This week at Microsoft Build, we are announcing a broad wave of innovation across Dataflow Gen2 and Power Query in Microsoft Fabric and Power BI. These announcements build on the momentum customers are seeing with Dataflow Gen2 to prepare, transform, and operationalize data at scale—and reflect continued investment in making data transformation more scalable, more reusable, and more performant.
At the center of this wave is Run Mapping Data Flow transforms in Dataflow Gen2 (Preview - Coming soon after Build), a new way to build sophisticated data shaping logic with the speed of low-code and the power of Spark, without leaving Microsoft Fabric. Alongside it, this wave also includes performance enhancements in Dataflow Gen2, My Queries in Dataflow Gen2 for reusable Power Query logic, and the availability of the Modern Power Query Get Data experience in Power BI Desktop.
Together, these capabilities help teams move faster—from self-service analysts to professional data engineers—while staying in a consistent Power Query and Fabric experience.
Run Mapping Data Flow transforms in Dataflow Gen2 (Preview)
Run Mapping Data Flow transforms in Dataflow Gen2 introduce a new way to build advanced transformation logic in a familiar visual, low-code experience—now backed by Spark for scale. It’s designed for teams who want to go from raw to ready-for-analytics faster, scale confidently as data grows, and keep end-to-end integration in one unified Fabric Data Factory experience.
Dataflow Gen2 has long helped makers and data professionals shape data using Power Query’s low-code, step-by-step authoring. With Run Mapping Data Flow transforms, customers can now unlock the proven Spark-based transformation capabilities historically available through Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse—directly within Dataflow Gen2 in Microsoft Fabric.
This capability brings the power of Mapping Data Flows into Fabric, enabling advanced transformation patterns while keeping a visual, code-free design experience. Under the hood, transformations execute on Spark—helping teams handle larger volumes of data efficiently and with more predictable performance characteristics.
For teams coming from Azure Data Factory or Synapse, the experience will feel familiar: Run Mapping Data Flow transforms are intentionally aligned with the Mapping Data Flows experience—using the same visual patterns and transformation concepts—so teams can ramp quickly and bring existing skills forward as they modernize on Fabric.
Figure: Dataflow Gen2 Spark Transformation screenshot (authoring UX)
Why this matters
- Scale without sacrificing simplicity: Build sophisticated transformation logic in a visual, low-code experience—then run it on Spark when data volumes and complexity grow.
- More predictable performance for large datasets: Spark-based execution is optimized for high-scale transformation workloads so teams can process data confidently as pipelines expand.
- One unified data factory: Keep ingestion, transformation, orchestration, and monitoring together in Fabric Data Factory.
- Modernize faster: Bring Mapping Data Flows from Azure Data Factory or Synapse into Fabric with minimal rework.
Common scenarios where Run Mapping Data Flow transforms shine
- Large-scale data preparation for analytics: Standardize, enrich, and reshape raw data into curated tables in supported destinations.
- Complex transformation logic: Apply advanced joins, conditional splits, aggregations, derived columns, and schema shaping across large datasets.
- Enterprise data integration patterns: Build repeatable transformation assets that can be orchestrated and monitored as part of broader Fabric Data Factory workflows.
- Modernization from Azure Data Factory and Synapse: Move existing Mapping Data Flow investments into Fabric while aligning to a unified platform strategy.
A smoother migration path for Mapping Data Flows
Many organizations have built significant transformation assets using Mapping Data Flows in Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse. With Run Mapping Data Flow transforms in Dataflow Gen2, Fabric offers a clear path to modernize these investments: bring existing transformation logic into Fabric Data Factory with minimal rework, while benefiting from a unified data foundation in OneLake and an integrated end-to-end experience. Because the authoring experience is consistent with Mapping Data Flows, teams can migrate with less retraining and faster time-to-value.
Figure: Migration Assistant UX with an MDF being migrated
Learn more:
My Queries in Dataflow Gen2 (Preview)
A common challenge for Power Query users is reusing transformation logic efficiently across projects. Many teams end up rebuilding the same query patterns across different dataflows, which slows down development and makes standardization harder.
My Queries in Dataflow Gen2 (Preview) begins to address that challenge by enabling makers to save commonly used queries and import them into other Dataflow Gen2 artifacts. This helps reduce repetitive work, improve consistency, and speed up authoring.
This is an important first step in a broader reuse vision. Today, My Queries helps individual creators reuse their own query logic more efficiently across dataflows. Over time, this reusability experience is planned to expand further toward richer workspace-level and multi-user reuse scenarios.
Figure: This view lists all the queries that you've saved to My queries. Select any query to import its script as-is.
Learn more: Dataflow Gen2 My Queries documentation
Modern Power Query Get Data experience in Power BI Desktop (Preview)
Beyond Dataflow Gen2, Build also marks the availability of the Modern Power Query Get Data experience in Power BI Desktop (Preview).
This updated experience brings a redesigned, more consistent connection flow to Power BI Desktop, with streamlined navigation, improved discoverability, and a more unified entry point for finding and connecting to data. It aligns more closely with the modern Power Query experiences used across other surfaces, helping users move more easily between Desktop, web, and Fabric experiences.
Figure: Modern Power Query Get Data experience
This is also part of a broader modernization journey. As reflected in the Fabric Data Factory Roadmap, we plan to expand this work further to the full Modern Power Query Editor experience later this year.
Learn more: Modern Power Query Get Data experience
Bringing it all together
Taken together, these announcements reflect continued investment in helping customers do more with Dataflow Gen2 and Power Query in Microsoft Fabric.
With Run Mapping Data Flow transforms, Dataflow Gen2 expands into more advanced, Spark-backed visual transformation scenarios. With new performance enhancements, it continues to improve efficiency for more ingestion and transformation patterns. With My Queries, it begins addressing one of the most common reuse challenges in Power Query authoring. And with the Modern Power Query Get Data experience in Power BI Desktop, the broader Power Query ecosystem continues moving toward a more unified and modern authoring experience.
Try these capabilities and help shape what’s next
Customers can explore these new capabilities in Dataflow Gen2 and Power Query today and share feedback as they put them to work in real transformation workflows.
To continue the conversation, visit the Fabric Community to share feedback and learn from other customers and practitioners. If you have ideas for what should come next, share them in the Fabric Ideas forum. And to stay current on planned future investments across Data Factory, follow the Fabric Data Factory Roadmap.
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