How to join tables in excel using Power Query | Merge vs append explained

📊 How to Join Tables in Excel | Merge vs Append Data Using Power Query
Not sure whether you should merge or append data in Excel? You’re not alone.
When people say “join tables,” they usually mean one of two very different things — and using the wrong one can completely break your analysis.
In this step-by-step tutorial, I’ll show you:
The difference between appending vs merging data
When to use each method
How to combine Excel tables using Power Query
How to clean and transform your data the right way
We’ll walk through real-world examples, including:
Appending monthly order files into one master table
Merging related tables using IDs (Users, Roles, Training data)
Removing blank rows and repeated headers
Using Left Outer Joins correctly
Creating a clean, analysis-ready master dataset
This video is perfect if you’re:✔ Learning Power Query✔ Working with multiple Excel files✔ Automating data preparation✔ Preparing data for reporting or analysis

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🚀 More advanced Power Query tutorials coming soon — see you in the next one!

🕒 Timestamps
00:30 - Append VS Merge
01:50 - Appending Data
01:53 - Appending Step 1
03:19 - Appending Step 2
04:12 - Appending Step 3
05:45 - Merging Data
06:10 - Merging Step 1
07:21 - Merging Step 2
08:34 - Merging Step 3
09:24 - Merging Step 4