Is It Possible for Visuals to Control Slicer Selections in Power BI?

[jbaD_88]

Hi @Everyone ,

I’m currently working on a Power BI report and I’m trying to achieve a behavior where selecting a value from a visual (e.g., a bar chart or table) would automatically reflect or update the selection in a slicer.

From what I understand, slicers can filter visuals, but it seems that visuals cannot update slicers. I’d like to confirm if this is a current limitation in Power BI’s interaction model, and if so, is there any official documentation or roadmap item that explains why this is not supported?

Also, do you have any recommended slicer that works like a searchbar but suggest values based on the dataset, similar to smart filter pro. Looking for alternatives. 

Also, are there any workarounds or custom visuals that can simulate this behavior (e.g., Smart Filter Pro, etc.)?

Any insights or references would be greatly appreciated, especially if I can use them to explain this limitation to stakeholders.

Thanks in advance!

[v-lgarikapat · Accepted solution]

Hi @jbaD_88 ,

Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community forum.

in Power BI’s current interaction model, visuals cannot directly update slicers. This is a known limitation and not a bug. Slicers act as input controls that filter visuals, but the reverse interaction (visuals updating slicers) is not supported natively. This design choice is rooted in Power BI’s filter propagation model, where slicers and filters are upstream controllers of visual context, not reactive elements.

Slicers in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

We’ve created a sample Power BI report that shows three different slicers with search options:

• Text Filter 

• Power BI’s Built-in Slicer with Search

• Attribute Slicer (Custom Visual)

The PBIX file with sample data is ready and uploaded. Please take a look and let us know what you think. If you find any issues or have suggestions, feel free to reach out  we’ll be happy to help.

If this post helped resolve your issue, please consider the Accepted Solution. This not only acknowledges the support provided but also helps other community members find relevant solutions more easily.

We appreciate your engagement and thank you for being an active part of the community.

Best regards,
LakshmiNarayana.

[v-lgarikapat]

Hi @jbaD_88 ,

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.

[jbaD_88]

Hello, 

Thanks so much for this. Interestingly, when I tested the Attribute Slicer in my report with only Items and no values, segmented by and colored by, then i clicked on a visual, the attribute slicer automatically updated the list and seems to interact as well. So it's like a work around of what I was looking for, where we would like the slicer to reflect the selected data point in the visual. 

[MasonMA]

Thanks for sharing! first time i'm playing with this Attribute slicer, it is cool.