Bringing Power BI Insights to Every Copilot User
The future of Power BI and Copilot starts by meeting users where they already work. We’re bringing trusted Power BI answers into Microsoft 365 Copilot first, so people can ask questions of governed business data in the flow of work — then carrying that richer, more conversational experience back into the Power BI service itself.Power BI October 2025 Feature Summary
This month's update brings exciting opportunities for learning and community engagement, including the upcoming Fabric Data Days and the return of FabCon in Atlanta next spring. Notably, Power BI is making strides in mapping capabilities by transitioning from Bing Maps to Azure Maps, ensuring users have access to the latest features and support. Dive into the details to stay informed about what's new and what's ahead for Power BI. Contents Events & Announcements Fabric Data Days are Coming! FabCon is back from March 16-20, 2026, in Atlanta, GA General Bing Map deprecation plan & Update in Power BI Copilot and AI Copilot to write DAX queries in DAX query view (Generally Available) Reporting Button slicer (Generally Available) Visual calculations are now supported in embed for your customers (Preview) Automatically expand table columns to fill available space Introducing the new Power BI Controller in Power BI in PowerPoint (Preview) Performance analyzer in web to see the load times of visuals Data connectivity Export Query Results (Preview) Other Power BI Desktop is now supported on ARM Visualizations Sankey Chart by Powerviz Your Timeline Slicer: Reimagining Date Filtering for Modern Dashboards Drill Down Scatter PRO by ZoomCharts Multiple Sparklines Performance Bar by JTA Financial Reporting Matrix v8.2 BI Pixie by DataChant - Measure the Effectiveness of Your BI Assets in 6 Dimensions from Adoption to Security Events & Announcements Fabric Data Days are Coming! Take your Power BI skills to the next level and join us for 2 months of learning, contests, live sessions, discount exam vouchers and community connection. Sign up for our live session series to stay connected – it all kicks off on November 4 th . FabCon is back from March 16-20, 2026, in Atlanta, GA Join us for the ultimate Power BI, Microsoft Fabric SQL, Real-Time Intelligence, AI, and Databases community-led event. The third annual FabCon Americas will feature sessions from your favorite Microsoft and community speakers, keynotes, more opportunities to Ask the Experts for 1:1 support, an engaging community lounge with opportunities to network and connect with your peers, a dedicated partner pre-day, a packed expo hall, Power Hour, Data Viz World Championship, and a can’t-miss attendee party at the Georgia Aquarium. Register with code FABCOMM to save $200. General Bing Map deprecation plan & Update in Power BI To ensure a seamless experience and stay ahead of upcoming Microsoft’s plan to retire Bing Maps for Enterprise, Power BI is proactively transitioning from Bing Maps to Azure Maps. By making this change early, Power BI users will benefit from enhanced mapping capabilities and long-term support. We encourage customers to begin updating their reports to Azure Maps visuals to stay future ready. Power BI Desktop and Web (Edit- mode) Earlier, we shared plans to remove the Bing Maps icon from the Visualization pane. After reconsideration, we’ve decided to keep the icon visible for now to ensure continuity and minimize disruption. Please note that the Bing Maps visual is still slated for deprecation, and we’re currently discussing the timeline. Any existing Bing Maps already in your reports will still be available. In preparation for the upcoming change, upgrade to Azure Maps unless: You have team members who would consume the report in China, Korea, or government clouds. You're physically located in China or Korea (regardless of where your home tenant is located). You're part of a government cloud. We're working to support Azure Maps in these unsupported regions. If you and all report users are in a supported region, you're encouraged to start using Azure Maps now. Learn how to upgrade to Azure Maps. To see the list of supported regions, see Azure Maps service geographic scope. For more information about Azure Maps, see Get started with Azure Maps Power BI visual. Power BI Report Builder The migration of paginated reports map visuals from Bing Maps to Azure Maps has begun. This migration will occur in two phases: first, migrating to Azure Maps in PBIRB, followed by migration to Azure Maps for paginated reports in the service. The initial phase is complete. Beginning with the September release of PBIRB, users can create map visuals powered by Azure Maps by default. However, paginated reports published in the service will continue to use Bing Maps until phase two is completed. Phase two is expected to be completed by mid-November. Paginated reports authors can revert to Bing Maps for authoring in PBIRB until both phases are complete. To enable this, users must set the ‘RevertToBingMaps’ registry key located in the ‘Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Power BI Report Builder’ folder to 1. If the ‘Microsoft Power BI Report Builder’ folder does not exist, it should be manually created before setting the registry key. Copilot and AI Copilot to write DAX queries in DAX query view (Generally Available) This innovative capability empowers users to leverage Copilot assistance directly within both the web and Desktop Power BI experiences, making DAX query creation easier and more efficient than ever before. Getting started is simple. In Power BI Desktop or Power BI web modeling, open the DAX query view and select the Copilot button. Describe the insights you are seeking, and Copilot generates the corresponding DAX query. Conversationally edit the DAX query with Copilot, run it as you go, and keep it when you are ready. The following screenshot shows Copilot helping to write a DAX query from the prompt ‘How are we tracking towards our targeted deliveries for each month?’ in DAX query view of Power BI Desktop. The DAX query results show by month the number of deliveries made, the target, attainment %, and variance to target. The next screenshot demonstrates how to write a DAX query to answer the user prompt ‘Can you indicate which month we were over target or under target on deliveries?’ in DAX query view of Power BI web modeling. The DAX query results show by month the number of deliveries made, the target, variance to target, and the status of each month as over or under target. Copilot is grounded in the semantic model, and AI instructions set on the model by Prep for AI. This includes verified answers by understanding the fields used and filters applied. Semantic model tables, columns, descriptions, display folders, hierarchy information, relationships, and measures are all known already to Copilot when creating DAX queries. Copilot to help write DAX queries is used in DAX query view, and in chat with your data experiences when a DAX query is returned as well as data agents when a semantic model is included. To learn more, refer to the Write DAX queries with Copilot documentation, and try it out today! Reporting Button slicer (Generally Available) Along with this release, we’ve added a few exciting enhancements to make your experience even better, including Cross-highlighting, Auto grid, and more. Cross-highlighting Like the Chiclet slicer, the Button Slicer now supports cross-highlighting to help you uncover deeper insights. This means the slicer can interact dynamically with other visuals on your report page by emphasizing relevant values and dimming unrelated ones. For example: If you select North America in a column chart, the Button Slicer will: Highlight buttons like Canada and United States (since they belong to North America). Dim all other countries to indicate they are outside the selection but keep them visible. To use this feature, simply drag a field into this new field, well called ‘Highlight label’ in the Build visual pane. You can now start interacting with now by simply selecting a value on a visual. For example, in the below example if you click on District L1-04 in the scatter chart, you will see the DM of the district L1-04 highlighted while other values are dimmed in the button slicer. Auto grid With the new Auto grid option turned on, your slicer layout becomes smarter. When enabled (and it is by default), the arrangement of rows and columns automatically adjusts based on a defined maximum limit, ensuring a clean and responsive design without manual effort. For example, following is the screenshot with Rows set to 5 and Columns set to 3 and Auto grid on: Auto grid With the new Auto grid option turned on, your slicer layout becomes smarter. When enabled (and it is by default), the arrangement of rows and columns automatically adjusts based on a defined maximum limit, ensuring a clean and responsive design without manual effort. For example, following is the screenshot with Rows set to 5 and Columns set to 3 and Auto grid on: Following is the screenshot with Auto grid Off: In addition to these updates, we’ve introduced several accessibility improvements to make Button Slicer more user-friendly and inclusive. To learn more about these enhancements and how to use them effectively, refer to the Create a button slicer (preview) documentation. Visual calculations are now supported in embed for your customers (Preview) Visual calculations are now supported in Power BI Embedded—specifically in the Embed for your customers scenario. This powerful enhancement brings even more flexibility and intelligence to your embedded analytics solutions. With visual calculations, users, developers and ISVs can now define custom calculations directly within visuals, without needing to modify the underlying data model or write complex DAX. This means faster iteration, more dynamic insights, and a smoother experience for end users. You can also hide/unhide fields on visual and set visual-level format strings. Automatically expand table columns to fill available space We’ve added a new option to table formatting that makes your visuals look cleaner and more balanced—automatically. With ‘Grow to fit’, any extra space in the visual is evenly distributed across existing columns when the total column width is smaller than the visual container. No more manual resizing to fill the gap. If your table isn't using the full visual width, you can manually resize columns or use Auto-size width, but now there's an improved solution. For example, this table doesn't fully utilize the available space: Navigate to the format pane under Column headers > Options, toggle Auto-size width to ‘On’, and set ‘Resize behavior’ to ‘Grow to fit’. Instantly, your table expands to make full use of the available space. The additional available space will be distributed across the columns: It’s a subtle upgrade that makes your data layouts cleaner, more balanced, and easier to read. Note that this will not interfere with any adjustments you make to column widths: once a column width is manually adjusted, it won’t be automatically expanded. Introducing the new Power BI Controller in Power BI in PowerPoint (Preview) This feature was developed in direct response to feedback from our user community and is designed to provide an efficient tool for managing multiple Power BI add-ins within PowerPoint presentations. Users can embed interactive reports and visuals into PowerPoint, supporting data-driven presentations across organizations. As adoption has grown, many of you expressed the need for a centralized mechanism to manage and update several Power BI add-ins across multiple slides. You told us that you are using Power BI add-in