Synced slicers not showing what was selected in tabs

[SSadler]

Hi everyone,

I have several slicers synced between different tabs that used to show what was selected if it was one item or "Multiple selections" if more than one were selected. This is no longer the case now because when I switch between tabs only the default appearance of the slicers is showing ("All"). The visuals in the tab are affected by the selection so the slicers are syncing in the background, I just can't see what selections I made. When I click on the slicer, what I had selected comes up but disappears as soon as I switch tabs.

I am wondering if others in the community are experiencing the same thing. Maybe this just a temporary error in the app?

Thank you in advance for your help.

[DataNinja777 · Accepted solution]

Hi @SSadler ,

Yes, what you're describing is a known issue that many Power BI users have encountered. It's almost certainly a visual bug, likely introduced in a recent update of the Power BI Desktop application. You're right to observe that the filtering is working correctly in the background; the problem is simply that the slicer's display fails to update and show the current selection when you switch between report pages.

The most common and effective solution is to update your Power BI Desktop application. Microsoft is generally quick to patch these types of UI bugs in subsequent monthly releases. You can find the latest version by checking the Microsoft Store or visiting the official Power BI download page. Simply installing the most recent update often resolves the problem immediately.

If an update doesn't solve it, the issue might be a corrupted cache file. You can clear the cache by going to File > Options and settings > Options. From there, navigate to the Data Load section under the Global heading and click the Clear Cache button. You will need to restart Power BI Desktop for this change to take effect.

In more stubborn cases, the slicer object itself might have a minor corruption. The best way to fix this is to recreate it entirely. You would need to delete the problematic slicer, create a new one from scratch using the same data field, and then re-establish its connections. You can do this using the Sync slicers pane, which is accessible from the View tab in the ribbon. Once the new slicer is configured correctly on one page, you can copy and paste it to the other pages.

Finally, it's worth performing a quick check of your settings in the Sync slicers pane. Even though the filtering is working, sometimes toggling the sync and visibility settings off and then back on for the affected pages can force a visual reset and fix the display error.

Best regards,

[SSadler]

Hi DataNinja777,

Thank you for your detailed reply and for all of your suggestions!

I do have the latest version of PBI and followed your suggestions but the only one that worked was to recreate it entirely. The issue affected all my slicers in the PBI so I will go ahead with recreating all of them.

Thanks again for your help!

[wardy912]

Hi @SSadler 

 This has been reported before, there's a solution available that may work for you, check for hidden slicers.
Solved: Synced slicers not syncing - Microsoft Fabric Community

Open the Sync Slicers pane via the View tab and verify:
The slicers are synced across all relevant pages.
Visibility is enabled where needed.
Group names are consistent.
Check for hidden slicers in the Selection Pane and remove any that might conflict.
Try re-copying slicers from one page to another and explicitly choose to sync when prompted.
If the issue persists, consider recreating the slicers from scratch and re-syncing them.

I hope this helps, please mark as solved if it does, thanks!

[SSadler]

Hi wardy912,

Thank you for your reply!

The issue in my case was not due to the slicers not syncing or hidden slicers. I simply could not see what was selected in the slicer when I switched tabs so it seemed like nothing was selected although I could see the visuals were affected by my selection. This can be quite confusing for other people who use my PBIs. I did try re-copying the slicers but the issue persisted so I think it may more be due to what commenter DataNinja777 suggested. This only came up as an issue recently so hopefully it's just a temporary bug.

[Krishna1826]

Hi @SSadler ,

I hope you have turned on the syn slicers option from the view tab.

Just place one slicer on one of the pages, then copy and paste the same slicer on another page. Power BI will automatically ask you whether to sync or not. Irrespective of multiple or single selections from the slicer, Power BI will sync all the values/items between various tabs.

In case you still have an issue, share the PBI file, and I will be more than happy to answer you.

I hope this helps, please mark as solved if it does, thanks!

[SSadler]

Hi Krishna1826,

Thank you for your reply!

I had indeed done these steps as I have been using PBI for a few years now and have had no issues with the slicers syncing until now. They do sync and filter the visuals in the tabs, it's just that I cannot see what was selected when switching from one tab to the other which can be confusing for people less familiar than I am with the PBIs I built.

Another commenter suggested it is most likely a visual bug so I will follow their suggestions to resolve it.