What type of join is used in Power BI to combine two tables based on a related column?

In Power BI, merging is the process used to combine two tables based on a related column. This type of join is essential for integrating different datasets where a common field exists, allowing users to create a more comprehensive view of their data.

When merging tables, Power BI allows for several types of joins, such as inner join, left outer join, right outer join, and full outer join. This flexibility enables users to specify how they want to combine the data, depending on the relationship and the intended analysis. The merge operation ensures that only related records from both tables are included in the result, which facilitates accurate data analysis and reporting.

Other methods mentioned, such as appending, involve stacking tables on top of each other rather than connecting them based on relationships. Cross joins combine every row from one table with every row from another table without any condition, which typically results in a larger dataset that may not be meaningful without further filtering. Union is used to combine tables with the same structure but is not based on related columns; it simply adds records from one table to another. Thus, merging distinctly focuses on relational joins, which is crucial for effective data modeling in Power BI.