I have been working with SharePoint a lot these days. A LOT!!!
One thing that frustrates me all the time is that there is no easy way to connect to a single SharePoint file from Power Query. Until now, that is.
The other day I learned a handy little trick from Jo (my beautiful and insanely talented wife). So here we go.
Problem: Power Query doesn’t recognize SharePoint file paths
I have a file in SharePoint (as shown below) and want to link it to Power Query (either in Excel or in Power BI).
When I use the Share > Copy Link approach I can’t get the file to open thru Power Query. You can see the Unable to Connect error message when I try this option below:
Old Solution – Long and tedious
So the normal fix for this has been,
- Open a SharePoint Folder connection
- In Power Query filter down to the single file I need
- Apply any transformations
- Finally load
New Solution – Short & Sweet
So this is the trick Jo told me.
- Click on the ? (three dots menu) next to your file in SharePoint
- Go to Details
- This opens a panel on the right-hand side of the screen
- Scroll down and locate the “path” and copy the path
- Now use this path in Power Query (from web option)
- BOOM! You get the data straight away.
Here is a quick demo of the solution:
Learn more about Power Query…
We can use Power Query to connect and get all sorts of data into either Excel or Power BI. If you are new to Power Query or need a proper introduction, check either of below resources.
11 Responses to “Fix Incorrect Percentages with this Paste-Special Trick”
I've just taught yesterday to a colleague of mine how to convert amounts in local currency into another by pasting special the ROE.
great thing to know !!!
Chandoo - this is such a great trick and helps save time. If you don't use this shortcut, you have to take can create a formula where =(ref cell /100), copy that all the way down, covert it to a percentage and then copy/paste values to the original column. This does it all much faster. Nice job!
I was just asking peers yesterday if anyone know if an easy way to do this, I've been editing each cell and adding a % manually vs setting the cell to Percentage for months and just finally reached my wits end. What perfect timing! Thanks, great tip!
If it's just appearance you care about, another alternative is to use this custom number format:
0"%"
By adding the percent sign in quotes, it gets treated as text and won't do what you warned about here: "You can not just format the cells to % format either, excel shows 23 as 2300% then."
Dear Jon S. You are the reason I love the internet. 3 year old comments making my life easier.
Thank you.
Here is a quicker protocol.
Enter 10000% into the extra cell, copy this cell, select the range you need to convert to percentages, and use paste special > divide. Since the Paste > All option is selected, it not only divides by 10000% (i.e. 100), it also applies the % format to the cells being pasted on.
@Martin: That is another very good use of Divide / Multiply operations.
@Tony, @Jody: Thank you 🙂
@Jon S: Good one...
@Jon... now why didnt I think of that.. Excellent
Thank You so much. it is really helped me.
Big help...Thanks
Thanks. That really saved me a lot of time!
Is Show Formulas is turned on in the Formula Ribbon, it will stay in decimal form until that is turned off. Drove me batty for an hour until I just figured it out.