Excel 365 for Mac - Get & Transform/Power Query functionality

[UY-SCUTI]

Hi Dears,

Recently switched over from Windows to MacOS, not knowing the versions of Excel 365 for both the OSes are not the same. More or less immediately ran into issues when trying to find the Get & Transform functionality on the MacOS - it simply was not there. Spending a week on researching the internet learned this functionality is not - yet - available for MacOS.

From what I have been able to learn, the newest Excel 365 does offer the option to refresh existing queries - queries created on a Windows machine, though also learned according to Microsoft this is rather "phase 1" and we should expect more to come.

Looking at the amount of users voted for getting this feature fully supported on MacOS I am confident this is something that is continuously being worked on by Microsoft.

Seeing as this was stated somewhere in 2019 it does make me curious to understand where Microsoft stands now in regards to further rolling out this functionality for MacOS.

Hoping I can get more details on things such as:

• Can Microsoft provide transparancy regarding their roadmap? What can we expect by when - and what not?
• Any workarounds available to avoid having to have a Windows OS to be needed?
• Other tips?

See below couple of things I was able to find on Microsoft.com:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/excel-blog/get-amp-transform-power-query-in-excel-for-mac-pha...

@Guy Hunkin, Program Manager at Microsoft writes an article in October 2019 about the introduction of the ability of refreshing existing queries in Excel for MacOS. Also providing feedback saying that "the goal is to support full query authoring on Mac. As you can understand, this is an expensive project and we adopted a staged delivery plan - we aim to release valuable functionality to the users as soon as we are done with coding and testing"

Question from me: Can Microsoft provide an update on this? Where do you stand now. Release roadmap available? Other information you can share?

Hope this helps others to track status of this functionality for MacOS as well!

Wishing everyone a good weekend!

[#2]

@UY-SCUTI 

Just in case, roadmap is here Microsoft 365 Roadmap | Microsoft 365. If functionality is not included here nobody will share concrete plans for it. Power Query for Mac is not included.

Another related links are about data model (Power Pivot) on Mac Add PowerPivot to Mac excel – Welcome to Excel’s Suggestion Box! (uservoice.com) , not planned at all.

And PQ on Mac Add support for Get & Transform (formerly Power Query) – Welcome to Excel’s Suggestion Box! (uservoi...

IMHO, if you prefer Mac hardware and would like to have full functional Excel, install Windows on the top and work in it with such tasks.

[#3]

@Sergei Baklan 

Thank you for thinking along, have not really thought of the option of installing Windows OS on the Macbook! Will definitely give that a try, any chance you know if my Office 365 family subscription will allow me to install a Windows version as well?

Also thanks for those roadmap links, as for Get & Transform (former Power Query) it does seem like there is some activity on this topic still, also seeing users regularly requesting updates on this.

@Guy Hunkin, Would you be able to tell more? 

[#4 · Accepted solution]

@UY-SCUTI I went the opposite way. A long time Mac user, realising that Excel for Mac wasn't really living up to my needs. I had an MS365 Business subscription that allowed me to install the full Office package on up to 5 PC's and/or Macs, plus a bunch of mobile devices. I bought Parallels and W10 and happily run the full Excel version on a virtual Windows machine, on one of my Macs, a rather old MacBook Pro. Works good enough for me. If you have a newer Mac, it's going to run even better, I suspect. At the same time, running Excel on two more Macs and a Huwawei laptop (all under the same subscription), though with the limited functionality (as you recently discovered) on both Macs.

[#5]

@Riny_van_Eekelen 

I suggest you follow the announcements on the Excel blogs portal here. In addition, it's worth noting that this support article accurately reflects the currently supported Power Query features on Mac. Hope this helps.

Guy

- Excel Team

[#6]

@Guy Hunkin Not really my problem. I moved away from Excel for Mac as it just can't deliver what I need/want. I believe the biggest issue is that you don't have full Excel functionality on a Mac. Quite a few missing features. With regard to PQ, the options in the support article arn't really user friendly. Using complicated VBA code to create the simplest of queries is not something I will spend any time on. As said in my post, I run Excel for Windows on a virtual machine on a Mac and am totally happy with that.

Up to @UY-SCUTI to decide what he wants.

[#7]

@Riny_van_Eekelen We are working to improve Power Query in Excel for Mac as we speak. I suggest you to follow the announcements on the Excel blogs portal here.

