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6. Power Query Essentials

6.4 Applied Steps in Power Query (Power BI)

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Quick answer: the short, self-contained version of this lesson is the guide Power Query Applied Steps.

Start with a problem

Amir built 9 cleaning steps. A week later he cannot remember what Replaced Value1 or Changed Type2 does, and deleting one middle step breaks the query.

Explain simply

Applied Steps is the recording of your work. Click a step to go back in time, rename steps clearly, and be careful when inserting or deleting steps in the middle.

Show the data

Applied Steps before tidying:

# Step name
1 Source
2 Removed Top Rows
3 Promoted Headers
4 Filtered Rows
5 Replaced Value
6 Replaced Value1
7 Changed Type

About this data: This table uses columns: Preview shows, Rows. This table uses columns: Column1, Column2. This table uses columns: Order ID (Text), Amount (Whole number). This table uses columns: Wrong result, Reason, Correction. Values shown are the lesson examples already on this page (not a new dataset).

Fictional sample data. Practice file: pq_raw_pune_export.csv (source: src/practice/).

Demonstrate

  1. Right-click Replaced Value › Rename › Removed rupee symbol.
  2. Rename Replaced Value1 to Removed commas, Filtered Rows to Removed Total row.

  3. Click step 3 (Promoted Headers).

    Your result should look like this:

    Preview shows Rows
    Total row still present, Amount as ₹ text 6

  4. Click the last step again. Right-click Changed Type › Properties › add a description: Amount fixed decimal; dates en-IN.

  5. Click step 4 and add a filter. Read the Insert Step warning and click Cancel.

    Your result should look like this:

    Message
    Insert Step – this step will be inserted after the current step

Show the result

Applied Steps panel and preview at the Promoted Headers step, sample layout with fictional data

Your result should look like this (fictional sample):

# Step name
1 Source
2 Removed Top Rows
3 Promoted Headers
4 Removed Total row
5 Removed rupee symbol
6 Removed commas
7 Changed Type (with description)

Explain what happened

Clicking a step shows the data at that moment. Clear names and descriptions turn the step list into documentation.

Explore further

  • Extract Previous moves earlier steps into a new staging query.

Detailed reference for this lesson:

Applied Steps in Power Query with example — in 30 seconds

What: Applied Steps is the list of every change you make to a query. Power Query repeats the list on every refresh.

Why: You clean the March file once. In April you only press Refresh. The same steps run again.

Tiny example: A Blinkit Pune export comes in with the header as row 1. Two steps fix it: Use First Row as Headers, then Changed Type.

First look at the data (before, then after):

Applied Steps in Power Query with example: before and after tables, fictional Blinkit Maharashtra data

Same before / after tables as text

Before — Raw export (row 1 is really the header)

Column1 Column2
Order ID Amount
BLK-101 500
BLK-102 300

Formula / click path

Home › Use First Row as Headers
Applied Steps: Source, then Promoted Headers, then Changed Type

After — After two steps

Order ID (Text) Amount (Whole number)
BLK-101 500
BLK-102 300

Do it step by step:

  1. Open Home › Transform data. The Power Query Editor opens.
  2. Click Home › Use First Row as Headers.
  3. Look at the right side. Applied Steps now shows Promoted Headers.
  4. Click the ABC icon on Amount. Choose Whole number.
  5. Click any old step. The preview goes back in time. Click the last step again.
  6. Click Home › Close & Apply.

What appears on screen after these steps — sample layout, fictional data

What you should see on screen after the steps (sample layout — fictional data, not a Microsoft screenshot).

Every transformation appears as a step in Applied Steps. You can:

  • Click a step to see the data as it was at that point.
  • Rename a step (right-click › Rename) – use meaningful names like Removed blank rows.
  • Delete a step (click the ✕). Deleting a middle step may break later steps.
  • Edit settings using the gear icon next to steps that have a dialog.
  • Insert Step After or move steps up/down (right-click) – see Managing steps below.

