Hello,
I'm struggling to load some files from a folder into power query. They were originally dbf files but I converted them to xlsx to see if that makes a difference. Nothing seems to be helping. I'm using Excel 2016.
First thing is when I go to upload an select the source, I only see some of the files in my folder.
If I hit load, it loads the files names.
If I hit edit, then I click the double arrow on the left column, I get the message "DataFormat Error: the input couldn't be recognized as a valid Excel document. Details: Binary"
I've got 40 files and I'm expecting 20 more. They are all different so it's just a matter of appending on the rows; I don't need to keep the file name as a column. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Martha,
Please watch the tutorial for importing files from a folder again because the second half of the video deals with importing Excel files, whereas the first half deals with importing text or CSV files. The process for Excel files is different. and it sounds like you're using the text/CSV file process.
Mynda
Thank you, Mynda - that worked. I only chose to convert my dbf files to xlsx out of habit, but I should have asked the expert: do you recommend saving them as xlsx or csv or something else to load them into power query?
Hi Martha,
I'm not aware of any performance benefits to importing CSV vs Excel files, however you may notice a smaller file size for the CSV's so that may be a good reason to save them in that format.
Mynda
