query: Complete Introduction in 2 Hours (Udemy.com)

Load, transform and clean your data with Excel Power Query, then refresh next month's report in one click

Created by: Ian Littlejohn

Last updated September 2026

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What you will learn

  • Build a repeatable data pipeline in Excel that reloads next month's file in one click, instead of redoing the work
  • Filter rows, fix data types, split and remove columns, and add calculated columns in the Power Query Editor
  • Write conditional IF rules inside Power Query to categorize your data without a single worksheet formula
  • Merge two tables on a matching column, and append separate files into one table ready for analysis
  • Group and summarize data with Group By, and write custom calculations inside the query itself
  • Find and fix dirty data using Query Editor Diagnostics, so errors surface before they reach your report
  • Load data from SQL Server, CSV, XML, JSON, web pages and Excel tables using the same repeatable workflow
  • Choose where each query lands with the Load To option, and feed a cleaned table straight into Power Pivot

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Course Description

This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

Every lesson in this course is written, created and recorded by me. AI is used only to help produce supporting images and written materials around the lessons.


Most people spend more time preparing their data than analyzing it. Power Query changes that. You build the cleaning and reshaping steps once, Excel remembers them, and next month's file takes one click instead of an afternoon.

If you are tired of repeating the same tidy-up every month, this is the course for you. It is two hours, it is Power Query only, and you will have a working, refreshable query before the end of section 2.


WHAT YOU WILL BUILD

  • Basic transformations - filter rows, fix data types, split and remove columns, add calculated columns, and choose where each query lands with the Load To option

  • Advanced transformations - merge two tables on a matching column, append separate files into one table, group and summarize, and write custom calculations inside the query

  • Conditional rules - categorize your data with IF logic in Power Query, without a worksheet formula

  • Data cleansing - find and fix dirty data with Query Editor Diagnostics, before it reaches your report

  • Connect to data sources - SQL Server, CSV, XML, JSON, web pages and Excel tables, all through the same workflow

  • A Power Pivot case study - feed a cleaned query straight into the data model

Every section sets a practical activity and then walks through the answer on video, and eleven training data files mean you are working on exactly the data I am.

MEET YOUR INSTRUCTOR

I have been training business people to work with data since 2008, and publishing on Udemy since 2013. I now have 16 live courses, more than 450,000 enrolments and more than 139,000 reviews, averaging 4.6.

I specialise in teaching business users the analysis methods behind the tools - Microsoft Excel, Copilot in Excel, Microsoft Power BI, Looker Studio and Amazon QuickSight. I teach the analysis, not just the software.

WHAT STUDENTS ARE SAYING

  • "Easy to follow. Ian explained the steps well, gave reasons for why certain things happen and some pitfalls you might encounter."

  • "This course is highly beneficial, especially for those who work with multiple dates and tables. It makes your job much easier."

  • "Great course for learning the basics of Power Query and to be able to apply it to current data I need to sort through more efficiently."

Ready to stop redoing the same work every month? Start with the first transformation and see how far two hours gets you.

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Instructor Details

Ian Littlejohn

I specialise in training business users to learn powerful methods and techniques to transform data into useful information and intelligence as well as learning strong data analysis methodology.


I completed my university degree in economics and emerged keen and eager to change the world. I spent the first half of my career working for multinational companies, on projects of various sizes, in different sectors, all revolving around analysing data of some sort and working with different software products, including Microsoft Excel.


I found that so many Excel users had a very basic understanding of how Excel works, and instead of using Excel to do the work for them, were doing all the work themselves, using old spreadsheet technology like macros instead of embracing technology like Pivot Tables. Pivot Tables were actually introduced into Excel in 1994 but many Excel users have avoided using them because they seem complicated and difficult to use.


In 2008 I decided to start my own training company and this was borne out of the passion I had to teach Excel users how to work smarter, not harder. As technology evolved, and new systems developed, I continuously expanded my training to include Power BI, Amazon QuickSight, Looker Studio, and most recently Copilot in Excel and Microsoft 365 Copilot.


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Reviews

4.6

6,491 ratings on Udemy

Select a bar to show only those reviews.Select the bar again to show every rating.

By Jacquie Russo on 8/29/2026

Excellent course, great presentation. Clear, concise and easy to understand. I will be checking out more videos by Ian Littlejohn. Thank you!

By Katherine Ihourane on 8/13/2026

I really liked this course and would rate it as excellent overall. It was easy to follow along, and the concepts were easy to follow, even for someone new to Power Query. The practical activities were especially helpful and gave me the chance to try on my own to see how much I really understood. My only criticism is the AI Role Plays. From the setup of the first one, I expected to act as a consultant and respond to questions from the AI. Instead, the activities felt more like an AI interview asking whether I had questions about what I had learned. The questions I did have were specific to the course examples, which the AI couldn't answer. As a result, I didn't find the role plays useful and skipped them after the first two. That aside, this was an excellent course. I found it practical, understandable, and genuinely useful, and I would highly recommend it to someone learning Power Query.

By Keith Weirick on 8/10/2026

The only negative was when the video on loading .CVS file showed a column of "error" when a text column with dates in it was converted to a date type. The instructor did not catch that, but my Power Query did.

By James Nandhra on 6/2/2026

Excellent Course. All topics were well explained. Although I am reasonably proficient with Power Query, I learned more skills which I am keen to put into practice. Thank you

By Matt Lindgren on 5/27/2026

The information is great, the examples are great. My only complaint is the instructor goes SO fast! I have to hit the rewind button multiple times just to keep up with the lesson. Hey instructor - SLOW DOWN! Give me time to listen and watch you, then do the same things in my example. But, overall - great job.

By Derek James Headley on 5/25/2026

This was a really great course for anyone just getting into Power Query and all of the amazing things it can do for your data analysis and preparation.

By Ronny Flores Frijol on 3/11/2026

The trainnig provides just the right amount of information to understand Power Query. You should have prior knowledge of relational data, Excel, and pivot tables.

By Aziz Mahmood on 2/10/2026

So far, the course has been very good and clearly explained. The instructor presents the material in a way that is easy to understand and follow. It has been a good match for me, and I’m finding it helpful and engaging.

By Adrian Adamus on 2/5/2026

Kurs oceniam pozytywnie, szczególnie pierwszy rozdział. Ostatni był trochę za bardzo rozciągnięty, chociaż pobieranie danych z Internetu było ciekawe i pozwoliło na kreatywne zabawę. Na pewno można nauczyć się czegoś nowego, ale czuję lekki niedosyt.

By MARC BLISS on 12/30/2025

The material was very interesting for a novice Power Query and the instructor went through the material in an easy to follow along fashion. I plan on recommending this course to other people on my team.

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Overall Score : 92 / 100