How to Use Microsoft Excel for Data Cleaning and Basic Data Analytics

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Microsoft Excel is a widely used tool for data analytics, enabling users to import, organize, and clean raw datasets from sources such as CSV and XLSX files. Raw data often contains issues like duplicates, blank rows, inconsistent formatting, and incorrect data types, which can skew analytical results if left unaddressed. Excel's Get Data feature allows users to connect to external data sources and load them into a workbook while preserving the original raw data. The Power Query Editor, accessible through this connection, lets users apply structured, reproducible cleaning steps without altering the source data until changes are finalized. This workflow is particularly useful when dealing with large datasets or when the cleaning process needs to be automated and repeated.

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ProgrammingDEV Community ·

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