Forum Discussion
Helper IROW LEVEL SECURITY with forced selection slicer single select
Hi Power bi sharks,
i have a dilama here want your support with,
i have implemented dynamic row level security by email, so each email will only see assigned categories of his own,
but i have in the report page a forced single selection of a slicer that is by default sliced by category = "Motorbikes",
but what if the user who open the report is not assigned by rls to see category = "Motorbikes", so the page will be blank until he choose somthing else in the slicer to be category = "Cars",
but id he pressed reset the default view will always be category = "Motorbikes", and the page blank agian,
is there a way to avoid this behavior?!!
Hi Maximous89
Yes — this is a known Power BI limitation.
What is happening
Your Reset to default button is probably tied to a bookmark that hard-codes the slicer to Motorbikes.
Under RLS, if a user cannot see Motorbikes, then:
- the slicer value is still forced to Motorbikes by the bookmark,
- the visuals get filtered to a value they are not allowed to access,
- the page appears blank.
When they manually choose Cars, it works.
When they reset, it goes back to the hardcoded default and blanks out again.Can Power BI make that default dynamic by user/RLS?
Not directly with a slicer bookmark.
A slicer default in a bookmark is static, not role-aware.Best ways to avoid the blank page
Option 1: Don’t force a slicer value in the default reset state
This is usually the cleanest fix.
- Set the report default/bookmark with no category selected
- Or set it to All if that makes sense
- Let RLS determine what categories the user can actually see
Then each user will only see their allowed categories, and the page won’t blank out.
Option 2: Use a “safe default” category
If you must preselect one category, make sure it is a category that every RLS user can access.
But this only works if there is a category common to all users.
Option 3: Create separate default bookmarks by audience
If users belong to a few known groups/roles, you can create different landing pages or bookmarks for each group.
Example:
- Finance users → default to one valid category
- Sales users → default to another valid category
This works only if your audiences are predictable and limited.
Option 4: Show a message instead of a blank page
If the default selection is unavailable, add a text box or visual that says something like:
“The current default category is not available for your access. Please choose an available category.”
This doesn’t fix the behavior, but it makes the experience clearer.
Recommended approach
For your case, I’d recommend:
- Remove the forced Motorbikes selection from the reset bookmark
- Let the report open with no category preselected
- If needed, add a friendly instruction message or a default page selection logic outside the slicer
1 Reply
powerbidev123Solution Sage
Hi Maximous89
Yes — this is a known Power BI limitation.
What is happening
Your Reset to default button is probably tied to a bookmark that hard-codes the slicer to Motorbikes.
Under RLS, if a user cannot see Motorbikes, then:
- the slicer value is still forced to Motorbikes by the bookmark,
- the visuals get filtered to a value they are not allowed to access,
- the page appears blank.
When they manually choose Cars, it works.
When they reset, it goes back to the hardcoded default and blanks out again.Can Power BI make that default dynamic by user/RLS?
Not directly with a slicer bookmark.
A slicer default in a bookmark is static, not role-aware.Best ways to avoid the blank page
Option 1: Don’t force a slicer value in the default reset state
This is usually the cleanest fix.
- Set the report default/bookmark with no category selected
- Or set it to All if that makes sense
- Let RLS determine what categories the user can actually see
Then each user will only see their allowed categories, and the page won’t blank out.
Option 2: Use a “safe default” category
If you must preselect one category, make sure it is a category that every RLS user can access.
But this only works if there is a category common to all users.
Option 3: Create separate default bookmarks by audience
If users belong to a few known groups/roles, you can create different landing pages or bookmarks for each group.
Example:
- Finance users → default to one valid category
- Sales users → default to another valid category
This works only if your audiences are predictable and limited.
Option 4: Show a message instead of a blank page
If the default selection is unavailable, add a text box or visual that says something like:
“The current default category is not available for your access. Please choose an available category.”
This doesn’t fix the behavior, but it makes the experience clearer.
Recommended approach
For your case, I’d recommend:
- Remove the forced Motorbikes selection from the reset bookmark
- Let the report open with no category preselected
- If needed, add a friendly instruction message or a default page selection logic outside the slicer