Global Text Search and Filter Across All Tables in Power BI

[MohamedFowzan1]

Greetings,

Currently, couldn't find a method to enable users to search through every column in every table for a particular text string and promptly filter visuals on the page with corresponding results (Acting like a Search Bar).

While workarounds like concatenating columns exist, they're inefficient and impractical for large datasets. Any enhancement facilitating this capability would greatly enhance efficiency and empower users to efficiently delve into their data.

Thank you.

[v-rzhou-msft]

Hi @MohamedFowzan1 ,

As far as I know, the calculations like sum/max/find are all based on columns. According to your statement, you need to find specific text from multiple columns in different tables. And now you are trying CONCATENATE() function by DAX. 

I think combine the columns into one column is a good idea to help your calculation. If it will make a bad performance in Power BI by DAX, I suggest you to try M Query in Power Query Editor.

You can create a new table with all merged columns from all tables and then search it with slicer.

My Sample:

M Query:

let 
    MergedfromTable1 = Table.AddColumn(Table.SelectColumns(Table.CombineColumns(Table1,{"Value1", "Value2"},Combiner.CombineTextByDelimiter("-", QuoteStyle.None),"Merged"),"Merged"),"TableName",each "Table1"),
    MergedfromTable2 = Table.AddColumn(Table.SelectColumns(Table.CombineColumns(Table2,{"Value1", "Value2"},Combiner.CombineTextByDelimiter("-", QuoteStyle.None),"Merged"),"Merged"),"TableName",each "Table2"),
    MergedfromTable3 = Table.AddColumn(Table.SelectColumns(Table.CombineColumns(Table3,{"Value1", "Value2"},Combiner.CombineTextByDelimiter("-", QuoteStyle.None),"Merged"),"Merged"),"TableName",each "Table3"),
    AppendTables =  Table.Combine({MergedfromTable1, MergedfromTable2,MergedfromTable3})
in
    AppendTables

Result is as below.

Best Regards,
Rico Zhou

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[MohamedFowzan1]

Thank you for the input. This would again not help my case if I have so many columns and even in Power Query it seems to affect the performance. If there is any work around to achieve this without having to concatenate columns that would be perfect.

[amitchandak]

@MohamedFowzan1 , There is a text search visual that allows multiple columns, check if that can help

https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/power-bi-visuals/databrotherssro1596013704866.dbi_text...

[BenMoses]

@MohamedFowzan1  Is this issue resolved? Let me know, please! 

I have the same concern!

[MohamedFowzan1]

Thank you for the input @amitchandak . I have explored this visual, I need to search all the columns like a search bar. In this visual, I am having to select the column that I want to search through and then filter which does not help my case.

Only one column is taken into consideration when using this custom visual.