Power Query Preview vs Power Query Release – How Can I Share a Query?

You learn something new every day. Hopefully this helps a few confused souls, it would have helped me.

Microsoft first announced the release version of Power Query in July 2013, and last week (August 2013) it put out a stability update for it. Not wanting to be left behind, I gleefully installed the update, and when I got my invitation to try the Power BI preview, I went ahead and started working with it. One of the first things that I wanted to try was to work with shared queries. I couldn’t figure out how to create one. After a little research, i knew that I was missing something. There is a section (The Organization Section) in the Power Query ribbon where you can sign in and access shared queries.

The problem was, I didn’t have it. Initially, I thought that it was left out of the preview, but then quickly realized that others had it. Then perhaps that it was a license issue, or an installation issue. However after installing on three different systems with 2 different bit levels, I gave up and posted my dilemma in the community forums.  It didn’t take long for someone from Microsoft to chime in with the answer.

There are two different versions of Power BI. The released version (the one from July and the stability update) is meant for standalone use, and does not have the ability to connect to a Power BI site. The preview version is for corporate use, and it does have that capability. The release version is 1.5.3296.2082, and the preview version is 2.6.3387.121.

Power Query (for use with Power BI sites) version 2.6.3387.121
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39933

Power Query (standalone) version 1.5.3296.2082
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39379

Once I installed 2.x, everything was good. Luckily, the main Power BI download site now points to the version 2.x, so not too many people should be caught by this. If you have been, hopefully this helps.