Enter Data

Whether you need to create a small lookup table or you need data in a small table to test an idea or feature, you may have the need to manually or directly enter data into a table in Power BI. To do this you will use the “Enter Data” feature available in the “Home” tab/ribbon in the Power Query Editor.

Click the “Enter Data” ribbon icon. It will open the “Create Table” window (dialog) – shown below.

Enter the desired data, including the column names for as many columns as you need, and the values for as many rows as you need. However, typically this feature is used for small table (few columns and few rows). It is best to have larger data tables in a database or file. In the example below, 3 columns and 5 rows of office location information were entered.

Also, name the table appropriately. The table is named “Location” in the example above.

Once you are done entering the data and naming your table, click OK. The table will be added as a query. You can now use this table/query just like any other query in Power Query.

Update Data

After you have created the new query, how do you update the data? Whether you need to make a correction or an update to existing data or add new data, select the query, then in the “APPLIED STEPS” pane to the right, click on the gear icon in the “Source” step.

This will reopen the “Create Table” window from where you can add, delete, and update any of the records.

Thanks for reading.