Vertical line over matrix visual Power BI

Hi Shiva2501 ,

 

It's not possible to add a scrollable vertical line over the standard Power BI matrix visual. That specific functionality isn't a built-in feature of the matrix. The visual in your image looks like a Gantt chart or another timeline-based custom visual, which is where you would typically find interactive elements like a movable time cursor.

 

Your best option for achieving this is to explore the custom visuals available in AppSource directly within Power BI. 📈 By searching for "Gantt chart" or "timeline," you'll find powerful visuals from developers like MAQ Software and xViz that are designed for this exact purpose. These visuals often include a vertical line for the current date or a draggable cursor to analyze specific points in time, closely matching what you're looking for.

 

A clever workaround to show row details is to use report page tooltips. This method doesn't use a line, but it allows a user to hover over any cell in a row and see a rich, custom-designed pop-up with more information. You would create a new report page, design it how you like, and then set its page type to "Tooltip" in the format settings. Finally, you link this tooltip page to your matrix visual, providing deep, on-hover insights for any row.

 

You can also simulate focusing on a single column by combining a slicer with conditional formatting. Add a slicer to your page for the field that makes up your matrix columns. Then, create a simple DAX measure to identify the selected column.

Highlight Column = 
IF (
    SELECTEDVALUE ( 'YourTable'[ColumnField] ) = MAX ( 'YourTable'[ColumnField] ),
    1, 0
)

After creating this measure, you can apply a conditional formatting rule to your matrix values. Set the rule to change the background color of cells where the Highlight Column measure equals 1. This will cause the entire column selected in the slicer to light up, effectively letting a user focus on that vertical slice of data.

 

Best regards,

Hi Shiva2501,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum. Also, thanks to DataNinja777, for his inputs on this thread.

This is not possible natively in Power BI Matrix: Matrix visuals do not support custom overlays like vertical scrollable lines. Reference lines / constant lines are only available in chart visuals (line chart, bar chart, etc.), not in Matrix tables. The Matrix is meant for tabular layouts, so you can only apply conditional formatting or highlighting within cells not a moving line overlay.

If your main goal is to track values at a specific point in time (or column), you could switch to a Line chart or similar visual. Charts in Power BI support reference lines and allow you to highlight specific columns dynamically.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/visuals/power-bi-visualization-matrix-visual-format-settings?tabs=powerbi-desktop 

Another workaround is to use conditional formatting to highlight the column the user selects via a slicer. This way, instead of a vertical line, the column itself will be shaded.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/create-reports/desktop-conditional-table-formatting 

If you need a more interactive overlay (like a true cursor/scroll line), you may want to explore custom visuals in AppSource.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-in/power-bi/developer/visuals/power-bi-custom-visuals 

So, while a true "scrollable vertical line" isn’t possible in a Matrix, these alternatives can give you a similar effect depending on what you want to emphasize. 

Hope this clears it up. Let us know if you have any doubts regarding this. We will be happy to help.

Thank you for using the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.