Power Downloads

Level: Beginners

It can be reasonably difficult to find the exact download you need for the various Power Products in the Microsoft BI stack. Some of these products (particularly Power Pivot) have a number of versions.  This article is provided to help you get the correct download first time.  You may like to book mark the page so you can find it again in the future when you need it.

64-bit vs 32-bit

Before you start: Power Pivot and Power Query come in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.   You must download the same version as your version of Excel.  E.g. if you have 32-bit Excel, you must download and install the 32-bit plugins, and similarly for 64-bit.

If you are going to use Power Pivot and you have 32-bit Office/Excel, you should consider upgrading to 64-bit.  You can read about why you should consider this here .

Power BI Desktop

Power BI Desktop is a stand alone application that combines Power Pivot and Power Query into a single app.  This product is useful if you are building reports to be loaded on https://PowerBI.com or you can use it as a stand alone desktop data modelling and reporting tool instead of Excel.  Did I mention it is free?  You will not get a better, free desktop data modelling and reporting tool than this anywhere, probably ever.  You can download Power BI Desktop and the other Power BI Apps here.  If you need the 32-bit version, make sure you select the advanced options.

Power Pivot and Power Query for Excel 2016

 Excel 2016 comes with in-built Power Pivot and Power Query and you need not upload any plug-ins separately.

Power Query

Power Query is a single Addin that can be installed on any version of Excel 2010 or Excel 2013 (they all have the same download). There are some limitations of what Power Query can connect to in some of the cheaper versions of Excel, but they all support the basic product. Download the Addin here.

If you want a comprehensive lesson on how to use Power Query, checkout my Power Query Online training.

Power Pivot

Power Pivot on the other hand comes as a different plug-in for each of the various versions of Excel (Excel 2010 to Excel 2013). Read the details below.

Power Pivot for Excel 2013

There is no separate Addin for Excel 2013.  You have to purchase a version of Excel that comes with Power Pivot. You can read about the various versions here.  If you have the right version then you can turn on the menu by navigating in Excel to File\Options\Addins\Manage\Excel Addins.  Change the drop down list to “Com Addins”, click Go, and then turn on the Power Pivot Addin.  If you can’t see the Addin, then you have the wrong version.  You do not need to turn on the Power Pivot Addin to view a Power Pivot Workbook, but you do need to turn it on if you want to author Power Pivot Workbooks.

Power Pivot for Excel 2010 v2 SP2

This is the latest version of Power Pivot that works with Excel 2010 (technically called Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP2 PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel® 2010).   This version has a number of enhancements over V1 (read about that below), including a diagram view and a number of new DAX functions.

If you have Excel 2010 and you want to install Power Pivot, this is the one you should install unless you have very specific legacy system needs discussed below.  I have put this version first as it will be the right version for most Excel 2010 users.  You can download the Excel 2010 V2 SP2 Addin here.

Power Pivot for Excel 2010 v2 SP1

This version of Power Pivot is technically called Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1 PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel® 2010.   This also has most of the same enhancements over V1, including the diagram view and a number of new DAX functions.

You should only download and use this version if you have a specific need to actively use Power Pivot with SQL Server 2012 SP1, and that may include needing to host your workbooks on a SharePoint Enterprise instance that has SQL Server 2012 SP1 as the database, or possibly if you want to develop workbooks in Excel and then host them on SSAS 2012 SP1 Tabular within your corporate IT environment.  If you don’t know what any of this means, then my advice is do not install this version.  Even if you do know what this means, then my advice still is only install this version if the above points are real business issues for you and are active requirements for your project.

If you have read the above and still want to install this version then you can download the Excel 2010 V2 SP1 Addin here.

Power Pivot for a Excel 2010 v1

This is the original version of Power Pivot and is downloadable as a plugin.  This version was released as part of SQL Server 2008 R2. It has now been superceded and you should only use it if you have the specific legacy requirements covered below.

You should only download and use this version if you have a specific need to actively use Power Pivot with SQL Server 2008 R2, and that may include needing to host your workbooks on a SharePoint Enterprise instance that has SQL Server 2008 R2 as the database, or possibly if you want to develop workbooks in Excel and then host them on SSAS R2 Tabular within your corporate IT environment.  If you don’t know what any of this means, then my advice is do not install this version.  Even if you do know what this means, then my advice still is only install this version if the above points are real business issues for you and are active requirements for your project.  There are limitations in this first version so only use it if you absolutely have to.

If you have read the above and still want to install this version then you can download the Excel 2010 V1 Addin here.

Power Update

Power Update is a third party software solution that solves lots of challenges that come when you have lots of Power Pivot Workbooks to refresh each day/week.  It can schedule the refresh of all your workbooks and publish them via email, save to a server or even publish to SharePoint or Power BI.

Power Planner

Power Planner is a third party Addin for Excel that turns “read only” Pivot Tables into “editable Pivot Tables”.  This allows you to do all sorts of amazing things with your data, like take a copy of last year’s sales to create a budget and then edit the new budget directly in the Pivot Table at any Total or Sub Total, and watch the changes get evenly distributed through the underlying detail.

DAX Studio

DAX studio is a tool that connects to the Power Pivot data model in Excel files, Power BI files and SSAS Tabular.  Once connected, you can use DAX as a query language to interrogate your data model, return tables of data and even extract a list of all of your DAX Measures.  It is particularly useful to help you write complicated DAX formulas that need a virtual table as part of the formula (you can write the table portion first in DAX Studio and make sure the table portion is correct) and also for performance testing of your measures.

You can download it here.