Summary
Power BI Desktop Dark mode applies to the entire application, including Table/Data view. Report themes can style visuals on the report canvas, but they do not change the Data view grid. There is no supported way (including report themes, custom visuals, Embedded SDK, REST, or TOM) to keep the Desktop chrome in Dark mode while showing a white/light background only in Data view.
Problem
Many analysts prefer Dark mode to reduce eye strain in Report, Model, and DAX views, but still need a white grid when inspecting and validating tabular data—similar to Excel. Today the choice is all-or-nothing: Dark everywhere or Light everywhere.
Request
Please add independent appearance control for Data/Table view, for example:
1) A setting such as “Data view background: Light / Dark / Follow app theme”, or
2) Per-view appearance (Report / Data / Model / DAX) under Options → Report settings → Customize appearance.
This should work while the overall Desktop theme remains Dark.
Why it matters
- Improves readability when auditing rows, filters, and calculated columns
- Avoids forcing users to abandon Dark mode just to read the grid
- Aligns Data view with how people already work in Excel and other data tools
- Report themes already allow “dark page + white table visuals”; Data view should offer a similar hybrid option
Current workarounds
- Switch the whole app to Light mode (loses Dark UI elsewhere)
- Inspect data using a white table/matrix visual on a report page
- Export or open data in Excel
Out of scope / not requested
Changing report canvas theming (already possible via report themes). This request is specifically about the native Data/Table view grid inside Power BI Desktop.