for PowerPoint to create data-centric presentations, which you are updating every week or month, and that going over all the add-ins in the presentation and repeating the same operation is time consuming. The Power BI Controller addresses this need by allowing users to execute bulk operations from a single interface. The Power BI Controller is a task pane add-in that serves as a central command center for all Power BI add-ins within a presentation. To get this add-in go to ‘Add-ins’ in PowerPoint ribbon and search for ‘Microsoft Power BI Controller’. Select ‘Add’ to add-in to your ribbon. Once you select it, a new panel will open with the list of commands that you can apply. Pick the command you wish to run and click ‘Apply’. This will trigger the discovery phase in which the controller will look for all Power BI content in the presentation and next the selected command will be executed on the discovered Power BI add-ins. To learn more, refer to View and Present live Power BI Data in PowerPoint. Performance analyzer in web to see the load times of visuals In September, we announced the availability of a performance analyzer pane on the web to see the load times of the visuals in your report where your users are going to be viewing it. Unfortunately, the rollout was delayed. This functionality will be available to your tenant in the next few weeks. To learn more about this new capability while editing a report in web, refer to the Use Performance Analyzer to examine report performance documentation. Data connectivity Export Query Results (Preview) Export Query Results in Power BI Desktop unlocks seamless data portability and collaboration across Microsoft Fabric. This feature empowers analysts to take transformed, cleaned data from Power Query and export it directly to trusted destinations - such as Dataflows Gen2, Lakehouses, and other cloud stores - without relying on complex workarounds or third-party tools. By meeting users where they work (Power BI Desktop) it reduces duplication of effort, accelerates data sharing, and drives interoperability across Fabric workloads. To enable this feature, select the Preview feature settings in Power BI Desktop. Users can select export query results from the PQ ribbon, Select an online destination, And export their queries to this destination, where they can choose to modify the Dataflow. The result is improved data gravity in OneLake, streamlined refresh and monitoring capabilities, and a minimal-click experience that supports both new and existing destinations. Ultimately, this feature bridges the gap between desktop analytics and enterprise-scale data integration, enabling organizations to maximize the value of their data investments. To learn more about how to use this feature: Export Query Results in Power BI Desktop | Microsoft Learn. Other Power BI Desktop is now supported on ARM Power BI Desktop is now supported on Windows on ARM PCs that have the 2025-09 Cumulative Update installed (KB5065789). Adding ARM support to Power BI Desktop brings powerful data analytics capabilities to a broader range of hardware—unlocking faster performance, improved battery life, and seamless experiences on modern, energy-efficient devices. Why ARM? As more users adopt ARM-powered laptops and tablets for their portability and efficiency, it’s essential that Power BI keeps pace. ARM support ensures smoother operation, better resource utilization, and a future-ready foundation for data professionals working across diverse environments. Whether you're building dashboards on the go or analyzing data from anywhere, Power BI Desktop on ARM makes it easier than ever. Visualizations Sankey Chart by Powerviz The Powerviz Sankey Chart is a dynamic flow diagram that visualizes the proportional movement of data, resources, or processes across categories or stages. With weighted connections and flexible layouts, it helps users uncover insights within complex systems. Key Features Chart Orientation: Switch seamlessly between vertical and horizontal orientation. Node Customizations: Control node appearance, spacing, visibility, and interactions for optimal clarity. Multi-Level Support: Add multiple levels to visualize layered, hierarchical flows. Data Colors: Access 30+ color palettes, including colour-blind-safe options. Fill Patterns: Highlight nodes with patterns or upload your own. Conditional Formatting: Highlight outliers with based on measures or categories rules. Smart Labels: Display data and header labels for enhanced readability. Hide Null Nodes: Instantly remove nodes with null or blank data. Image Labels: Add image URLs to show visuals inside or outside the nodes. Import/Export: Save and reuse themes easily. Templates: Use built-in templates or design your own. Other features included are Sorting, Ranking, Show Condition, Grid View and more. Business Use Cases Customer Journey Mapping, Expense Breakdown, Supply Chain Flow. Try Sankey Chart visual for FREE from AppSource Check out all features of the visual: Demo_file Step-by-step instructions: Documentation YouTube Video: Video_Link Learn more about visuals: https://powerviz.ai/ Follow Powerviz: https://lnkd.in/gN_9Sa6U Your Timeline Slicer: Reimagining Date Filtering for Modern Dashboards What problem are we solving? Dashboard real estate is precious, but traditional timeline slicers often consume too much space while lacking the flexibility today's data professionals need. After experiencing firsthand the limitations and occasional bugs of existing solutions, we built Your Timeline Slicer from the ground up to deliver what the Power BI community has been asking for. Why Your Timeline Slicer changes the game Our visual combines the familiar timeline functionality you know with breakthrough space-saving design - reclaiming up to 60% more dashboard space through ultra-compact mode. Beyond size, we have intelligent features that make reporting effortless: dynamic ‘Current Period’ and ‘Latest Available’ filtering that automatically focuses on what matters most, extensive customization options to match any brand or style, and rock-solid performance. Whether you're building executive summaries, financial dashboards, or mobile-first reports, Your Timeline Slicer adapts to your workflow - not the other way around. Ready to experience the difference? Download Your Timeline Slicer from AppSource and discover how smart date filtering can transform your dashboards. Based On Website Drill Down Scatter PRO by ZoomCharts What if exploring complex data was as easy as scrolling a smartphone app? You could make smarter and more interactive reports that allow more people (managers, C-suite, and other stakeholders) to take part in data analysis themselves and quickly find the insights they need for data-driven decisions. When designing our Drill Down Scatter PRO, we focused on three things: Incredible user experience: Freeform panning. Click to drill down. Scroll or pinch to zoom in. Multiple ways to select data. Scatter PRO makes it easy for anyone to navigate even the most complex data. On-chart Drill Down: Have hundreds or even thousands of markers? No problem – you can simplify your chart by using multiple category fields and combine smaller data points into large markers. Simply click on it to drill down and see more detailed insights on-demand. Customization: Scatter PRO offers all the necessary tools to create the perfect scatter plot for your report. Regression lines, marker, label, legend customization, tooltip content fields, reference lines and areas, and even shaded areas at your selected coordinates! Read more in our blog article. Get Drill Down Scatter PRO Multiple Sparklines With the Multiple Sparklines visual, you can design an Income Statement that is both insightful and visually compelling. 1st column displays Profit and Loss as a waterfall chart. 2nd column shows each item as a percentage of Revenue (common-size analysis). The 3rd column presents the past five-year trend. 4th column compares each item with the previous year. The 5th column benchmarks result against two major competitors. For a step-by-step tutorial on how to create this type of Income Statement, visit: Income Statement in Power BI Following is another example of an Income Statement Download this visual from APPSOURCE For more information visit https://www.excelnaccess.com/sparklines/ or contact [email protected] Performance Bar by JTA Take your Power BI dashboards to the next level with the Performance Bar by JTA, a clean visual for tracking progress and status briefly. Categories are displayed as streamlined horizontal bars with an optional markers and value label, making comparisons effortless. With simple customization to match your theme - and an optional total bar - it delivers a clear, modern way to tell your performance story. Key Features Bar customization: Configure bar height, colors, borders, and background to match your report theme. Flexible labelling: Show or hide individual labels and choose their position for clear, uncluttered reading. Adjustable scale: Change the scale to emphasize what matters most. Marker styling: Personalize circle markers (size, color, border) for highlights and targets. Marker styling: Personalize circle markers (size, color, border) for highlights and targets. Total Bar: Optionally display a summary bar for an at-a-glance overall view. Configurable tooltips: Define exactly which fields appear and where tooltips show up. Subtle animation: Bring bars to life with a clean growth animation. Resources Explore more here. Also, if you want to download it, you can find the visual package on the AppSource. Financial Reporting Matrix v8.2 More control, customization, and clarity The Financial Reporting Matrix just got even better! With version 8.2.0.0, we’ve introduced powerful new features, expanded customization options, and refined the user experience to give report creators unprecedented control over their layouts, formatting, and interactivity. New in v8.2 RowHeaderParent() function – Reference parent rows in calculations and formatting. Invert Sign Factor – Quickly reverse value signs for reporting preferences. Row options in Conditional Formatting – make rules based on Inverted sign, allow drilling, and more. Comments everywhere – Add and format comments on row and column headers, and export to Excel with comments. Custom expansion icons – Change shape, color, size, and indentation. Pin Columns – Keep important columns visible when scrolling. Improvements Column header names showing in stepped layout. Hide empty rows with rendered measures in rows. JSON-based row options recognition. Smoother horizontal scroll for formula editing. Row subtotals fix for ‘In rows’ measure placement. Rename your Applied Steps. Change column expansion icon size. Get the latest version from AppSource BI Pixie by DataChant - Measure the Effectiveness of Your BI Assets in 6 Dimensions from Adoption to Security Since its launch 2024, BI Pixie has evolved from its initial adoption and engagement measurement offering an all-encompassing intelligence suite for organizations that want to maximize their return on investment in Power BI. BI Pixie now offers insights in six key dimensions: Adoption, Engagement, User Satisfaction, Business Outcome, Performance and Security. Here are the recent updates and new capabilities in BI Pixie. With its unique instrumentation technology, BI Pixie captures detailed auditing information, providing a comprehensive view of your BI audience and analytic assets. Designed to ensure your data stays in your organization and scale to tens of thousands of reports and users, BI Pixie can be deployed in your Azure tenant or Power Platform environment in minutes. Leverage the capabilities of BI Pixie to drive user adoption, reduce attrition, boost your data governance and optimize the impact of your BI initiatives with our unprecedented auditing and real-time detection of data leaks due to faulty implementations of Row-Level Security (RLS). Discover more by exploring BI Pixie Dashboard on Microsoft AppSource, and reach out for a free subscription. Closing This concludes this month’s update. We hope the information provided in this update is useful. If you installed Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft Store, please leave us a review. As always, keep voting on Ideas to help us determine what to build next. We are looking forward to hearing from you!Power BI November 2025 Feature Summary
