Can't access or enter a new dynamic value in a text box

[Anonymous]

When I insert a standard text box onto a page I am unable to add a dynamic value. Clicking on the "+ Value" button shows the text.... "To turn on Q&A, we need to create a local index of your dat. If you publish the report, we'll create one in the service as well."

I'm using Version: 2.110.1161.0 64-bit (October 2022). It updates automatically from the Microsoft store. This feature was previous working as I have some text boxes already set up using dynamic values. They even show up in the "Review" section...

...but when I click on the edit icon it bings me back to the first image.

I've tried publishing the report to the power bi service to see if it would "create a local index" but it made no difference. I also tried clearing the Q&A cache.

Any ideas?

[jwilcox8]

This happened to me today also. I found this link where it tells you how to turn on Q&A.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/create-reports/service-q-and-a-direct-query

I had to turn it on for the dataset I was using for my visuals.

[marina_pbi_user]

Just ran into this issue.

Looks like it's an option you have to turn on when using DirectQuery. This solved the issue for me:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/natural-language/q-and-a-data-sources

[dharland]

Has anyone solved this issue? I've used this functionality a few years ago but now it doesn't seem to work. And the cryptic message from Microsoft is completely useless. "To turn on Q&A, we need to create a local index of your dat. If you publish the report, we'll create one in the service as well."

Does anyone at Microsoft QA their work anymore? PBI Desktop has gotten steadily buggier and harder to use.

[nonya]

Hi, Moconnorism.  I am having same issue.  Were you ever able to find a solution for your issue?

[coyne44]

Ok, I found a few solutions. 

For me, I discovered that this error happened when I added a direct query table to my .pbix file. When I had only imported tables it was working fine and went back to working fine when I deleted them.  

Solution 1: Use only imported tables

There is another solution that also worked for me that had to do with the language setting and can be found in this thread here. This one allows you to still use direct query tables.

Solution 2: https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Dynamic-values-in-text-box/td-p/1889947

[coyne44]

@Anonymous , have you been able to find any solutions to this? I am having the same problem. Literally a few days ago I was having no problems and haven't changed anything, now it is not working. 

[Greg_Deckler]

@Anonymous Maybe try using the Smart narrative feature?

[Anonymous]

@Greg_Deckler Thanks for the suggestion. However, from what I can tell, a smart narative visual appears to be exactly the same as a adding a text box in the normal manner. The difference being that it automatically creates a blurb, based on visuals already on the page, with a dynamic value in the text box that it adds to the page. But unfortunately it has the same issue when you go to modify the dynamic value...

[elaine_dunwoody]

I have the same issues. When I insert a Q&A visual, it gives me a nice button to "Turn on Q&A".  After that, the dynamic text box works.

[FEninja_]

Worked for me too, thank you!

[AsMoBhosca]

This worked for me, thanks