As you get more and more comfortable with Power BI, you’ll want to explore some of the more advanced features. One of those features is the Advanced Editor, which shows you what’s happening behind the scenes as you use Power Query Editor.
In the past, Power BI only allowed viewing in Advanced Editor. It did not allow for modifications. Now, however, thanks to a fairly recent update, you can make changes to your queries.
If you’re comfortable with coding or ready to get comfortable with coding, Advanced Editor can help you gain a deeper Power BI experience. Here’s more of what you need to know.
Advanced Editor is a function of Power Query Editor, so to understand Advanced Editor, you have to get to know Power Query Editor first.
Power Query Editor is essentially a container for your data. It’s a component of Power BI Desktop that lets you edit your data and arrange it into the format that works best for your reporting needs.
Before you can start using Advanced Editor, you’ll have to be able to find it in Power Query Editor, and to do that, of course, you’ll have to be able to use and access Power Query Editor in the first place. Here’s what you’ll need to do:
From there, you can use the available tabs to work with your data.
The “View” tab is also where you’ll see the Advanced Editor option.
Now that you’ve found Advanced Editor, you can get to know it a little better. Advanced Editor gives you a look at the inner workings of your data. Experienced Power BI users can use Advanced Editor to get a closer look at their data and to take their data transformations a step further than they might otherwise be able to do.
Advanced Editor lets you see the code that you’re creating with Power Query Editor at each step of the editing process. At any given time while you edit, you can click on Advanced Editor and watch the code update. Advanced Editor uses Power Query Formula language, otherwise called Power Query M language or simply “M.”
Not everyone will need to use Advanced Editor, but those who do want to use it can gain a few benefits from the experience.
Advanced Editor lets you create your own shaping code if necessary, which means that you get added control over your data presentations. Furthermore, even if you don’t make any changes within Advanced Editor, you can still use it to check the syntax of a query and make sure that your queries are free from errors.
Of course, if you are going to make any changes, you’ll have to understand the code for Power Query formulas.
Power Query M language is similar to F#. If you’re already familiar with F#, you should be able to pick up on M fairly quickly. However, if you’re not familiar with F#, it may take some extra time and practice for you to learn M.
Microsoft provides some tips and tutorials for those who want to get started with M. If you do learn M, you can get some use out of it with other Microsoft products, too.
When you click on “Get Data,” Power BI immediately starts generating a query in the background and will continue to do so without interference. For most purposes, this automated query generation is enough for report creators. Generally, you won’t need to modify anything, although, again, Advanced Editor is helpful for seeing the code in action.
Having said that, if you do need to modify any queries, Advanced Editor is where you’ll do it. Here’s how you can make those modifications:
Those who use features like Advanced Editor are the kind of people who want to get the most out of Power BI. They’ll leave no feature unexplored as they get to know their options and take their reports to the next level.
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