The November 2025 Power BI feature update brings several important announcements and enhancements across the platform. Key highlights include the deprecation of R and Python visuals in the Embed for your customers solution, significant updates to Copilot and AI capabilities—such as the standalone Copilot in Power BI mobile apps (Preview) and improvements to Verified Answers—and new options for reporting, modeling, and data connectivity. Users will also notice advancements in visualizations, with features like automatically expanding matrix columns and a generally available Card visual, as well as expanded support for Spark and Impala connectors and enhancements to image visuals and the OneLake Catalog. This summary provides an overview of these impactful changes to help you leverage the latest innovations in Power BI. Contents Events and Announcements Fabric Data Days is on now! FabCon is back from March 16-20, 2026, in Atlanta, GA Copilot and AI Ask anything, anywhere with Standalone Copilot in Power BI mobile apps (Preview) Updates to the standalone Copilot in Power BI Improvements to Verified Answers Remote Power BI Model Context Protocol Server for chat with your Data (Preview) Reporting Automatically expand matrix columns to fill available space Card visual (Generally Available) Enhancing Image visuals with styling, states, and more OneLake Catalog now supports user data functions for Translytical task flows (Preview) App Copilot (Preview) Modeling Power BI Modeling MCP Server (Preview) Semantic Model Version History (Generally Available) TMDL Visual Studio Code Extension (Generally Available) Data connectivity Spark and Impala Connectors (Generally Available) Visualizations Activity Gauge by Powerviz Decomposition Tree – All Expanding Dynamic chart legends in Zebra BI Charts Drill Down Bubble PRO by ZoomCharts Power BI Theme Generator Power Gantt Chart by Nova Silva Turn any image into data insights with Synoptic Panel by OKVIZ Announcing deprecation of R and Python visuals in Embed for your customers solution https://youtu.be/pRFeQWzUhn0 Events and Announcements Fabric Data Days is on now! Take your Power BI skills to the next level with live learning sessions, QuickViz challenges, discount vouchers for exam PL-300 and DP-600, and community connection. See what’s happening this week. FabCon is back from March 16-20, 2026, in Atlanta, GA Join us for the ultimate Power BI, Microsoft Fabric SQL, Real-Time Intelligence, AI, and Databases community-led event. The third annual FabCon Americas will feature sessions from your favorite Microsoft and community speakers, keynotes, more opportunities to Ask the Experts for 1:1 support, an engaging community lounge with opportunities to network and connect with your peers, a dedicated partner pre-day, a packed expo hall, Power Hour, Data Viz World Championship, and a can’t-miss attendee party at the Georgia Aquarium. Register with code FABCOMM to save $200. Copilot and AI Ask anything, anywhere with Standalone Copilot in Power BI mobile apps (Preview) In the coming app release, we are enabling a new standalone Copilot experience straight from your mobile homepage. A complete chat experience that allows you to ask any question about your data and get instance insights from Copilot, anytime, anywhere. This experience will be available in the app stores in the upcoming weeks. To start chatting with your data, use the new Copilot button on your home page. This will open a chat experience where you can type or dictate (IOS only) your question and Copilot will take it from there. When you ask about a metric or a KPI, most chances that Copilot will generate a visual for you in addition to answering your question with text. Tap on the visual to open a pane and interact with the generated visual. Tap on the citation or reference to learn what content Copilot used for grounding its answer. You can also open the report from there as well. If you want to share insight discovered in the chat with others, select the ‘Share’ button from the visual pane, or the copy from the chat. The iOS apps (iPhone and iPad) also support dictation – so you can use voice interaction to ask Copilot questions. Use the mic icon in the chat box and Copilot will start listening, waiting for your questions. With this new standalone Copilot experience, you can now easily get quick answers and stay on top of things by chatting with your data directly from your mobile. Updates to the standalone Copilot in Power BI The standalone Copilot in Power BI, also known as ‘chat with your data’, is now even easier to use. Previously, Copilot asked users to choose from a list of possible data sources before answering questions. Now, it handles that step automatically: if it finds a strong match, it selects it in the background and goes straight to the answer. When more context is needed, Copilot will ask simple clarifying questions to find the right source. Although the additional reasoning may require a few more seconds, obtaining an accurate response from a reliable source justifies the brief wait. Additionally, in response to search questions like ‘Find reports about sales’, you’ll now see a much simpler text-based list of items. New entry points right from the home page By late November, you’ll be able to access Copilot right on your home page, making it easier than ever to find what you’re looking for or ask ad hoc questions about your data! Simply type your question and hit enter. If you preferred the old home page, no problem. Switch back using the layout drop-down. New suggested prompts for recently opened items - Copilot now offers helpful prompt suggestions related to recently opened items to help users get started. Improved experience attaching items to your question - Want to add a report, or other items, to your question? Items are now sorted by recency and easily filtered by item type in a slick new design that aligns with other Copilot experiences across Microsoft. Experiment with all the new updates and let us know what you think! Improvements to the Report Copilot We’ve upgraded the Report Copilot experience in Power BI, making it easier than ever to create, edit, and refine beautiful, data-rich reports with the help of AI. With this update, Copilot in Power BI not only helps you create entire report pages in seconds but now also gives you more control, flexibility, and visual intelligence than ever before. The new Report Copilot experience is available now in the Power BI service and Power BI Desktop. Smarter, More Capable Visual Creation The new Copilot understands your data and intent more deeply than ever. Just tell it what you want to create, and watch your ideas come to life instantly. Better visual recommendations: Copilot now selects the most appropriate visuals for your data automatically. Expanded Visual Library: Copilot supports a wider range of visuals, giving you more options to present insights into exactly how you envision them. Improved context awareness: When you describe what you want to see, Copilot now understands more nuanced instructions, producing more accurate and insightful results. To learn more about creating and modifying reports with Copilot, refer to the Create reports in the Power BI service with Copilot documentation. Improvements to Verified Answers This update enhances how verified answers inherit the state of your visual, expands filtering flexibility, and delivers more reliable results. What’s New? Verified answers now inherit and reflect the entire visual state: Previously, verified answers only captured filter states active at the time of creation. With this update, they now inherit the entire visual state, including slicers. This change directly addresses one of the most common pieces of feedback we received. Report slicers impacting the visual are being inherited and shown in the verified answer. In addition to slicers, we will support additional visual states: Slicer selections Field parameter choices Cross filters and cross highlights Drill-through filters Expanded Filtering Capabilities for Authors: There is now more flexibility when configuring verified answers. The limit for predefined filter permutations has increased from 3 to 10, enabling more complex and nuanced configurations. From a consumption perspective, we see that most prompt requests naturally use between one and three filters. ‘Show total sales for the region 1 in Q1’. ‘What is the usage of Product 1 in Country 1 during Month 1’. ‘Show average satisfaction scores by City 1 and segment 1’. Still, some business questions require deeper combinations of filters, and this expanded limit ensures verified answers can handle even the most detailed reporting scenarios. Improved Filtering Reliability: What are more filters, if they aren’t applied consistently? We’ve made substantial improvements under the hood to how we match user prompts in Copilot to verified answers and the appropriate filters. Verified Answers now interpret and apply filters more accurately, reducing mismatches between what users ask and what’s displayed, and ensuring filters are included when they should be. New card visual support: We have enabled the highly requested new card visual that you can now set as verified answers, the new card visual and Azure maps will be supported in Verified Answers creation and consumption. Why it Matters: These updates make verified answers feel native to your Copilot consumption experiences, seamlessly adapting to slicers, filters, interactions, and drill-through actions that users have come to expect from their visuals. Consumers will get answers that truly reflect the context of their analysis. The result, faster, more accurate insights, and a smoother path from question to confidence, and better grounding for the rest of your Copilot experience to learn from. For more info on how these updates work, refer to the Prepare Your Data for AI - Verified Answers documentation. Remote Power BI Model Context Protocol Server for chat with your Data (Preview) Available soon, the remote Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Power BI provides agents and MCP clients with tools to enable you to chat with your data, remotely, all authenticated with Microsoft Entra ID. This means you’ll be able to create powerful, custom agents on top of data that lives in your semantic models. The server has three tools that give your agents the ability to reason over your data, and respond to a user’s prompts: Get Semantic Model Schema: This tool provides the agent with the structure of the semantic model. Generate Query: This tool uses Copilot in Power BI to generate a DAX query based on the user’s input and best practices. The agent can then iterate on this query if it chooses or simply proceeds with the provided query. Execute Query: This tool gives the agent a powerful mechanism to query the semantic model to respond to any question a user asks. These tools can be implemented by any application that hosts an MCP client, such as Visual Studio