Issues With Input Slicer in the web app

Hi Ralphy2026,

This is a well-documented but frustrating issue with multiple possible root causes. Since it worked fine for 5 months and broke suddenly without you changing anything, this strongly points to one of the service-side causes below. Let's walk through all of them from most likely to least likely.

Most Likely Cause Persistent Filters / Cached Slicer State

Power BI Service saves user slicer and filter choices and reapplies them when users return this can cause the slicer to behave differently per user depending on their cached state. Microsoft Community If your slicer somehow had a single-value state saved into the session, the service locks it into that behaviour.

Fix:

• In the web report, click the Reset to default button (top toolbar, circular arrow icon)
• Or use Reset filters and slicers from the report menu
• Trying to reset filters on the Power BI Service resolved this for several users who experienced the same issue. Microsoft Community

Second Most Likely "Multi-select with Ctrl" Toggled On in Service

A Power BI Service update may have silently toggled on the "Multi-select with Ctrl" setting in your slicer, which means users now need to hold Ctrl to select multiple values and clicking alone only selects one.

Fix in Desktop:

• Open the .pbix in Power BI Desktop
• Select the slicer → Format pane → Slicer Settings → Selection
• Confirm: Single select = OFF, Multi-select with Ctrl = OFF
• Republish to the service

Third Cause Known Button Slicer Bug (if you're using the new Slicer visual)

There was a known bug specifically affecting the Button Slicer (the newer slicer visual introduced in 2023) where multi-select would stop working after publishing selected items would deselect when a second item was chosen in the web app. Microsoft Fabric Community Microsoft acknowledged and resolved this, but it may recur after service updates.

Fix:

• Ctrl + click as a temporary workaround to select multiple items
• If you're on the new Button Slicer, try switching back to the classic List Slicer temporarily to confirm this is the cause
• Republish after the latest Desktop update

Fourth Cause Bookmarks Overriding Slicer State

If your report uses bookmarks, they can capture and forcibly restore a slicer's selection mode overriding your intended multi-select behaviour every time a bookmark is triggered. Microsoft Fabric Community

Fix:

• Go to View → Bookmarks in Desktop
• For each bookmark, right-click → Update after setting the slicer correctly
• Make sure "Data" is unchecked in bookmark capture if you don't want it to override filter states

Fifth Cause "X" to Remove Selection Not Working

The X button to clear a selection not appearing or not responding in the web app is specifically tied to the Visual Container Header being disabled.

For the new Slicer visuals, the Clear button was moved into the Visual container header — if the report author disables the Visual container header, the Clear button isn't available. Microsoft Learn

Fix:

• In Desktop: Select the slicer → Format pane → General → Visual container header → toggle On
• Republish

Step-by-Step Resolution Order

Try Step 1 first it resolves this for most people. If it persists after Step 4, it's likely a service-side regression and worth submitting via Help → Report a problem in Power BI Service.

Hope this fixes it!