Common automatic steps: Source, Navigation, Promoted Headers and Changed Type.

Good habit

Check the automatic Changed Type step. Power Query guesses types from sample rows and sometimes guesses wrong – for example PIN codes or product codes with leading zeros should be Text, not Whole Number. You can turn off automatic type detection in File › Options and settings › Options › Current File › Data Load.

Managing steps like a professional

Steps in Power BI

  1. Open Home › Transform data to launch the Power Query Editor.
  2. Make sure View › Query Settings is ticked so the Applied Steps list is visible.
  3. Right-click any step to see: Edit Settings, Rename, Delete, Delete Until End, Insert Step After, Move Before, Move After, Extract Previous, View Native Query, Properties.
  4. Use Properties to add a Description – it appears as a tooltip when you hover over the step. Good for documentation.
  5. Use Extract Previous to move all steps above the selected one into a new query (useful to create a reusable staging query).

Applied Steps mhanje tumchya kaamacha "recording". He samajla ki Power Query nimma samjla!

Ravindra Bagale's Tip

Friends, pay attention: clicking an earlier step and adding a transformation inserts the step there, and deleting a step that later steps depend on gives "column not found" errors. My advice: read the Insert Step? message before clicking, and rename important steps (not Changed Type1, Replaced Value3) so the query stays maintainable. Practise, and it will feel very easy.

Practice task

Open your Blinkit Orders query, rename every step to a meaningful name (e.g. Promoted headers, Set data types, Removed cancelled test rows) and add a description to the two most khup important steps.

Fix common mistakes

Wrong result Reason Correction
Expression.Error: column 'Amount' not found Deleted or renamed a step that later steps use Undo, or fix the later step's column name
New step landed in the middle An earlier step was selected Select the last step before adding
Step names meaningless Default names kept Rename every step

Practise independently

Practice task

Click Removed Total row. How many rows does the preview show?

Hints
  • 6 rows before it.
Solution

5 rows (BLK-401, 402, 403, 403, 404).

Think like a professional

Teams review queries by reading step names. Good names are a sign of a professional.

More worked examples: applied steps in Power BI

Suppose we are at Flipkart. Every morning we get a sales CSV. We remove two columns, fix the date type and filter out cancelled orders. Power Query records each click as one applied step. Tomorrow, when we press Refresh, Power BI repeats the same steps on the new file by itself.

Example 1 (simplest): show the Applied Steps pane

The pane is hidden and you cannot see your steps.

Steps:

  1. Click Home, then Transform data to open Power Query.
  2. Click the View tab.
  3. Click Query Settings.

Output: The Query Settings pane opens on the right, with Applied Steps listed under Properties.

Example 2: rename and edit a step

The step name "Filtered Rows" does not say what it does.

Steps:

  1. Right-click Filtered Rows and choose Rename.
  2. Type Remove cancelled orders and press Enter.
  3. To change the filter, click the small gear icon next to the step.

Output: The step has a clear name, and the gear opens the same filter window so you can change it.

Example 3: delete a wrong step safely

You removed the City column by mistake three steps ago.

Steps:

  1. Click the step Removed Columns to see the data at that point.
  2. Right-click it and choose Delete.
  3. If Power Query warns that later steps may break, read them and check the last step still shows data.

Output: City comes back. Every step after it runs again on the new data.

See also: Power Query essentials · Fix errors in Power Query · Connect CSV and Excel to Power BI

Frequently asked questions

What are applied steps in Power BI?

They are the list of changes you made in Power Query, one per click. Power BI repeats them in order every time the data refreshes.

How do I show applied steps in Power Query?

In Power Query, open the View tab and click Query Settings. The Applied Steps list is in that pane.

Can I delete an applied step?

Yes. Right-click the step and choose Delete. Check the later steps still work after deleting.

Ravi Sir's Cards for this lesson

Applied Steps. You need to see and undo what was done to the data. Steps make the cleaning clear and repeatable.Revision card

मराठी cards