Code. Other, non-Microsoft MCP clients can be supported with Service Principal authentication, backed by Azure Entra ID. The remote MCP Server for Power BI enables you to easily build the next generation of agents on top of the data your organization has already invested so heavily in. For more information on the remote MCP server for Power BI, for more information, refer to the documentation. Reporting Automatically expand matrix columns to fill available space Last month, tables got the Grow to fit option expanding columns to fill the available space. This month, we are enabling the same option on the matrix visual. As a reminder: with the Grow to fit option, any extra space in the visual is evenly distributed across existing columns when the total column width is smaller than the visual container, which eliminates the need to do manual resizing to fill the gaps. If your matrix isn’t using the full visual width, you can manually resize columns or use the new ‘Grow to fit’ option. For example, this matrix doesn’t fully utilize the available space: Navigate to the format pane under Column headers > Options, toggle Auto-size width to ‘On’, and set ‘Resize behavior’ to ‘Grow to fit’. Instantly, your matrix expands to make full use of the available space. The additional available space will be distributed across the columns: In last month’s release we also had an overenthusiastic horizontal scrollbar when using this option. This has now been corrected. The horizontal scrollbar should not show unless there isn’t enough space to fit the content. Learn more about Grow to fit in the table and matrix documentation. Card visual (Generally Available) The new Card visual brings a modern and visually engaging way to highlight key metrics in your reports, now with full support for hero images and a consistent formatting control experience across visuals for an intuitive experience. Whether you’re highlighting a product, showcasing a team, or featuring a brand logo, the new hero image feature empowers you to create visually rich reports going far beyond simple data points. The Card visual also introduces a dynamic collage layout, letting you highlight one section while the other two share the remaining space. Try adding the new Card visual to your next report and experience the difference for yourself. For more details and step-by-step instructions, check out the official documentation at Create a (new) card visual in Power BI documentation. Enhancing Image visuals with styling, states, and more We’re excited to introduce enhancements to the Image visual, bringing it closer to the level of interactivity and design flexibility you’ve come to expect. Create more engaging experiences by customizing image visuals based on user interaction states such as default, hover, and pressed states of images. Alongside state customization, we’ve added formatting options to give you full control over the look and feel of your image visuals. Such as background, border, and shape. These enhancements make it easier than ever to integrate images seamlessly into your report layout. We’ve also expanded the sources, fit and effects section, with more options for image source, including upload, URL, or from a data field. You no longer need to delete the visual to update its image. With the latest update, you can easily change the image source or swap the image itself, making edits faster and more flexible. We hope these updates to the Image visual inspire you to get creative with your report designs. Whether adding a splash of branding, building intuitive navigation, or simply making your reports more engaging, the new features give you the flexibility to do it all. To learn more about the image visual, visit our documentation: Create an Image Visual in Power BI. OneLake Catalog now supports user data functions for Translytical task flows (Preview) The Fabric user data function selection experience for Translytical task flows has been improved. You can now use the OneLake catalog to discover and select the user data function that you want your action button to invoke. With the OneLake Catalog you can: Browse all available User data functions in one place. Search by keyword for quick access. View details like owner, location and sensitivity label Filter by My Functions or Endorsed in your org for confidence and governance. This new experience is available when selecting the function for Data function actions. Select a button, open the format pane, enable Action, and under Data function select the fx button. Learn more about Translytical task flows in Power BI and how Fabric user data functions can take your report beyond just showing data at Understand translytical task flows. App Copilot (Preview) Your app users now can chat with your curated data within the context of an app. An app-scoped Copilot means users can search for reports within an app, ask questions, and receive answers based on the reports in that app. App Copilot is a separate complement to report-scoped Copilot already available on each report viewed in an app. To learn more, refer to the Power BI app Copilot: AI scoped to the curated content in an app (Preview) blog post. Modeling Power BI Modeling MCP Server (Preview) The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that enables AI agents to securely connect with tools and services. The Power BI Modeling MCP Server brings Power BI semantic modeling capabilities to your AI agents through a local MCP server. This allows developers and AI applications to interact with Power BI models in entirely new ways, from using natural language to execute modeling changes to autonomous AI agentic development workflows. Capabilities Build and modify semantic models with natural language: Create or update tables, columns, measures, relationships and much more simply by describing what you need. Perform bulk modeling operations at scale: Rename, refactor, translate, or document hundreds of model objects in seconds. Apply modeling best practices: Easily evaluate and implement modeling best practices. Leverage agentic workflows: Work with Power BI Project files and TMDL code, enabling AI agents to autonomously plan and execute complex modeling tasks. Query and validate DAX expressions: Run DAX queries or validate measures directly through AI-driven workflows. Start by installing the Power BI Modeling MCP Server Visual Studio Code extension to enable Power BI semantic modeling capabilities in GitHub Copilot. Whether you’re using GitHub Copilot or another AI-powered assistant, the Power BI Modeling MCP Server unlocks a new era of intelligent, automated, and high-efficiency semantic model development. For additional information and to provide feedback, refer to Power BI Modeling MCP on GitHub. Semantic Model Version History (Generally Available) With version history, you can confidently make changes to your semantic models—whether you’re editing in the web or live editing Direct Lake semantic models in Desktop—knowing you can restore earlier versions and recover from critical mistakes. Versions are automatically captured in an Office-like history pane for your live edited semantic models, making it easy to select and restore any previous version. Power BI captures up to five versions for each semantic model that supports version history. Versions are saved automatically when you: Open a semantic model in Editing mode on the web or open a Direct Lake model for live editing in Desktop. Publish or upload a .pbix file. Restore a previous version. You can also manually save a version (with an optional description) from the File menu while editing on the web. Learn more about this capability including limitations in the Use semantic model version history (preview) documentation. TMDL Visual Studio Code Extension (Generally Available) This update brings DAX semantic highlighting support within TMDL documents alongside other enhanced authoring features like Power Query semantic highlighting, breadcrumb navigation, code actions, code formatting, localization, and numerous bug fixes. You can find more details about this latest release in the changelog. The TMDL extension is essential for anyone working with TMDL documents in Power BI Projects (PBIP). It brings modern code experiences to semantic modeling, enabling scalable development of semantic models with the efficiency, flexibility, and AI-powered workflows that today’s data teams expect. Get the TMDL Extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace to enhance your semantic modeling-as-code experience and accelerate your semantic model development today! Screenshot of VSCode Marketplace Feature Highlights DAX support: Improved readability of DAX code within TMDL documents including semantic highlighting, real-time diagnostics, and autocomplete. Power Query support: Autocomplete, diagnostics, syntax highlighting, hover and formatting. Localization: Hover descriptions and code action messages are now displayed in the user’s preferred language, aligning with Visual Studio Code language settings. Code actions: Quick fix and refactoring TMDL code such as duplicated lineage tag or misspelled property. Code navigation: Easily navigate TMDL document objects in a hierarchical view. Code format: Automatically organize TMDL code for enhanced readability and consistency. We value your input and encourage you to share it using vscode-tmdl GitHub repository. Data connectivity Spark and Impala Connectors (Generally Available) We’re thrilled to announce that Implementation 2.0 for the Spark and Impala Connectors is now generally available, powered by the open-source Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC) driver. This update delivers faster, more secure connectivity for Power BI Desktop, making it easier to analyze and visualize large datasets. How does this improve your Power BI experience? Performance boost: Reduced overhead with no serialization or copying. Security improvements: Memory safety and garbage collection aligned with SDL standards. Seamless integration: Works across Fabric experiences and Power BI Desktop for unified data access. Beginning November 2025, specify [Implementation="2.0"] in your connection settings to utilize these improvements: Spark: ApacheSpark.Tables("http://server.cloudapp.azure.com:10001/cliservice", 2, [BatchSize=null, HierarchicalNavigation=true, Implementation="2.0"]) Impala: Impala.Database("server.cloudapp.azure.com", [Implementation="2.0"]) For further details, please refer to the Spark Connector and Impala Connector documentation. Visualizations Activity Gauge by Powerviz The Activity Gauge is an advanced visual used to measure the progress against a set target or Goal for multiple categories. It is typically presented in the form of a radial bar chart/Gauge, displaying a range of values or percentages. This visual is commonly used for project management, performance tracking, and monitoring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Key Features: Gauge Customization: Shape, style, and add icons for a unique design. Targets: Choose from options or use a custom field to set a target. Data Colors: Offers 7 schemes and 30+ color palettes. Smart Labels: Add data and leaf labels that auto-adjust inside or outside the shape for better readability. Center Circle: Customize center circle with text, icons, measures, and images. Interactive Mouseover: Hover for Interactive Info Display. Fill Patterns: Highlight gauges with patterns or upload your own. Conditional Formatting – Create rules based on measure or category rules. Other features included are ranking, annotation, grid view, show condition, and accessibility support. Business Use Cases: Project Management: Track task progress for efficient project oversight. Financial