Guy

- Excel Team

[#8]

@Guy Hunkin I will. Thank you!

[#9]

@Riny_van_Eekelen and @Sergei Baklan Thank you for thinking along. I have now created a Windows 10 partition by using Bootcamp and that actually works perfect for me, starting up WindowsOS way faster than MacOS on the same Macbook/hardware - ROFL.

I have now created and merged several queries that pull data from Web putting the data in one table in a sheet, all done on WindowsOS as I am used to do.

It works perfectly fine to open this file on MacOS and refreshing all, as referred to by @Guy Hunkin in the Use Power Query in Excel for Mac article. Still curious to see what is still being worked on so will keep following the Excel Blog portal.

Thanks again everyone for your suggestions, I appreciate it! Hope this also helps others that are having similar challenges. Installing Windows 10 on your Mac is very straight forward and only takes you a couple of minutes!

[#10]

@UY-SCUTI Great! Personally I prefer Parallels as it allows me to run both MacOs and Windows simultaneously and switch between them on demand. But it costs a bit of money, of course.

[#11]

@UY-SCUTI 

Just wanted to let you know that we released another phase, and you can now import data from local files with Power Query in Excel for Mac! For more information please see this announcement.

[#12]

@Inbar_Privman 

It's now been nearly a year since the last update on this topic. The import from web feature still requires us to go through the Word document voodoo, saved as txt, renamed to .iqy, only to get the Basic import features from Windows.

We can still not transform the data, select the columns to import into a table, set the data type, etc.

We cannot use the advanced functions to log in using an API.

I know that MacOS is a competitor to Windows, but when I buy Office, I expect to get Office. Not a milked down version of it. It's the same with OneNote and PowerPoint..

[#13]

@AlainL123 thank you for your comment.

Our team is currently working to introduce import from additional sources and transform data with Query Editor; however, there is no specific timeline for this as of yet. For further news, you can follow this site.

Please see the following article for more information about Power Query support in Excel for Mac: Import data in Excel for Mac (Power Query) (microsoft.com).

Inbar

Excel Team

[#14]

@Inbar_Privman With all due respect to the efforts your team is laying down to port PQ to the Mac, but you're giving Mac users a Ferrari without the keys. Great to look at, but they can't drive it. PQ for the Mac is not PQ.  Until you can deliver, perhaps best not to talk too much about the fact that PQ exists on or is coming to the Mac if you don't know when it's really going to happen.

Moved away from Excel for Mac after 11 years myself, as it just doesn't deliver the same greatness as the Windows version. And the VBA option mentioned in the link you shared is just not good enough. Tried it and would never have mastered it without quite advanced knowledge of PQ from working with it on the PC. Keep up the good work, though! Looking forward to the moment PQ comes to the Mac, for real!

[#15]

@Inbar_Privman Hi Inbar! Just wanted to share my excitement concerning the fact that the PQ Advanced Editor "landed" in my Mac today. Insiders Beta only, but nevertheless, a major development. Greatly appreciated!

For those who haven't read your blog post yet, I attach a link to it below.

https://insider.office.com/en-us/blog/shape-data-with-power-query-editor-in-excel-for-mac 

[#16]

@Riny_van_Eekelen 

I have Excel 16.68 (22110801) on the Insider program with an Office 365 Business Standard Subscription on a MacBook Pro with an Apple M1 Pro chip.

In the Power Query button the Launch Editor option isn't available. This is very frustrating as everything I read says it should be. Please help, I want to use PQ.

Matt

[#17]

@Matt_Costello750 Sorry. Can't help you with that. I've had PQ on the Mac right from the beginning when it started to roll out to Insiders. I understand that it's a step-by-step process and that not all get it at the same time. Stay up-to-date and keep checking the Get Data (Power Query) button on the Data ribbon.

[#18]

@Matt_Costello750 

The Power Query Editor in Excel for Mac is available to Insiders Beta Channel and to Current Channel Preview. The following steps may help with this situation:

1. Close Excel by right-clicking on the Excel app on the Dock and pressing "Quit"
2. Sign out from your Office account
3. Sign in back to your Office account
4. Re-open Excel

Gal

Excel Team

[#19]

Hi everyone,

I'm glad to update that Power Query Editor is generally available in Excel for Microsoft 365 for Mac running version 16.69 (23010700) or later.

Gal
Excel Team