The most recommended books on Power Pivot

Who picked these books? Meet our 2 experts.

2 authors created a book list connected to Power Pivot, and here are their favorite Power Pivot books.
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Book cover of Power Pivot and Power BI: The Excel User's Guide to DAX, Power Query, Power BI & Power Pivot in Excel 2010-2016

Bill Jelen Author Of Power Excel 2019 with MrExcel: Master Pivot Tables, Subtotals, VLOOKUP, Power Query, Dynamic Arrays & Data Analysis

From my list on to go from Excel to Power Query and Power BI.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been running the MrExcel website since 1998 and have written 66 books about Excel. I am an Excel generalist – I know a fair amount about almost every aspect of Excel. But I respect the specialists who become experts on one part of Excel and offer deep knowledge dives into those portions of Excel. Cleaning data with Power Query, calculating “impossible” calculations with DAX, and then presenting them on interactive dashboards are some of the deep dives that you will learn on this list.

Bill's book list on to go from Excel to Power Query and Power BI

Bill Jelen Why did Bill love this book?

Rob Collie was a pioneer at Microsoft. After leaving the Excel team, he helped architect the tools that would become Power Pivot and Power BI. He left Microsoft and started his own consultancy, helping big companies answer important questions in just a few hours with Power Pivot.

His books are the best-selling books in the category. 

While Matt Allington will get you up to speed, Rob will explain every nuance of Power Pivot, DAX, and Power BI.

By Rob Collie, Avichal Singh,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Power Pivot and Power BI as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Microsoft PowerPivot is a free add-on to Excel from Microsoft that allows users to produce new kinds of reports and analyses that were simply impossible before, and this book is the first to tackle DAX formulas, the core capability of PowerPivot, from the perspective of the Excel audience. Written by the world's foremost PowerPivot blogger and practitioner, the book's concepts and approach are introduced in a step-by-step manner tailored to the learning style of Excel users everywhere. The techniques presented allow users to produce, in hours or even minutes, results that formerly would have taken entire teams weeks or months…


Book cover of MrExcel 2022: Boosting Excel

Mary S. Schaeffer Author Of 127 Best Practices for Accounts Payable

From my list on to build excellence in accounting and finance.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m obsessed with spreading the word about best practices when it comes to the accounts payable function. It’s a lot more complicated than you might imagine – if you want to avoid fraud, excess costs, duplicate payments, problems with the IRS, etc. I regularly speak at both online and live events. As the host of the AP Now YouTube channel, I’m able to share opinions, interview industry thought leaders, and share the latest business intelligence needed to run an efficient, cost-effective accounts payable and payment function. I’ve written over 20 business books, most of them focusing on various aspects of the accounts payable function.

Mary's book list on to build excellence in accounting and finance

Mary S. Schaeffer Why did Mary love this book?

It goes without saying that every accounting and finance professional should be skilled when it comes to Excel.

When looking for tips and tricks to take Excel skills to the next level, I turn to the man, a Microsoft MVP, who has written over 60 books on the topic, taught thousands of seminars on the issue and is known as MrExcel. This book shares information, the "aha" tips that uncover secret methods in Excel.

By Bill Jelen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked MrExcel 2022 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Inspiring Excel tips designed to save 100 hours per year.

Originally designed for Bill Jelen's live Power Excel seminars, the target audience already uses Excel 40 hours a week. These tips are the "aha" tips that uncover secret methods in Excel. The book covers general Excel functions, pivot tables, and formulas such as VLOOKUP and the new XLOOKUP. It introduces elements of modern Excel such as the Power Pivot Data Model and cleaning data with Power Query. Updated annually, this edition for 2022 adds information on collaboration features, LET and LAMBDA functions, amazing new data types, dynamic array formulas, and…


Book cover of Supercharge Power BI: Power BI is Better When You Learn To Write DAX

Bill Jelen Author Of Power Excel 2019 with MrExcel: Master Pivot Tables, Subtotals, VLOOKUP, Power Query, Dynamic Arrays & Data Analysis

From my list on to go from Excel to Power Query and Power BI.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been running the MrExcel website since 1998 and have written 66 books about Excel. I am an Excel generalist – I know a fair amount about almost every aspect of Excel. But I respect the specialists who become experts on one part of Excel and offer deep knowledge dives into those portions of Excel. Cleaning data with Power Query, calculating “impossible” calculations with DAX, and then presenting them on interactive dashboards are some of the deep dives that you will learn on this list.

