Enable Smart Narrative Visual to Render Basic Markdown/HTML from DAX Measures for Rich Text Format

[AliceRocha]

Business Problem:
As finance and analytics professionals, we rely heavily on the Smart Narrative visual in Power BI to communicate data-driven insights through dynamic textual explanations. These narratives often describe performance variations, root-cause drivers, and hierarchical breakdowns of financial KPIs — such as Volume/Mix effects by Business Unit, Region, and Sub-region.

However, the current capabilities of the Smart Narrative visual impose a significant limitation:
While DAX measures can programmatically construct and return rich, multi-layered narratives, the visual renders this content as plain text, without supporting inline formatting within those dynamically generated strings.

For example, if a DAX measure generates the following text:

"Impact for " & [BusinessUnitName] & " was " & FORMAT([Variance], "$#,0 M")

There is currently no way to render just [BusinessUnitName] in bold, or to apply italics, underline, or other formatting inline within the same dynamic measure. The formatting options offered by the Smart Narrative editor apply only at the visual or field level, not inside concatenated or computed parts of a string.

This severely limits the usability and impact of the narrative for end users, especially in reports where quick scannability, visual emphasis, and clarity are critical — such as executive dashboards or financial briefings.

Proposed Feature Enhancement:
We propose that the Smart Narrative visual be enhanced to recognize and render a minimal subset of Markdown or basic HTML syntax embedded in DAX-generated strings. This would allow developers to apply text formatting inline directly within DAX logic.

Suggested Supported Elements (Initial Scope):

• Bold:
  **text** (Markdown) or <b>text</b> (HTML)

• Italics:
  *text* (Markdown) or <i>text</i> (HTML)

• Underline (if feasible):
  <u>text</u>

• Line breaks:
  UNICHAR(10) (already supported – retain current behavior)

Example Use Case in DAX:
"Impact for **" & [BusinessUnitName] & "** was " & FORMAT([Variance], "$#,0 M")

When rendered, the Business Unit name would appear in bold, improving readability and enabling clear emphasis.

Business Value and Benefits:

✔ Improved Readability:
Critical drivers and entities (e.g., BUs, KPIs) can be emphasized directly in the narrative, making it easier to interpret dense information.

✔ Dynamic Emphasis:
Formatting could be conditionally applied within DAX (e.g., highlight only items exceeding thresholds).

✔ Increased Developer Efficiency:
Reduces the need for workarounds like manually breaking narratives into multiple fields to simulate formatting.

✔ Better Stakeholder Engagement:
Narratives with better visual hierarchy enhance user experience, supporting executive-level storytelling with minimal effort.

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Conclusion:
This enhancement would significantly expand the flexibility and effectiveness of the Smart Narrative visual in enterprise scenarios — especially for finance and operations teams that depend on clear, dynamic, and expressive storytelling directly from DAX logic. We believe this would align well with the vision of making Power BI a more intelligent, communicative, and end-user-friendly analytics platform.

[v-lgarikapat]

Hi @AliceRocha ,
Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community forum.
@burakkaragoz , Thanks for  your prompt response
@AliceRocha ,

 If your issue has been resolved, please consider marking the most helpful reply as the accepted solution. This helps other community members who may encounter the same issue to find answers more efficiently.

If you're still facing challenges, feel free to let us know—we’ll be glad to assist you further.

Looking forward to your response.

Best regards,
LakshmiNarayana.

[v-lgarikapat]

Hi @AliceRocha ,

If your question has been answered, kindly mark the appropriate response as the Accepted Solution. This small step goes a long way in helping others with similar issues.

We appreciate your collaboration and support!

Best regards,
LakshmiNarayana

[v-lgarikapat]

Hi @AliceRocha ,

As we haven't heard back from you, we are closing this thread. If you are still experiencing the same issue, we kindly request you to create a new thread we’ll be happy to assist you further.

Thank you for your patience and support.

If our response was helpful, please mark it as Accepted as Solution.
Feel free to reach out if you need any further assistance.

Best Regards,

Lakshmi Narayana

[burakkaragoz · Accepted solution]

Hi @AliceRocha ,

Yeah, Smart Narrative doesn’t currently support inline formatting like bold or color directly from DAX. It just renders plain text.

A possible workaround (though limited) is to:

• Use multiple Smart Narrative visuals to simulate formatting by splitting content.
• Or use custom visuals like HTML Viewer or Deneb if you need full control over styling.

But honestly, native support for Markdown or basic HTML in Smart Narrative would be a great feature. Would definitely improve readability and stakeholder engagement.

Hope Microsoft considers this in future updates.

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If my response resolved your query, kindly mark it as the Accepted Solution to assist others. Additionally, I would be grateful for a 'Kudos' if you found my response helpful.
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