Power BI to not count hidden visuals within a group

[helenodonnell]

Power BI currently counts hidden visuals within a group. This can be confusing for a screen reader user who are expecting to see an additional visual to what is there. Ideally Power BI will not count the number of hidden visuals within a group.

[v-ssriganesh]

Hello @helenodonnell, 

Hope everything’s going great with you. Just checking in has the issue been resolved or are you still running into problems? Sharing an update can really help others facing the same thing.

Thank you.

[v-ssriganesh]

Hello @helenodonnell,

We hope you're doing well. Could you please confirm whether your issue has been resolved or if you're still facing challenges? Your update will be valuable to the community and may assist others with similar concerns.

Thank you.

[v-ssriganesh]

Hi @helenodonnell,

Thank you for posting your query in the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum, and thanks to @Khashayar, @GrowthNatives & @Shahid12523   for sharing valuable insights.

Could you please confirm if your query has been resolved by the provided solutions? This would be helpful for other members who may encounter similar issues.

Thank you for being part of the Microsoft Fabric Community.

[Khashayar]

Power BI counts hidden visuals inside a group, which causes confusion for screen reader users since they expect to find only the visuals that are visible. Currently, there is no direct setting in Power BI to prevent hidden visuals from being included in the count.

Possible workarounds:

1. Remove hidden visuals from the group. Place them outside so the accessibility count is correct.
2. Use bookmarks and the selection pane to switch between visuals instead of keeping hidden ones in the same group.
3. Create separate report pages for alternative layouts.
4. Add clarifying alt text in the Format pane → General → Alt Text, such as: “This group contains 2 visible charts. Hidden visuals are used for alternate views and should be ignored.”

This is a feature gap in Power BI. You can raise it or upvote it in Microsoft’s Power BI Ideas forum under accessibility improvements.

[GrowthNatives]

Hi @helenodonnell ,

For users navigating with a screen reader, this can be confusing since the announced “visual count” doesn’t match what’s actually shown on the page.

At the moment, there isn’t a setting in Power BI to exclude hidden visuals from being counted within groups. A couple of things you might consider as workarounds until this is addressed:

• Ungroup or reorganize visuals: If accessibility is critical, try ungrouping hidden visuals or moving them to another page or hidden bookmark, so they’re not included in the count for screen readers.

• Bookmarks/Selection Pane: Use bookmarks with the Selection Pane to show/hide visuals in a way that matches the experience you want for assistive technology users.

• Adjust Tab Order: A very practical step is to adjust the Tab Order of visuals so that hidden or decorative items are excluded from keyboard navigation and screen reader counts. This is demonstrated really well in this video: Tab-tastic !! Optimising Tab Order in Power BI. It shows how to open the Selection Pane, switch to Tab Order, and hide unwanted visuals from the accessibility flow—making sure screen readers only announce what’s truly visible and relevant.

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[Shahid12523]

Power BI currently counts hidden visuals inside groups, which confuses screen reader users by announcing visuals that aren’t actually visible. To avoid this:
- Ungroup hidden visuals or remove them entirely
- Use bookmarks carefully to control visibility
- Audit the Selection pane to keep hidden items out of active groups