Dashboard: Gain instant insights into key financial metrics. Try Activity Gauge for FREE from AppSource Check out all features of the visual: Demo file Step-by-step instructions: Documentation YouTube Video: Video Link Learn more about visuals: https://powerviz.ai/ Follow Powerviz: https://lnkd.in/gN_9Sa6U Decomposition Tree – All Expanding Decomposition tree All Expanding Visual now allows you to add a legend field. This creates additional column chart beside each node showing breakdown from another dimension. This is depicted in image below. The visual below analyzes the revenue of two largest consumer good companies Unilever and P&G by products. We add region field in the legends section to show additional breakdown of Revenue by Region. The data used is fictitious and used for analysis purposes only. The visual also allows you to add images to nodes. Check out the video on Decomposition Tree All Expanding - Power BI custom visual, demonstrating all the features of this custom visual. Download this visual from APPSOURCE Download demo file from APPSOURCE For more information visit https://www.excelnaccess.com/decomposition-tree/ or contact [email protected] Dynamic chart legends in Zebra BI Charts Which version of the plan am I looking at? - Finance teams ask this daily when switching between budgets, forecasts, and plans. Static chart labels in Power BI waste hours every week and lead to confusion, misinterpretation, and reporting errors. The new dynamic chart legends in Zebra BI Charts for Power BI remove that guesswork by automatically adapting chart legends to the selected filter or scenario, so you can always trust what you see. See the full update How it helps - In FP&A, Actuals are often compared against multiple baselines. Waterfall charts are ideal for this, but static legends stay fixed even when scenarios change. Real-world use cases Comparing forecast versions: Before, every scenario looked the same: ‘Plan’. Now, legends show AC 2024 vs Revised Forecast Q3, eliminating ambiguity. Year-over-year analysis: Previously, reports displayed AC [Year] regardless of selection. Now, legends update from AC 2024 vs PY 2023 to AC 2025 vs PY 2024. Regional reporting: Legends now reflect the active region: AC vs EMEA Budget or AC vs Americas Budget, without manual checks. Together with dynamic titles and dynamic column headers, Zebra BI delivers a fully responsive, accurate, and effortless reporting experience in Power BI. Explore Zebra BI for Power BI Drill Down Bubble PRO by ZoomCharts Say hello to the latest visual by ZoomCharts! With Bubble PRO, you can create visually impressive and user-friendly bubble charts that make complex data simple to explore. What sets Bubble PRO apart from other visuals is the user experience. UI interactions are made as intuitive as possible: freely pan the chart, pinch or scroll to zoom in, click on a marker to drill down, and quickly make single or bulk selections. Coupled with smooth UI animations, seamless cross-filtering and full touch support, you can design more interactive and insightful reports. Main features Drill Down: Create a multi-level hierarchy; and click to drill down. Data-driven Formatting: Apply custom marker colors, shapes, or images directly from data. Trendlines: Show a linear or polynomial regression line that dynamically recalculates whenever the chart changes. Thresholds: Display up to 4 reference lines or areas on each axis. Area Shading: Highlight up to 8 custom areas with rectangles or ellipses. We also have other news: you can now sign up to the free Developer License and use Bubble and 20+ other ZoomCharts visuals in Power BI Desktop for a year! Get Bubble PRO on AppSource Power BI Theme Generator In September 2023, our BIBB Report Theme Generator for Power BI was spotlighted on the Power BI blog. Since then, we've rebuilt and expanded it to help teams standardize look-and-feel, meet accessibility baselines, and export production-ready JSON themes in seconds. The generator streamlines brand color, typography, and visual style setup—making it easy for BI teams to deliver consistent, on-brand reports while reducing manual rework. What's new: a smarter color engine with contrast checks, gradients creation, AI powered themes creation, preset brand colors, apply theme through Fabric, select font, live preview on your own report, and advanced BI.ST mode for power users, while keeping the simplicity of one-click JSON export. Common use cases include (1) rolling out or updating corporate brand themes across workspaces, (2) accelerating new report builds with vetted defaults, and (3) improving report readability and accessibility with contrast-safe palettes. Learn more and see all features on our product page below. Links Find the simplest yet most powerful Power BI Theme Generator All features & documentation Power Gantt Chart by Nova Silva We’re thrilled to introduce one of the most requested features in Power Gantt: task dependencies! With our latest release, you can now add Finish-to-Start (FS) dependencies between tasks—visually represented as arrows connecting one task’s finish to another’s start. This powerful enhancement brings true project scheduling capability to Power BI. By visualizing dependencies, teams can better understand task sequences, identify bottlenecks, and manage timelines more effectively. Adding dependencies is simple—just define them in your dataset, and Power Gantt does the rest. Arrows will automatically appear on your Gantt chart, making relationships between tasks clear and actionable. Whether you’re managing product launches, construction schedules, or complex workflows, FS dependencies make your Power Gantt chart smarter, more dynamic, and easier to interpret. Start using dependencies today and take your project tracking to the next level! Try the Power Gantt Chart for FREE now on your own project data by downloading it from the AppSource. Questions or remarks? Visit us at: Power Gantt Chart for Power BI. Turn any image into data insights with Synoptic Panel by OKVIZ With Synoptic Panel, you can transform any SVG image into an interactive visual directly in your report. Perfect for floor plans, organizational charts, technical layouts, or geographical maps, it lets you integrate your data with images your audience already knows. A dynamic dashboard, where users can naturally explore insights by clicking on shapes and areas. This makes complex information easier to understand and more engaging to navigate. Key features include: Flexible image loading: use local files embedded in reports, remote URLs, or My Storage, our secure hosting service. Multi-level navigation: drill down into building floors or geographical regions, with automatic hierarchy creation when using remote configurations. Dynamic switching: change maps through slicers or bookmarks. Map Editor and Label Designer: fine-tune data binding, arrange and customize labels directly in the visual. Advanced coloring: apply conditional formatting and color rules to build heatmaps or highlight key areas. Map search: quickly locate maps or areas for faster access. Integrated security: safely host and distribute maps while keeping control of access. Full customization: adapt interactions, appearance, and data binding to your reporting needs. Explore real-world use cases and try Synoptic Panel for free! General Announcing deprecation of R and Python visuals in Embed for your customers solution We are announcing an important change for Power BI customers who use Embed for your customers with R or Python visuals. As part of our ongoing commitment to provide a secure, scalable, and robust analytics platform, we continually evaluate our feature set to ensure alignment with industry standards, customer needs, and platform performance. What’s Changing? Starting May 2026, Power BI will end support for the ability to embed reports and dashboards containing R or Python visuals using Power BI’s Embed for your customers solution (also known as app owns data) and Publish to web scenarios. Embed for your customers typically involves a custom app which manages authentication directly, and for which app users do not need Power BI licenses. This change does not impact customers leveraging secure embeddings to SharePoint, Website or Portal. Embed for your organization (also known as user owns data) scenarios are also not impacted. Timeline for Deprecation Announcement & Guidance: Effective immediately, customers are notified of the upcoming deprecation. Deprecation Date: Official support for embedding R and Python visuals in PaaS scenarios will end on 05/01/2026. Post-Deprecation: After this date, any embedded Power BI reports or dashboards containing R or Python visuals will still load, but the R or Python charts will display as blank. Reports without these visuals will continue to function as expected. Recommended Actions for Customers Review all embedded Power BI reports and dashboards to identify usage of R or Python visuals. Plan to update or redesign any affected reports using alternative Power BI visuals or DAX-based analytics. Consider leveraging Fabric Notebooks for more sophisticated or technical visualizations. Consult the Power BI & Fabric documentation for guidance on using alternative visuals effectively. Support and Resources We understand that this change may require updates to your existing solutions. Please reach out via the Power BI community forums or through your Microsoft account representative for personalized guidance. Closing This concludes this month’s update. We hope the information provided in this update is useful. If you installed Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft Store, please leave us a review. As always, keep voting on Ideas to help us determine what to build next. We are looking forward to hearing from you!Power BI January 2026 Feature Summary
The January 2026 Power BI Feature Summary is packed with exciting news—there are fresh updates, important announcements, and some big changes, especially around upcoming events, feature retirements, and the latest in AI and Copilot advancements. Some of the standout features include new reporting tools, smarter data modeling options, enhanced resources for developers, broader global standards support and upgraded visualizations. With these improvements, Power BI is making analytics easier to use, helping you work more efficiently, and connecting all your tools even better than before. FabCon Atlanta is fast approaching! If you’re looking for more details, check out the Events & Announcements section. We hope you’ll join us! Contents Events & Announcements General Deprecation of Power BI Q&A SQL Server Reporting Services Report Viewer Web Part Support Discontinuation The Power BI application is accessible within Teams on Microsoft 365 Operated by 21Vianet Copilot and AI Attach reference to Copilot chat in the Power BI mobile app Updating Prepped for AI setting name to Approved for Copilot Standalone Copilot Access on Power BI Home Reporting Field parameters persist hierarchy level setting Format Pane Improvements Introducing Markers in Azure Maps Visual Modern Visual Tooltips (Generally Available) Column Sizing Update in Tables and Matrices Modeling Updates on Editing Semantic Models in the Power BI Service Chinese coded character set (GB18030-2022) support Developers + API’s Power BI Enhanced Report Format (PBIR) as Default Format Visualizations Funnel Chart by Powerviz Nebula by BI Samurai Events & Announcements Could you be the next Power BI Dataviz World Champion? There’s only one way to find out! By joining this global contest, you will have the opportunity to tackle three weekly challenges designed to stretch visualization skills and inspire