List All Functions in Power Query with #shared

I decided to dedicate this short blog post on how to make better use of Power Query and all the M functions inside. Let's see how we can do that.

Thank you

But before I dive into my blog post, I'd like to thank the #pbifamily for looking out for me!

Thanks for all the help yesterday, wonderful #pbifamily, I 💛 you!

Short update: I started a blog on a #PowerQuery trick, which should be finished later today, yay 😁

If motivation is letting YOU down at the moment, have a read through this thread 👇, and know you're not alone! https://t.co/n3nhNVyD01

— Nicky van Vroenhoven (@NickyvV) November 3, 2020

#shared

In addition to what the title suggests, you can not only show all the functions, but all tables, records, (custom) functions and query (results) inside Power Query.

You can start using it by:

• Creating a new blank query and either:
• type in "= #shared" in the formula bar and press Enter, or
• open the Advanced Editor and replace everything with "#shared" and press Done
• Click on Into Table in the top left and you're done!

This will give you a list of functions (and query results, etc.) available in M.

You can search through the list of Names and e.g. see what functions you can use with week:

Opening e.g. Date.IsInNextWeek opens up the details for this function, showing you a description, the parameter used and the returned value.

You can even test it right there.

Watch it in action

If you like a more visual explanation, have a look at a recording of my Query Folding session at the dataMinds User Group earlier this year. The part about #shared starts at 52:40:

During the research googling for this blog post, I also found another thing you can do with #shared:

• The Environment concept in M for Power Query and Power BI Desktop, Part 3 by Lars Schreiber (@SchreiberLars | b) and Imke Feldmann (@TheBIccountant | b)
• Curious on how to start an embedded YouTube video on a specific time? Have a look at this blog post, you'll have to use "?start=" instead of "t=" for a regular URL