Bill's book list on to go from Excel to Power Query and Power BI

Bill Jelen Why did Bill love this book?

Have you ever built a pivot table in Excel? They are great at summarizing data. But they are lousy at answering certain questions. When your manager asks for anything slightly complicated, the Pivot Table Calculated Field is destined to fail. 

The Microsoft team who built the Power Pivot calculation engine realized that Calculated Fields were the weak point of pivot tables. They created an amazing new formula language that could let you answer the hard questions like how are we doing on same-store sales through the first two weekends of December?

The formula language – Data Analysis Expressions – or DAX is powerful but confusing. Matt Allington, another former data analyst has figured out how to use DAX to come up with all of those industry-standard calculations that he used to need as a manager at Coca-Cola. 

He walks you up the DAX learning curve in this book.

By Matt Allington,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Supercharge Power BI as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Data analysis expressions (DAX) is the formula language of Power BI. Learning the DAX language is key to empower Power BI users so they can take advantage of these new Business Intelligence (BI) capabilities. This volume clearly explains the concepts of DAX while at the same time offering hands-on practice to engage the reader and help new knowledge stick. This third edition has been updated for the new Power BI Ribbon interface while still providing a bridge for readers wanting to learn DAX in the Power BI, Power Pivot, or Excel.


Book cover of Cleaning Excel Data With Power Query Straight to the Point

Bill Jelen Author Of Power Excel 2019 with MrExcel: Master Pivot Tables, Subtotals, VLOOKUP, Power Query, Dynamic Arrays & Data Analysis

From my list on to go from Excel to Power Query and Power BI.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been running the MrExcel website since 1998 and have written 66 books about Excel. I am an Excel generalist – I know a fair amount about almost every aspect of Excel. But I respect the specialists who become experts on one part of Excel and offer deep knowledge dives into those portions of Excel. Cleaning data with Power Query, calculating “impossible” calculations with DAX, and then presenting them on interactive dashboards are some of the deep dives that you will learn on this list.

Bill's book list on to go from Excel to Power Query and Power BI

Bill Jelen Why did Bill love this book?

If you just want to find out if Power Query is for you, this short book, written by the entertaining host of the Excel On Fire YouTube channel will show you what is possible using Power Query. Oz will show you the types of everyday problems that can be solved using the Get & Transform section of the Data tab in Excel. Once you get a taste of what is possible, you will be ready to dive in with Ken Puls’ book.

By Oz du Soleil,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Cleaning Excel Data With Power Query Straight to the Point as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Author Oz Du Soleil's area of frustration with Excel is cleaning data. From his earliest days with Excel, he has found himself constantly needing to fix names that are ALLCAPS, peel addresses away from phone numbers, and fixing all the many other things that prevent data from being useful. In this intro to Power Query, Oz shows you five core techniques in Excel Power Query: Splitting data, Filling blanks, Joining data sets, grouping and summarizing, and adding columns using Column From Examples.


Book cover of Master Your Data with Power Query in Excel and Power BI: Leveraging Power Query to Get & Transform Your Task Flow

Bill Jelen Author Of Power Excel 2019 with MrExcel: Master Pivot Tables, Subtotals, VLOOKUP, Power Query, Dynamic Arrays & Data Analysis

From my list on to go from Excel to Power Query and Power BI.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been running the MrExcel website since 1998 and have written 66 books about Excel. I am an Excel generalist – I know a fair amount about almost every aspect of Excel. But I respect the specialists who become experts on one part of Excel and offer deep knowledge dives into those portions of Excel. Cleaning data with Power Query, calculating “impossible” calculations with DAX, and then presenting them on interactive dashboards are some of the deep dives that you will learn on this list.

Bill's book list on to go from Excel to Power Query and Power BI

Bill Jelen Why did Bill love this book?

Microsoft quietly slipped the Get & Transform tools onto the Data tab in Excel in 2016. These tools are incredibly powerful – you clean your data once and Excel will remember how to clean your data every month, every week, every day, every hour. Ken Puls and Miguel Escobar will show you all of the best tricks for using these tools.

