Introduction
Combining data in Power BI involves merging multiple datasets into a single unified dataset for efficient analysis and visualization. Power BI provides several tools and techniques to combine data from various sources, including tables, databases, files, and web pages.
One of the ways you can combine data in Power BI is by appending data – a technique used when you want to stack rows from multiple tables on top of each other, effectively creating a larger dataset. This is particularly useful when the tables have the same structure (i.e., identical column names and data types).
For example, these three tables have been combined by appending them to create a unified dataset shown below.
How to append data in Power BI?
Launch your Power BI Desktop and load your data.
Click on Transform Data to open the Power Query Editor
In this case, I would like to append data from these three tables. Note, the tables have the same column headers namely, Year, Month, Product A, Product B and Product C.
On the combine section of the home tab, select Append Queries.
Note you can use one of the two options, namely.
Append Queries – Which appends queries on the primary query (overwrites the existing table)
Append Queries as New – Which creates a new table with the appended data.
In this case, I will choose Append Queries as New to create a new table with the appended data.
On the dialogue box that appears, select “Three or more tables” if you have more than two tables to append.
Add the tables to append to the section labelled “Tables to append”
Executing this, adds a new query on the query pane named “Append1”. Note this query, contains data from the three tables appended on each other.
Conclude
Appending data is a fundamental feature in Power BI that enhances data management and reporting capabilities by simplifying how multiple datasets are handled together. Note, appending is useful for combining datasets that share the same structure but may come from different sources or time periods, such as quarterly reports or annual sales data
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