innovation. Four finalists will be selected to compete for the title of world champion LIVE on stage at FabCon Atlanta. Learn more about how to enter and view the entries from the first week, happening now. Two months until FabCon – will we see you there? Join us for the ultimate Power BI, Microsoft Fabric SQL, Real-Time Intelligence, AI, and Databases community-led event from March 16-20, 2026, in Atlanta, GA. The third annual FabCon Americas will feature sessions from your favorite Microsoft and community speakers, keynotes, more opportunities to Ask the Experts for 1:1 support, an engaging community lounge with opportunities to network and connect with your peers, a dedicated partner pre-day, a packed expo hall, attendee favorites Power Hour and the Data Viz World Championships live finals, and a can’t-miss attendee party at the Georgia Aquarium. Register with code FABCOMM to save $200. General Deprecation of Power BI Q&A Q&A, our legacy natural language tool, will be deprecated in December 2026. Moving forward, use Power BI Copilot, which provides a more advanced and integrated solution for querying data with natural language. For more details and recommended alternatives, refer to the blog post on Deprecating Power BI Q&A. SQL Server Reporting Services Report Viewer Web Part Support Discontinuation Support for SSRS SharePoint Webpart, a component that allows you to embed on-prem paginated reports directly into SharePoint Server pages, will end on April 13, 2026. While the download will continue to be available, there will be no future updates for this component. For more information and recommended alternatives, refer to SSRS SharePoint Webpart documentation. The Power BI application is accessible within Teams on Microsoft 365 Operated by 21Vianet Users can acquire the Power BI app from the app store, or admins can centrally install it for them. Once added, users can view their Power BI content in Teams using the app, and pin Power BI items to chats or channels using Tabs. The following features are not supported in the Power BI app for Teams operated by 21Vianet environment: Power BI notifications in Microsoft Teams Power BI preview cards Please also refer to the service description of Power BI in 21Vianet: Power BI operated by 21Vianet in China. For installation instructions, please refer to: Add the Power BI app to Microsoft Teams. Copilot and AI Attach reference to Copilot chat in the Power BI mobile app In certain situations, you may know precisely which item you want Copilot to reference when generating its response. For those cases, we added the ability to attach a Report or Semantic model to Copilot chat as a grounded reference. To add a reference, tap the + icon or type / to search and select an item. The selected item appears in the chat Copilot uses it to ground its answers. Updating Prepped for AI setting name to Approved for Copilot In May 2025, we launched the capability to mark a model as prepped for AI. The name of this setting has been updated to “approved for Copilot”. Enabling this setting in a semantic model applies three main functionalities: The standalone Copilot agent doesn’t apply friction treatment to answers from that model. Authors can turn on the admin setting to only show approved items in the standalone Copilot experience. Models marked as approved for AI are boosted in the Copilot search experience. After you prepare your semantic model for AI and it's ready for consumption, you can mark your model Approved for Copilot by following these steps: Navigate to the Power BI service and find your semantic model. Select the Settings icon in the upper left corner. Expand the Approved Copilot section. Select the Approved Copilot box, and then select the Apply button. Standalone Copilot Access on Power BI Home Introducing a new Standalone Copilot entry point right on the Power BI Home page! This update brings Copilot closer to where you start your day, making it faster and easier to jump into AI‑powered insights. Why bring Copilot to Home? Placing Copilot directly on the Home page comes with several benefits: Faster insights - start asking questions the moment you land on Home. Easier discovery - new users see Copilot right away, encouraging them to use it as part of their natural workflow. When does it appear? The new entry point will show up automatically when: Standalone Copilot is enabled by your tenant admin. You have a valid Copilot capacity available. If either requirement isn’t met, don’t worry—you’ll continue to see the classic home experience. Prefer the classic view? You can always switch back to Recommended content using the picker at the top of the Home page. Toggle between the experiences your workflow needs. To learn more, visit: Standalone Copilot experience in Power BI (Preview). Reporting Field parameters persist hierarchy level setting In July 2025, field parameters became generally available, improving how matrices remember their expanded or collapsed state when the field parameter selection changes. Previously, many users found it confusing that a matrix would fully collapse whenever a field parameter value changed. Since the update, however, some users have shared that they preferred the earlier behavior because it felt more familiar and better suited for their workflows. To address this, we've added a new report-level setting that lets you restore the pre-July 2025 behavior for field parameters' expansion and collapse of hierarchy levels. By default, hierarchy levels remain persistent, but you can switch off this feature for a report using the Persist Hierarchy Level setting. The following examples are where to find it: In Power BI Desktop, navigate to Options and settings > Options > Current File > Report settings > Field Parameters > Persist hierarchy level. In Fabric, navigate to the report settings and find Persist hierarchy level under Field parameter options. To illustrate the difference, consider a matrix showing a field parameter called Product Group and a column called Year on the rows, displaying Total sales. The field parameter allows selection of Category, Class, Color, or any combination. In the following example, Category is selected, and the Categories are expanded, so you can see values broken down by Year: Now, when you change the field parameter from Category to Class, what happens depends on the Persist hierarchy level setting. If it's on, the matrix remains expanded, keeping the Year column visible; If it's off, the matrix collapses and displays only values for Class. The following table provides a comparison showing both behaviors based on whether the toggle is enabled or disabled. On Off We greatly value user feedback and continuously strive to improve the experience based on your input. The introduction of the persist hierarchy level setting is a direct result of listening to your suggestions, and we hope this new option enhances your reporting workflows and satisfaction. To learn more about the toggle and its impact, refer to the documentation on Let report readers use field parameters to change visuals. Format Pane Improvements With this version, we are releasing two improvements to Format Pane – Improved Color picker and reset to default experiences. Improved Color Picker Experience in Power BI Power BI report creators can customize colors in visuals with a theme color picker and custom color picker. We have added additional capabilities to this release. A clear indicator for the currently selected theme color. A simple way to reset colors to their default settings. A back button to return from custom colors to theme colors. This enhancement makes color customization more intuitive and efficient, helping you design reports with confidence and ease. Learn more about color formatting your visuals in the Tips and tricks for formatting color in reports documentation. Granular Reset Options in the Format Pane Format pane reset to default quickly let’s report creators undo customizations made to a visual. With this release, you can now reset default with finer control, for a single formatting group in the format pane. This is in addition to the existing functionality of reset to default for the whole visual and each section of the format pane. Reset this group settings to default within each section. Reset group settings without impacting the rest of the section. This enhancement delivers greater flexibility and usability, making it easier to fine-tune your report formatting with confidence. Learn more about formatting visuals in Power BI reports in the Get started formatting report visualizations documentation. Introducing Markers in Azure Maps Visual Azure Maps Visual for Power BI now supports a powerful new capability: Markers. Display your data points using customized icons, varying sizes, and advanced formatting features to improve narrative clarity in geospatial analysis. Replace basic shape markers with icons or custom images to represent deliveries, facilities, or assets using meaningful symbols like trucks, warehouses, or alerts. Scale marker sizes dynamically reflect the data measures such as shipment volume, population density, or sales. Customize colors and transparency for improved contrast and visibility on the map. Use distinct icons for each category, making reports easier to interpret. Learn more about the rich capabilities of Azure maps in Power BI reports in the Get started with Azure Maps Power BI visual documentation. Modern Visual Tooltips (Generally Available) Modern visual tooltips introduces enhanced usability, accessibility, and interactivity to your reports. These tooltips offer new capabilities in Power BI reports. Drill actions: The new Actions footer lets users drill down, drill up, or drill through data points directly from the tooltip—no need to use the right-click menu or visual header. This streamlines navigation and makes exploring data more intuitive. Styling: Tooltips automatically match your report’s theme colors, with options to further customize background, text, and icon colors in both the theme and Format pane. New reports get updated styling and the Actions footer by default. Existing reports keep their previous customizations, and you can enable or disable the Actions footer anytime via the Format pane. Modern visual tooltips in Power BI reports enhance usability and interactivity by allowing users to drill down, up, or through data directly from the tooltip Actions footer. These tooltips automatically adopt report theme colors, offer customization options, and provide updated styling by default for new reports, with flexibility to enable or disable the Actions footer as needed in the Format pane. To learn more, refer to the Create Visual Tooltips documentation. Column Sizing Update in Tables and Matrices In previous releases, table and matrix visuals automatically expanded their columns to fill the available space. This feature was introduced for tables in October 2025 and for matrices in November 2025. You gave us feedback that this often meant that even small fields stretched wider than necessary, creating layouts that felt inconsistent or wasted screen real estate. With this month’s release, that behavior has changed. In reports created from this release onward, columns are once again sized by default based on the content they contain. This makes tables and matrices more compact, easier to read, and better aligned with the actual data. You can still manually adjust column widths, or use Grow to Fit to expand columns when needed. But by default, visuals now prioritize content-driven sizing, giving you cleaner and more predictable layouts right out of the box. Here’s a before and after of the defaults: Before After We want to thank everyone who provided