How to Combine Multiple Excel Files in Power BI (One Query, All Files) Easily 2026

Gather the workbooks into a single folder. The walkthrough uses a desktop folder holding EmployeeData.xlsx and SalesReport.xlsx.

Microsoft's documentation is explicit about what "matching" means here. Every file must have the same file type and structure, including the same columns.

The data also has to sit on an identically named sheet or table in each workbook, because Power Query will look for that exact name in every file. Two workbooks about different subjects (employees and sales, say) will not stack into a meaningful table even if the combine runs.

Monthly exports of the same report are the textbook case. The connector also reads subfolders. Any file sitting in a subfolder is included and processed the same way, so keep stray workbooks out of the tree or plan to filter them.

On the Home ribbon, click the Get data arrow. The Common data sources list opens with Excel workbook at the top, but Folder is not on that short list.

Click More at the bottom to open the full Get Data dialog, choose the File category, select Folder, and click Connect. Excel workbook only opens one file at a time, so skip it for this task. Browse to your folder (or paste its path) and click OK.

Power BI lists every file it found, with Name, Extension, date columns and Folder Path. Scan it for anything that should not be there: a notes file, a template, a copy in a subfolder.

The buttons along the bottom are Combine, Load, Transform Data and Cancel. If the list is clean, open Combine.

If it contains extras, click Transform Data instead, filter the list on Extension or Folder Path in Power Query Editor, then use Combine files on the Content column. Load on its own imports this file list as a table of metadata, which is not what you want.

Combine opens two choices. Combine & Transform Data merges the files and opens Power Query Editor so you can fix headers and data types before anything reaches the report.

Combine & Load merges and loads straight into the model. Use Transform the first time you build the query.

Either choice opens the Combine files dialog. By default the first file in the list is the example file, and you can switch to another from the Example file drop-down.

Select the sheet or table that holds the data in that example. Whatever you pick here is the name Power Query will request from every other file.

The dialog also offers Skip files with errors, which drops any file that fails instead of failing the whole load. Handy, but it can hide a file you meant to include, so check the row count afterwards.

After the combine, the Queries pane holds more than one query. Power Query creates a Transform Sample File query that performs the extraction on the example file, a function that applies those same steps to any file, and your main folder query that runs the function on each file and expands the results into columns.

The helpers sit in a group named Transform file from, followed by your query's name. To change how every file is processed (promote headers, remove a totals row), edit Transform Sample File.

The function is linked to it, so the change flows to every file. If you rename columns or change types there, check the final step of the main query, because a Changed Type step that references an old column name will error.

In the recording, clicking Apply changes produces a Load dialog listing the main query, Transform Sample File and Sample File, each with "[Expression.Error] The key didn't match any rows in the table." This error means a navigation step asked for a name that is not there. In a folder combine, that is nearly always the sheet or table picked in the Combine files dialog.

Power Query looks for that exact name in each file, and a workbook whose data sits on a differently named sheet has no matching row. Files built from different templates, such as EmployeeData and SalesReport, are a classic trigger.

To fix it, open each workbook and give the data sheet (or Excel table) the same name everywhere, then refresh. If you cannot control the source files, remove the non-matching workbooks from the folder, or filter them out of the file list in Power Query Editor.

The query is tied to the folder, not to individual file names. Drop another workbook with the same structure and sheet name into the folder, click Refresh, and its rows join the combined table without any edits to the query. A new file with a different sheet name will bring the key error straight back, so agree on the template with whoever supplies the files.