Power Query for Mac: what works, what is missing

What the Mac version reads

From Microsoft's list of Power Query data sources by Excel version (checked September 30, 2026):

"Refresh" means a query of that kind already in the workbook — typically built on Windows — can be refreshed on the Mac. The Power Query editor needs Excel for Microsoft 365 for Mac, version 16.69 or later.

If your data is in CSV and Excel files, use it

For the most common case — a few CSV or Excel exports, shaped and loaded into a sheet — the Mac version does the job, and it is already paid for. Build the query, and next month choose Refresh.

Where Mac users get stuck

PDF bank statements

The Windows version reads tables out of PDFs; the Mac version doesn't. On a Mac, either get a CSV from the bank, convert the PDF first (our free PDF statement to Excel tool works in the browser for PDFs with a text layer), or use a tool that reads the PDF directly.

Databases other than SQL Server

MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle and Access are Windows-only in Power Query. On a Mac the practical routes are an export to CSV, or a query tool that talks to the database directly.

Next month's files

Refresh reruns the steps, but it doesn't tell you what changed. If the source system renames a column, the refresh stops with an error you trace back through the steps. Nothing compares this month's row count with last month's, and last month's result is gone unless you kept the workbook.

A Mac-native option for the monthly routine

TableDI 2 is a desktop app for file work you redo every period: it keeps your sources, rules and delivery as a job, so next month you drop in the new files and run it again. Everything runs on your own machine. It is built for macOS (Apple silicon and Intel) and reads Excel (.xlsx, .xlsm), CSV and TSV, and bank statements as PDFs that contain text.

Each period starts with a preflight: which columns match last period's, what was renamed or went missing, duplicate or blank keys, and the row count against last time. The steps — tidy, match on a key, compare amounts, summarize, computed columns — then run the same way, and rows that don't fit wait on an Exceptions tab with the file and row they came from. It is narrower than Power Query: no M language, no database sources, no loading into the Data Model. It is also not inside Excel — the result comes out as an Excel report.

What it costs

Free has no time limit and no account: unlimited one-off tasks, export with no row limit, and one saved job you rerun every period. The lifetime edition is $99 once for one machine (movable) — or $49 for a year or $7.99 for a month, neither of which renews by itself; it adds more jobs, rules made from exceptions, carrying items to the next period, delivery templates and the history of every period.