feedback. We greatly appreciate it! To learn more, refer to the documentation on adjusting column width in the table and matrix. Modeling Updates on Editing Semantic Models in the Power BI Service In September 2025, we announced the General Availability of editing semantic models in the Power BI Service. Models configured with incremental refresh are now supported, eliminating the prior restriction that prevented these models from being opened in the service. You can now seamlessly open and edit these models directly into the Power BI Service. However, note that semantic models with incremental refresh still cannot be downloaded as PBIX files, and you cannot use the Power Query editor when editing these models in the web experience. To learn more about editing semantic models in the service, refer to the Edit semantic models in the Power BI service documentation. Chinese coded character set (GB18030-2022) support China’s GB18030‑2022 standard is the latest update to the national character set requirements. It ensures compatibility with Unicode 11.0 and mandates support for additional characters, including minority scripts and emoji. For organizations operating in or with China, compliance is not optional. Rather, it’s a regulatory requirement. Starting with this release, Power BI can be configured to respect GB18030‑2022 encoding using the UnicodeCharacterBehavior setting. This setting is set to CodeUnits by default. To ensure your model is compatible with GB18030-2022, you’ll need to execute a specific XMLA command to set UnicodeCharacterBehavior to CodePoints: <Alter AllowCreate="true" ObjectExpansion="ObjectProperties" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2003/engine"> <Object> <DatabaseID>[your database id]</DatabaseID> </Object> <ObjectDefinition> <Database ....> <ID>[your model id]</ID> <Name>[your model name]</Name> <Language>[your language code]</Language> <ddl200:CompatibilityLevel>[your model compatibility level]</ddl200:CompatibilityLevel> <ddl200_200:StorageEngineUsed>[your storage engine]</ddl200_200:StorageEngineUsed> <UnicodeCharacterBehavior xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2025/engine/924/924">CodePoints</UnicodeCharacterBehavior> ... </Database> </ObjectDefinition> </Alter> Adding GB18030‑2022 support in Power BI isn’t just a technical tweak; it’s a compliance safeguard and a way to ensure your reports remain globally accessible. With the above XMLA command, you can align your semantic models with modern encoding standards and avoid downstream issues in multilingual environments. The UnicodeCharacterBehavior influences any DAX function that determines the length of a text string, which include FIND, LEFT, LEN, MID, REPLACE, RIGHT. These functions will exhibit different behaviors when working with text strings that contain Unicode characters. Let's look at how this works in practice. Here’s a measure that uses LEN to calculate the length of a text string: StringLength = LEN ( SELECTEDVALUE ( 'Table'[Column1] ) ) Here’s a before and after comparison of the result of StringLength on a column that contains Unicode characters: UnicodeCharacterBehavior = CodeUnits (default) UnicodeCharacterBehavior = CodePoints Notice how on the left each Unicode character has length 2, where on the right, each Unicode character has length 1. To learn more, refer to the documentation. Developers + API’s Power BI Enhanced Report Format (PBIR) as Default Format In November 2025, we announced PBIR will become the default Power BI Report Format for both PBIX and PBIP files (For PBIX users, switching to the PBIR report format does not impact their experience). PBIR will be activated by default in the Power BI service as part of a phased rollout, with full availability anticipated by the end of February. Beginning with the March release, PBIR will be set as the default format in Power BI Desktop. PBIR is currently in Preview with an opt-out option. Switching to PBIR is the last step before its General Availability, planned for Q3 2026. Any issues found now will be prioritized and addressed. Any issues identified during this period will be prioritized and addressed by our support team. We recommend preparing for this transition ahead of GA, as PBIR will be the only supported report format once it becomes generally available. Visualizations Funnel Chart by Powerviz The Funnel Chart by Powerviz is a stunning and informative visualization. It has 4 chart types in 1 visual, including a pyramid chart. The Power BI-certified visual is useful for tracking progress through different stages. It can also group data with legends for detailed insights. Key Features: Funnel Settings: Multiple display types are available, including vertical and horizontal orientation. Data Colors: Offers 7 schemes and 30+ color palettes. Labels: Select from multiple display styles with a custom label option included. Conversion Rate: In a single click measure the percentage of top and bottom stages to identify bottlenecks. Fill Patterns: Highlight stages with custom or pre-filled patterns. Conditional Formatting: Create rules based on measure or category rules. Totals: Display the total value at the top or bottom of the funnel chart. Ranking: Filter out Top/Bottom N stages. Annotation: Create multiple stories from one visual with comments for easy collaboration and clarity. Many other features included are grid view, show condition, and accessibility support. Business Use Cases: Sales Funnel Analysis, Marketing Campaigns, User Onboarding, & Website Traffic Try Funnel Chart for FREE from AppSource Check out all features of the visual: Demo_file Step-by-step instructions: Documentation YouTube Video: Video_Link Learn more about visuals: https://powerviz.ai/ Follow Powerviz: https://lnkd.in/gN_9Sa6U Nebula by BI Samurai Nebula by BI Samurai is a free certified Power BI custom visual for layout and background design, helping you create structured, consistent, and visually polished report pages—directly inside Power BI. Nebula simplifies report design by letting you build layouts that guide user attention, improve readability, and enhance storytelling—without using external design tools. Key Features: Customizable shapes – create precise layouts and background sections. Flexible color and transparency controls – match your report’s theme perfectly. Layer control – easily arrange and reorder elements. Custom default styles – set your own shape presets once and apply them easily across multiple pages. Lightweight and performance-optimized – designed to keep reports fast and responsive. Whether you're a designer or analyst, Nebula helps you transform plain Power BI pages into professional-looking, structured dashboards that communicate clearly and consistently. Microsoft Certified and available on AppSource, Nebula meets Microsoft’s standards for security, quality, and reliability. Learn more and explore design examples at bisamurai.com/nebula. Download Nebula from the AppSource: Nebula by BI Samurai. Check our Nebula demo video. Closing This concludes this month’s update. We hope the information provided in this update is useful. If you installed Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft Store, please leave us a review. As always, keep voting on Ideas to help us determine what to build next. We look forward to hearing from you!Power BI April 2026 Feature Summary
Welcome to the April Power BI update! Power BI’s April 2026 update is here, bringing continued improvements across Copilot and AI, reporting, visuals, and modeling. This release includes more flexibility when working with layouts and visuals, expanded Copilot experiences—especially on mobile—and several preview features that continue to enhance performance and authoring workflows. You’ll also find important announcements and deprecation notices to keep in mind as you plan ahead. With FabCon fresh on our minds, now is a great time to dive into what’s new and see what’s coming next. Contents April Power BI Video Download Power BI Desktop Version number: v: 2.153.910.0 Date published: 21/4/2026 Events and Announcements The FabCon SQLCon live recap series starts April 14th Whether you were there or not, this is your fast track to staying in the loop. In this series, we break down keynotes and corenotes into clear insights and standout demos you can use right away. If it mattered at FabCon, you’ll find it here. Join us, get inspired, and stay connected to what’s happening across the Fabric community. Register now. Could you be the next Power BI Dataviz World Champion? During the recent world championships, one of the finalists confessed that they almost didn’t enter the contest. When we say, “You’ll never know unless you enter!” we really mean it! Don’t miss your chance to enter the next one. Let us know you are interested and we’ll let you know when it starts! General Deprecation of Old File Picker Experience in Power BI Desktop Starting in April, as part of the SU04 release, users will no longer be able to access the old file picker experience in Power BI Desktop. Last January, we announced an updated file picker experience that provides users with a more intuitive, straightforward way of navigating between files and folders. As of SU04, we are moving the updated experience out of preview and making it the default experience in Power BI Desktop. With this change, users will no longer be able to toggle between the old and updated experience. Note: No action is required from users as part of this deprecation; this is simply an informational announcement. Deprecating the Built-In Netezza ODBC Driver The IBM Netezza ODBC driver has been Generally Available for several weeks, and we are beginning the deprecation from the previously built-in ODBC driver to the newer version. Customers do not need to install the new connector; you may reuse your existing connector but will need to install the new ODBC driver. We encourage customers to do this as soon as possible to ensure a smooth transition. Image: IBM ODBC Netezza driver that will be deprecated from Fabric. Refer to the IBM Netezza ODBC documentation for more information. Copilot and AI Copilot in Power BI mobile now offers expanded features In-report Copilot in Power BI Mobile apps just got a major upgrade: you can now have a full, back-and-forth chat with your report, right from your phone or tablet. Instead of stopping at summaries and prebuilt prompts, in-report Copilot in the mobile app now supports open-ended questions and follow-up conversations, all grounded in the specific report you’re viewing. Ask about a metric or KPI, dig into what’s driving the numbers, and even get AI-generated visualizations to take your analysis further. Every answer includes citations back to the exact visuals Copilot used, so it’s easy to validate insights and keep exploring with confidence on the go. On iPhone and iPad, voice dictation makes it even faster to get hands-free answers while you’re prepping for a conversation or reviewing results away from your desk. Figure: Using in-report Copilot on the Power BI Mobile app to ask natural‑language questions and explore insights directly within a report. To learn more, refer to the documentation In-Report Copilot in Power BI Mobile Apps Reporting Modern visual defaults and customize theme improvements (Preview) This month's update adds a base theme switcher to the Customize current theme dialog (View ribbon > Themes). If your custom theme doesn't yet work with the new modern defaults, you can use the base theme switcher to revert to the previous base theme until you've had a chance to update your custom theme. You can also use the base theme switcher to update an existing report created with an older base theme to the latest base