By Ken Puls, Miguel Escobar,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Master Your Data with Power Query in Excel and Power BI as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Power Query is the amazing new data cleansing tool in both Excel and Power BI Desktop. Do you find yourself performing the same data cleansing steps day after day? Power Query will make it faster to clean your data the first time. While Power Query is powerful, the interface is subtle—there are tools hiding in plain sight that are easy to miss. Go beyond the obvious and take Power Query to new levels with this book.


Book cover of The Absolute Guide to Dashboarding and Reporting with Power Bi: How to Design and Create a Financial Dashboard with Power Bi - End to End

Bill Jelen Author Of Power Excel 2019 with MrExcel: Master Pivot Tables, Subtotals, VLOOKUP, Power Query, Dynamic Arrays & Data Analysis

From my list on to go from Excel to Power Query and Power BI.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been running the MrExcel website since 1998 and have written 66 books about Excel. I am an Excel generalist – I know a fair amount about almost every aspect of Excel. But I respect the specialists who become experts on one part of Excel and offer deep knowledge dives into those portions of Excel. Cleaning data with Power Query, calculating “impossible” calculations with DAX, and then presenting them on interactive dashboards are some of the deep dives that you will learn on this list.

Bill's book list on to go from Excel to Power Query and Power BI

Bill Jelen Why did Bill love this book?

Kasper DeJonge works at Microsoft on the Power Query team. Before joining Microsoft, he was a data analyst, just like you. In this book, Kasper walks a data analyst through the steps of modelling your Excel data and getting it published on a Power BI dashboard. Along the way, his examples are designed to get you up to speed with the important aspects of Power BI.

By Kasper De Jonge,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Absolute Guide to Dashboarding and Reporting with Power Bi as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Written by a member of Microsoft's Power BI team, this book provides a practical step by step guide on creating a financial dashboard using Power BI desktop and the PowerBI.com service. The book contains 6 chapters:
Introduction. Here I introduce the book, business intelligence and provide some history on Power BI Understanding Dashboards and Report. Here we talk about what dashboards and reports are and how they are used in Power BI. Finally we talk about how to decide what to put on your reports and dashboards. Collecting and preparing data. Here we install Power BI desktop, import data into…


Book cover of MrExcel 23: The Greatest Excel Tips of All Time

Mary S. Schaeffer Author Of 127 Best Practices for Accounts Payable

From my list on to build excellence in accounting and finance.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m obsessed with spreading the word about best practices when it comes to the accounts payable function. It’s a lot more complicated than you might imagine – if you want to avoid fraud, excess costs, duplicate payments, problems with the IRS, etc. I regularly speak at both online and live events. As the host of the AP Now YouTube channel, I’m able to share opinions, interview industry thought leaders, and share the latest business intelligence needed to run an efficient, cost-effective accounts payable and payment function. I’ve written over 20 business books, most of them focusing on various aspects of the accounts payable function.

Mary's book list on to build excellence in accounting and finance

Mary S. Schaeffer Why did Mary love this book?

Because I believe it is critical for all accounting and finance professionals to be as proficient as possible with Excel, I’ve included a second Excel book on this list.

This about-to-be-published book represents the latest iteration of MrExcel LX - The Holy Grail of Excel Tips published in 2019. Without a doubt, like his many other books, it will provide tips and tricks to help the audience perfect their much-needed Excel skills.

By Bill Jelen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked MrExcel 23 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Excel tips to skyrocket white-collar productivity.

Originally designed for Bill Jelen's live Power Excel seminars, the target audience already uses Excel 40 hours a week. These tips are the "aha" tips that uncover secret methods in Excel. The book covers general Excel functions, pivot tables, and formulas such as VLOOKUP and the new XLOOKUP. It introduces elements of modern Excel such as the Power Pivot Data Model and cleaning data with Power Query. Updated annually, this edition for 2021 adds information on LET and LAMBDA functions, amazing new data types, dynamic array formulas, and more.


Book cover of Power Pivot and Power BI: The Excel User's Guide to DAX, Power Query, Power BI & Power Pivot in Excel 2010-2016
Book cover of MrExcel 2022: Boosting Excel
Book cover of Supercharge Power BI: Power BI is Better When You Learn To Write DAX

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