The user's problem is not about performing a merge. It's about forcing a static tool to behave like a living system. When you have seven qualifications today, one tomorrow, and a different set next week, a manual merge in Power Query breaks. The moment the source data shifts, your carefully built query either fails or returns incomplete results. This is the fundamental tension at the heart of modern data work: the data moves, but your spreadsheet logic stays frozen.
What the user is asking for is a way to make the merge adapt without constant intervention. They want to leave the qualifications column blank and have the system pull through whatever exists in the other table on any given day. That is a reasonable request. It is also a request that traditional tools were never designed to handle. Power Query's merge dialog assumes a fixed relationship between columns. If the number of matching rows changes, you are left patching the logic manually. The user's two screenshots show the exact moment this friction becomes a blocker: a carefully constructed merge criteria that will break the moment the data breathes.
Our take is straightforward: this user has hit the ceiling of what manual merge logic can offer. The solution is not a clever workaround inside the same tool. The solution is to stop treating the merge as a one-time transformation and start treating it as a live connection. An AI-native spreadsheet can do this by default. It can watch the source table, detect when qualifications appear or disappear, and update the merged result automatically. No blank columns to manage. No manual re-run. The merge becomes dynamic because the system understands the intent behind the join, not just the fixed column names.
For the reader, this means a concrete shift in how you approach data preparation. Instead of spending time building fragile merge logic that requires constant maintenance, you can focus on what the data is telling you. The user's scenario, seven qualifications that may change to one or back to seven, is exactly the kind of variability that slows teams down. Leave the qualifications column blank? No. Let the tool handle the variability. That is the practical change. Move from static merges that require your attention to dynamic merges that adapt the moment your data does. That is not a future feature. It is the standard an AI-native spreadsheet should meet today.