What Is Append Queries in Power BI?
Append Queries in Power BI stacks rows from two or more tables into a single query — like a SQL UNION ALL. It is used inside Power Query Editor when you have identically structured tables (e.g., monthly sales files) and need to combine them vertically without matching on a key column.
How Does Append Query Work?
When you append queries, Power Query takes the rows from one table and adds them below the rows of another. Columns are matched by name: if both tables have a ‘Sales Amount’ column, those values line up. Columns that exist in only one table appear with null values in the other table’s rows.
- Select Home → Append Queries (modifies the current query) or Append Queries as New (creates a fresh combined query).
- Choose ‘Two tables’ or ‘Three or more tables’ in the dialog.
- Select the queries to append and click OK.
What Is the Difference Between Merge and Append Queries in Power BI?
Merge Queries joins tables side-by-side on a key column (adds columns). Append Queries stacks tables on top of each other (adds rows). Use merge when enriching data with lookup information; use append when combining identically structured datasets like regional or monthly files.
Append Query in Excel Power Query
The Append operation in Excel’s Power Query works identically to Power BI’s. Open Power Query via Data → Get Data, load your tables, then click Home → Append Queries. This is especially useful for combining monthly or regional spreadsheets stored as separate tabs in a single workbook or as separate files.
What Is the Difference Between Update and Append Query?
An append query adds new rows to an existing dataset without modifying rows already there — it is purely additive. An update query (a term more common in MS Access and SQL databases) modifies existing rows based on a condition. In Power Query / Power BI, there is no built-in ‘update query’ — you achieve updates through Replace Values, Conditional Columns, or by merging with the updated data and replacing old columns.
Append Query in MS Access vs. Power BI
In MS Access, an Append Query is a SQL INSERT INTO statement that physically adds rows to an existing database table and is often used for data entry workflows. In Power BI / Power Query, Append Queries is a transformation step that combines query results in memory during data load — it does not write back to a source database. Despite sharing the name, they serve different purposes in different tools.
How to Create an Append Query in Access
In Microsoft Access, open Query Design, switch to Append Query via the Design tab → Append button, select the destination table, then map the source fields to the destination columns. Run the query to insert the rows. This is a write operation — unlike Power BI’s Append, it permanently modifies the target table.
How to Append Queries in Power BI — Step-by-Step Tutorial
This tutorial shows you how to combine two identically structured tables (e.g., January Sales and February Sales) into a single query using Append Queries in Power Query Editor. You will finish in about 4 steps and under 5 minutes.
Steps
Step 1: Open Power Query Editor
Click Home → Transform Data. Confirm both queries appear in the Queries pane.
Step 2: Start the Append
Select the query you want to append into (e.g., January_Sales). Click Home → Append Queries. To keep the originals untouched, use Append Queries as New instead.
Step 3: Select tables to append
In the dialog, choose ‘Two tables’ and select the second query (e.g., February_Sales). For three or more, switch to ‘Three or more tables’ and add them from the Available list.
Step 4: Review and Close & Apply
The combined rows now appear in the preview. Verify the row count equals the sum of both source queries. Click Close & Apply to load the combined table into your data model.
