This reader's question is a perfect example of why traditional spreadsheets fail as soon as your data gets interesting. The problem is straightforward: one customer, multiple service plans, and a table that buries those plans in separate columns instead of treating them as individual, analyzable rows. The solution is not a workaround, it's a fundamental shift in how you think about data structure.
What this user is asking for is normalization: turning a wide, human-readable layout into a long, machine-actionable format. Power Query is the right tool for this job, but the real insight here is that the struggle isn't technical. It's conceptual. Most spreadsheet users are trained to design for the human eye, putting related things side by side. But analytics tools, AI models, and even basic pivot tables need data in rows. Every column that holds a repeated category, Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 3, is a signal that your data is still trapped in a display mindset. The moment you unpivot those columns, you unlock the ability to filter, aggregate, and visualize each plan independently. That's the difference between a static report and a dynamic dataset.
We think this user is on exactly the right path by asking for help early. The discomfort they feel is the friction between legacy spreadsheet habits and modern data expectations. It's the same friction that drives people to explore AI-native tools, where the software understands that a customer with three plans is three rows, not one row with three columns. The good news is that Power Query's "Unpivot Columns" feature handles this transformation in a few clicks. The better news is that this is a gateway skill: once you learn to think in rows, you stop fighting your tools and start letting them work for you.
The practical takeaway is simple. Next time you see a table with numbered columns, Plan 1, Plan 2, Contact 1, Contact 2, stop and ask: "Should these be separate records?" If the answer is yes, unpivot them. That single decision will save you hours of manual restructuring, make your data compatible with modern analytics, and prepare you for a future where AI can act on every plan, not just the first one.