40 Keyboard Shortcuts for Power Query

Are you tired of clicking through menus and wasting time while working with Power Query? Then you are here at the right place.

In this article, I teach you all the keyboard shortcuts you need to improve your productivity and work like a pro. You’ll learn shortcuts to navigate through your data, edit code, and work with the ribbon.

These shortcuts will save you time and make you more efficient when working with Power Query. So, let’s get started and learn how to use Power Query like a boss with keyboard shortcuts!

Table of contents

• Keyboard Shortcuts
  • Data Navigation
  • Queries Pane
  • Applied Steps
  • Ribbon Navigation
  • General
• Quick Access Toolbar
• Advanced Editor Shortcuts
• Conclusion

Keyboard Shortcuts

Data Navigation

You certainly look through your data when analyzing the results. Whether it’s to inspect a cell or to apply transformations to a selection. The below shortcuts help you in selecting the relevant cells, rows and columns.

Keyboard Shortcuts	Actions
Ctrl + Home	Select the upper left cell within a table.
Ctrl + End	Select the bottom right cell within a table.
Home	Select the first cell of the current row.
End	Select the last cell of the current row.
Alt + Home	Select the first cell of the current column.
Alt + End	Select the last cell of the current column.
Page Up	Move selection up one page from current selection.
Page Down	Move selection down one page from current selection.
Arrow Keys	Move selection to adjacent cell.
Ctrl + G	Opens ‘Go to Column’ menu and jumps to searched column.
Ctrl + A	Select All Columns and Rows.
Ctrl + Space	Select Current Column.

Next to these easy keyboard shortcuts, there are a few more difficult navigation shortcuts you can use.

Keyboard Shortcuts	Action
1. Go to 1st column (press Home) 2. Press ← (opens preview pane)	Inspect Row Values as List
1. Press Ctrl + Space (select column) 2. Hold Shift + ← / → (expand selection)	Select Adjacent Column(s)
1. Press Ctrl + Space (select column) 2. Hold Ctrl + ← / → (highlight column) 3. Press Space (select highlighted column)	Select Non Adjacent Column(s)
Select Column then press F2	Rename Column
Alt + ↓	Open Filter menu
Ctrl + ↓	Open Change Column Type Menu

Queries Pane

When working with your queries, you may find yourself in need of selecting, copying or pasting queries. You can easily perform those actions with the keyboard shortcuts below.

Keyboard Shortcuts	Actions
Ctrl + A	Select all queries.
Ctrl + C	Copy queries
Ctrl + V	Paste queries
Ctrl + ↓ -> Press Enter	Select multiple queries.

Applied Steps

The applied steps pane is where Power Query stores its transformation logic. To create, delete or modify these steps, you can make use of the below keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard Shortcuts	Actions
Ctrl + E	Add column from examples.
Del	Remove selected Column(s).
Select Step + F2	Rename Step.
Alt + Backspace	Copies code of last selected step into formula bar. Also works when coming from other query

Ribbon Navigation

The Power Query Ribbon contains all its UI transformations. You can reach each of the Ribbon tabs and transformation buttons by using shortcuts. The below keyboard shortcuts open the different tabs.

Keyboard Shortcuts	Actions
Alt + F	Open File menu
Alt + H	Open Home Tab
Alt + T	Open Transform Tab
Alt + A	Open Add Column Tab
Alt + W	Open View Tab
Alt + Z1	Open Tools Tab
Alt + E1	Open Help Tab

After reaching one of these tabs, you can continue navigating to the relevant transformation. There are too many options to list here, but Power Query will visually indicate the keyboard shortcuts to reach each of them.

General

Some shortcuts are more generic and can be used to save or close files. But also to adjust the font size of your queries.

Keyboard Shortcuts	Actions
Alt + F4	Closes the Power Query Editor
F12	Save file as
Ctrl + S	Save file
Ctrl + Shift + +	Increase font size
Ctrl + Shift + –	Decrease font size
Ctrl + 0	Restore font size (use regular 0, not on numpad)
Menu Key	Opens right-click menu, behavior depends on context

Quick Access Toolbar

Did you know Power Query has a Quick Access Toolbar? You can add your favourite actions to it so you can easily access them. This may just save you a few clicks compared to the Shortcuts to reach the ribbon (as in the previous step).

To add a new action to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT), right-click an operation in the ribbon and then select Add to Quick Access Toolbar.

Let’s say you have 3 actions in your QAT. To access the first one, you can press ALT + 1. For the second, you press ALT + 2 and ALT + 3 for the third.

Some of my favourite actions, mentioned in my preferred order, are:

1. Advanced Editor
2. Add Custom Column
3. Unpivot Columns
4. Add Index Column
5. Query Dependencies
6. Start Diagnostics and Stop Diagnostics

Advanced Editor Shortcuts

Besides everything mentioned above, there are quite some shortcuts available for the advanced editor. Because the quantity is substantial, you can find this post on 38 keyboard shortcuts for the advanced editor.

Conclusion

In conclusion, mastering keyboard shortcuts can make a big difference in your productivity when working with Power Query. By using the shortcuts for data navigation, queries pane, applied steps, and ribbon navigation, you can save time and work more efficiently.

Additionally, general shortcuts such as saving, closing, and adjusting font size can also be useful. With these shortcuts, you can navigate and edit your data more quickly and easily.

So, go ahead and try out these shortcuts and experience the difference it makes in your workflow. Enjoy Power Query!