MS Excel: Power Query Shortcut for Windows, Mac, Web

Power Query is Excel’s powerhouse tool for data import, transformation, and preparation. It's widely used for tasks such as data cleansing, merging tables, reshaping structures, and automating queries—especially for Business Analysts, Financial Analysts, and Excel power users.

While most of Power Query's interface is mouse-driven, learning the available keyboard shortcuts can improve your speed and workflow tremendously.

Why Use Power Query Shortcuts?

Using shortcuts in Power Query helps to:

• Increase speed when editing or navigating queries

• Reduce reliance on mouse clicks

• Enhance your data shaping and transformation efficiency

• Improve consistency when applying transformations

Common Power Query Editor Shortcuts (Windows & Mac)

These shortcuts are applicable within the Power Query Editor in Excel 2021.

Action	Windows Shortcut	Mac Shortcut
Open Power Query Editor	Alt + A + P + N	N/A
Close & Load (Apply changes)	Ctrl + Enter	⌘ + Enter
Cancel/Close Power Query without saving	Esc	Esc
Add Custom Column	Alt + A	Alt + A (if supported)
Go to Home tab	Alt + H	Alt + H
Go to Transform tab	Alt + T	Alt + T
Go to Add Column tab	Alt + D	Alt + D
Go to View tab	Alt + W	Alt + W
Toggle Formula Bar	Ctrl + Shift + F	⌘ + Shift + F
Move between applied steps	Arrow keys	Arrow keys
Rename a step or column	F2	F2
Delete step or column	Delete	Delete
Insert a new step after the current step	Ctrl + Shift + N	⌘ + Shift + N
Advanced Editor (open M code editor)	Alt + V + A	Alt + V + A
Refresh Preview	Ctrl + R	⌘ + R

Power Query shortcuts are limited compared to Excel’s native environment. Many actions still require navigation via ribbon or mouse.

Navigating Inside Power Query Grids

Action	Shortcut (Windows/Mac)
Move to next column	Tab
Move to previous column	Shift + Tab
Scroll down/up in column list	Arrow Down / Arrow Up
Apply transformation	Enter (after selection)

Power Tip

When frequently transforming similar data, use Custom Columns (Alt + A) or jump to Advanced Editor (Alt + V + A) to write M code directly, reducing the number of manual steps and enabling reusable functions.

Conclusion

Power Query dramatically enhances your ability to work with complex datasets in Excel. While its interface is not as shortcut-rich as standard Excel, the shortcuts that do exist can still speed up your transformation tasks and streamline your workflow.

Using these shortcuts effectively—especially when working with applied steps or creating custom columns—can make your data preparation process cleaner, faster, and more reliable.

MS_Exce_Power Query_Shortcuts.xlsx

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