Read the file list, then Combine & Load To

After you pick the folder, Excel hasn’t combined anything yet. It only shows the folder’s contents: one row per file. In this lesson you check that list, then choose the right button in the bottom-right corner. Picking the wrong button here is the most common mistake, so take it slowly.

123456 Zoom

Click a number on the picture or in this list to highlight that area.

1. 1Title = folder path Make sure it reads the Data Expense 2025 folder, not its parent folder.
2. 2Content: Binary Each file’s contents are still wrapped up. This is only a list of files, not the data yet.
3. 312 file names One row per file, January to December. There must be exactly 12.
4. 4Combine ▾ Click its small arrow to open three ways to combine.
5. 5Combine & Load To... The bottom option, the one we use. The three dots mean Excel asks first: where should the data go?
6. 6Load (don’t click) Only dumps the list of file names onto a new sheet, not the data inside them.

Step by step

1. 1

   Step 1: Read the window title (number 1): it must be the path of the Data Expense 2025 folder, e.g. D:\Excel Dashboard\Data Expense 2025. Then look at the Content column (number 2), which shows Binary: each file’s contents are still wrapped up, so what you see is only a list of files, not the data yet.

2. 2

   Step 2: Count the rows in the Name column (number 3). There must be exactly 12, from Expense 2025-01 Januari.xlsx to Expense 2025-12 Desember.xlsx, all with the Extension .xlsx.

   Watch out: More than 12? Usually there is a file whose name starts with ~$. That is a temporary file Excel creates because one of the expense files is open. Click Cancel, close all expense files, then repeat from Data → Get Data (previous lesson).

3. 3

   Step 3: Click the small arrow ▾ on the Combine button (number 4) to open its menu.

   Tip: What the other buttons do: Transform Data opens Power Query with this file list (not combined yet), so not now. Cancel closes the window without doing anything.

   Watch out: Don’t click Load (number 6) or its arrow. It dumps the list of 12 file names onto a new sheet, not the data inside them. Already clicked it? Delete that new sheet, right-click the query in the Queries & Connections pane → Delete, then start again from the previous lesson.

4. 4

   Step 4: Choose Combine & Load To... (number 5), the bottom option in the menu.

   Tip: The three dots mean "ask me first where to load it". That is where we will choose connection only + Data Model. Combine & Load without the dots dumps all 1,056 rows straight onto a new sheet.