topic Re: Custom JSON theme in Custom Visuals Development Discussion

Custom JSON theme

AL_1234 — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 07:17:02 GMT

Hello,

I'm developing a custom theme for my pbi reports. Unfortunatelly, I can't find clear information what I should write on which level in the file. Below is example of my JSOn file. Could you please explain when I'm supposed to do changes inside the first * and when inside the second *?

"card": {

"*": {

"*":[

{

}],

"labels":[{

"color":{

"solid":{

"color": "#4C4D4F"

}

"fontSize": 28,

"bold":true

}],

"categoryLabels": [

{

"fontSize": 13,

"bold": true,

"fontColor": {

"solid": {

"color": "#888888"

}

"label": [

{

"$id": "default",

"fontSize": 12,

"fontColor": {

"solid": {

"color": "#888888"

}

"position": "belowValue"

}

]

}

"barChart": {

"*": {

"*":[

{

"showAxisTitle": false,

"fillTransparency": 30

}

"labels": [{

"show": true,

"color": { "solid": { "color": "#FFFFFF"}},

"labelDisplayUnits": 0,

"fontSize": 11,

"enableBackground": true,

"backgroundColor": { "solid": { "color": "#888888"}},

"backgroundTransparency": 50,

"labelPosition": "InsideCenter"

}],

"background": [

{

"show": true,

"color": {

"solid": {

"color": "#FFFFFF"

}

"legend": [

{

"show": true,

"position": "BottomRight",

"showTitle": false

}

]

}

Thank you for advance for any help regarding this!

Re: Custom JSON theme

AL_1234 — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 07:21:15 GMT

Also, I can't find a way to change the shape of cards for cardVisual.

I have tied using

"shapeCustomRectangle" but it wont do any changes.

Re: Custom JSON theme

tharunkumarRTK — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 09:42:11 GMT

@AL_1234

Every time Microsoft releases a new power bi desktop version, a new version theme json will get made available to everyone. The new json version will contain the properties/features/formatting options that are newly added.
https://github.com/microsoft/powerbi-desktop-samples/tree/main/Report%20Theme%20JSON%20Schema

Download the appropriate schema file to your workstation, then create a blank JSON file alongside the downloaded file.

1. '*' - represents wildcard-style targeting mechanism.

I understand that it might be a bit difficult to complete this json theme as there is no docuementation available. I would suggest you to use any third party tools using which you can easily generate a json

For example you can use the embedded power bi report on this page to know about all the properties and their json labels for each visual

https://curbal.com/product/json-theme-bundle-by-curbal

I hope this helps

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Re: Custom JSON theme

blorbert — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 17:41:11 GMT

After some trial and error and going through a few forums I found a solution to updating some of the json settings for the new card visual. Included is also the use of shapeCustomRectangle to get the default shape you want.

"cardVisual": {

"*": {

"padding": [

{

"top": 0,

"left": 0,

"right": 0,

"bottom": 0

}

"value": [

{

"fontSize": 22,

"fontFace": "Arial",

"fontFamily": "Arial",

"fontColor":{

"solid": {

"color": "#000000"

}

"horizontalAlignment": "center",

"$id": "default"

}

"label": [

{

"fontSize": 10,

"fontFace": "Arial",

"fontFamily": "Arial",

"fontColor":{

"solid": {

"color": "#103F8C"

}

"horizontalAlignment": "center",

"position": "belowValue",

"$id": "default"

}

"shapeCustomRectangle": [{

"$id": "default",

"tileShape": "rectangleRounded",

"rectangleRoundedCurve": 20

}],

"fillCustom": [

{

"show": true,

"fillColor":{

"solid": {

"color": "#F1F3F5"

}

"$id": "default"

}

]

}