This user's problem is one of those quiet, persistent headaches that every spreadsheet professional recognizes. You have a working file that does real work, pulling data, transforming it, formatting it for decisions, and then you need to lock it down as a historical record without breaking the underlying logic. The instinct to avoid copy-pasting values is not laziness; it's wisdom. That approach destroys structure, buries formulas, and makes future audits a nightmare. The real question is not whether to archive, but how to archive intelligently.
The core challenge here is that Power Query, for all its power, treats a workbook as a living document. A query that refreshes automatically is a feature until you need it to be a snapshot. The good news is that you do not need scripting experience to solve this. The simplest path is to save a copy of the workbook, then open it and disable automatic refresh in the query properties. Right-click each query in the Queries & Connections pane, select Properties, and uncheck "Refresh this connection on Refresh All" and "Enable background refresh." That stops accidental refreshes without deleting the query definitions. You can go further: rename the queries with an "_ARCHIVE" prefix so you and your colleagues know at a glance that they are inert. The data remains, the structure remains, and the workbook becomes a faithful record without the risk of pulling in stale or updated source data.
Scripting is a valid option if you need to batch-archive many files, but it is not required for a single workbook. The user's hesitation about scripting is understandable, and we respect that. Power Query's own interface already provides the controls needed to turn off refresh behavior. The mistake would be to overcomplicate the solution by reaching for VBA or Python when the built-in tools are sufficient. If you do decide to script later, the logic is straightforward: open the workbook, loop through each query, set the refresh property to false, and save. But for now, the manual method is fast, reliable, and leaves no room for error.
What this means in practice is that you can archive with confidence. You preserve the full query structure for future reference, anyone who opens the archive can see exactly how the data was built, but you eliminate the risk of a refresh that overwrites history with current data. The archive becomes a true record, not a time bomb. That is the balance Power Query users need: respect for the tool's capability, combined with practical safeguards. Do not let the fear of accidental refreshes force you into a workflow that strips your workbook of its intelligence. The solution is already in your hands. Use it.