theme. Figure: Base theme switcher in Customize current theme lets you revert to the previous base theme or update an older report to the latest modern defaults. This update also includes common page sizes for each aspect ratio type in the Canvas settings > Size drop-down. Custom sizing remains available for any dimensions you need. Figure: Canvas settings with preset size options for 16:9 aspect ratio reports in Power BI Desktop. Table and matrix built-in styles have been fixed, with banded rows now enabled by default, as well as default +/- buttons for matrix visuals. Axis colors now also use the correct structural color, fixing issues with the Innovate and Orchid custom themes. Additionally, the built-in theme tiles have an updated look and the Reset to default tile is distinguished from the other built-in theme tiles. The behavior of the tile is not new; it simply clears any custom theme applied, leaving any formatting changes to individual visuals untouched until the visual itself is reset to default in the formatting pane. Figure: Built-in theme gallery in Power BI Desktop with the "Reset to default" option to remove any custom theme and update report to latest base theme. To get the latest version in an existing report, go to the Customize current theme dialog and select Update theme. Or choose the Reset to default tile in the Theme drop-down. Thank you for your feedback during the preview. You can continue to provide feedback and learn more about Visual defaults in Power BI reports. Fixed size layout for card, button slicer, and list slicer visuals Card, button slicer, and list slicer visuals now support a Fixed size option in the Layout section of the format pane. Instead of specifying how many items to display, you can define the exact pixel dimensions for each card, button, or list item. When the visual container isn't large enough to display all items at the specified size, scroll bars appear automatically. This update also renames Autogrid to Fit to space for clarity. When Fit to space is on, items grow or shrink to fill the visual container based on the items present. When Fit to space is off, the visual reserves space for the specified number of items, even when fewer items exist. For list slicer, the Fixed number of buttons option, equivalent to Autogrid off, is also renamed to Fit to space for consistency, especially when changing between visual types. Fixed size gives you precise control over each item's dimensions. As you resize the visual container, items maintain their specified height and width rather than scaling proportionally. This behavior is useful for creating consistent layouts across the report page or ensuring uniform button, list, or card sizes across multiple visuals. For list slicers specifically, fixed size provides a more natural experience when working with hierarchies. Expanding and collapsing hierarchy levels causes the number of visible items to change dramatically, and fixed-size items ensure consistent spacing as you navigate through the data. To use fixed size: Select your visual. Expand the Layout section in the Format pane (found under Multi-card layout or Multi-button layout and toggle Fixed size to On. For Vertical arrangement, set the Height value in pixels. For Horizontal arrangement, set the Width value in pixels. For Grid arrangement, set both Height and Width value in pixels. When Fixed size is enabled, Fit to space is disabled since dimensions are now controlled explicitly. Figure: List slicer with Fixed size enabled and Height set to 30 pixels. To learn more, refer to the documentation for card visuals, button slicers, and list slicers. Card visual: Category interactivity and formatting updates The card visual now provides clear visual feedback when you select a category header—the selected card appears highlighted while others dim, making it easy to see your current selection. When you add multiple data columns to the category field, the values concatenate in the category header for a cleaner display. You can also use Edit interactions to control which visuals the card filters, giving you more flexibility in how your report responds to selections. Additionally, top-level images display correctly when the image data is base64 encoded, so you can use images from your data without extra conversion steps. Figure: Card visual showing category header selection highlighting and dimming. For more information about the card visual, refer to Create a card visual in Power BI. Azure Maps visual: Map style picker sync When you change the map style using the in-visual style picker, the selected style now persists with the Format pane. Your styling choices stay consistent across both the style picker and the Format pane, giving you predictable behavior as you design your reports. Figure: Azure map updating the format pane style when the report creator adjusts the style on the visual itself. For more information about map styling options, refer to Get started with Azure Maps Power BI visual. Easily identify preview visuals in the Visualizations pane We appreciate your continued feedback on visuals and have finished addressing the concern that preview visuals weren’t always clearly notifying their preview status. Preview visuals now display (preview) after their names in the Visualizations pane, making it easier to identify which visuals are still in preview. Additionally, preview visuals now appear below the divider in the pane (alongside custom and unpinned visuals), clearly separating them from generally available visuals. These changes help you quickly understand when you’re working with a preview feature. Figure: Visualization pane when editing a report in Power BI Desktop showing preview visuals below the divider line and with (Preview) after their name. For more information about visuals, refer to Visualizations overview in Power BI. Narrative Visual Default Type Update The Narrative visual currently offers two modes: Copilot and Custom, giving report authors flexibility in how they generate and customize summaries. Previously, authors needed to explicitly choose which mode to use when creating the visual. We’ve recently improved this experience by introducing a smarter default. If a user has a Copilot license, the Narrative visual now opens in Copilot mode by default, making it quicker to get AI‑powered insights right away. We also increased the character limit to 10,000, enabling richer prompts and more detailed narratives. Authors can still easily toggle between Copilot and Custom modes at any time, ensuring full control over their storytelling workflow. This improved default is available now, and learn more with the Create Smart Narrative Summaries documentation. Modeling Direct Lake calculated columns and tables (Preview) Direct Lake storage mode accelerates time to insights by unlocking incredible performance directly against OneLake, without the need to manage costly, time-consuming refreshes for large volumes of data. Calculated columns (unmaterialized) on Direct Lake on OneLake tables are currently in deployment. Availability will follow completion of the service rollout; we will share updates as timing is finalized. Calculated tables referring to Direct Lake on OneLake columns. These features are particularly helpful when adding columns and creating tables upstream isn’t feasible, such as when data preparation in OneLake is owned by another team. Refer to the Create calculated columns in Power BI Desktop documentation for more information on calculated columns. Figure: Once available, users will be able to create calculated columns in both the Web and Desktop. User context aware calculated columns (Preview) We are introducing the ability to make calculated columns user-context aware by dynamically responding to DAX functions including UserCulture(), UserPrincipalName(), CustomData(). This enables new scenarios like data translations, and we’re excited to see the creative ways the community will use this! User-context-awareness can be set for calculated columns on Direct Lake on OneLake, Import and DirectQuery tables using the Expression Context property. Direct Lake on OneLake is in the process of deployment and will be available in the service in the next few weeks. Refer to the Create calculated columns in Power BI Desktop documentation for more information on user-context-aware calculated columns. Figure: A DAX expression in the formula bar to dynamically return a column with translated values based on the USERCULTURE() function. In the following example, a multi-lingual semantic model and report uses both data and metadata translations. By changing the language URL parameters to simulate a different browser locale, everything is displayed in Portuguese, including product names from the Product table. Figure: To use the feature in Power BI Desktop, you must enable the User-context-aware calculated columns preview feature switch. DAX user-defined functions (Preview) Alongside our ongoing preview of DAX user defined functions, we’ve enhanced the DAX NAMEOF function to give you much finer control over how object names are returned. NAMEOF now supports optional parameters that let you choose exactly which part of a table, column, measure, or calendar name to return, and control how that name is formatted for display. The new function signature is: NAMEOF ( <object> [, <component> [, <escaped>]] ) This makes it possible to programmatically reference just the table, just the column, or just the measure and improve usability for display scenarios, while keeping existing behavior unchanged for current models. Visualizations Date Picker by Powerviz The Powerviz Date Picker offers a modern calendar view, Presets, Pop-up mode, Smart Button Label, Custom Preset Title, and more, making it a must-have date slicer for Power BI reports. Its rich formatting options help with brand consistency and a seamless UI experience. Key Features Smart Button Label: Make the Pop-up button instantly understandable by showing the selected range, preset name, or both as per your choice. Custom Preset Title: Localize preset names to your users’ language. Fully customize what each preset displays across the report. First Day of the Week: Customize your calendar experience by choosing which day your week starts — perfect for global teams and regional preferences. Display Mode: Choose between Pop-up and Canvas modes. Presets: Many commonly used presets like Today, Last Week, YTD, MTD, or create your preset using field. Default Selection: Control the date period selected when the user refreshes or reopens the report. Filter Type: Choose between Range and Start/End types. Themes: 15+ pre-built themes with full customization. Holidays and Weekends: Customize holidays/weekends representation. Month Style: Select single- or double-month date slicer. Other features included are Multiple date ranges, Import/Export Themes and more. Try Date Picker visual for FREE from AppSource Check out all features of the visual Step-by-step instructions YouTube Video Learn more about visuals Follow Powerviz Drill Down Waterfall PRO by ZoomCharts With powerful customization options and intuitive interactions, Drill Down Waterfall PRO helps report creators present financial and operational data in a way that is easy to explore and understand. The latest update expands the functionality of Change thresholds with a new Automatic mode that detects subtotals and calculates the difference between consecutive subtotal segments, enabling clearer storytelling in multi-period reports. Key features include: Automatic change thresholds: Automatically detect subtotal columns and calculate the change between each consecutive subtotal and the first and last subtotal. Custom Sequence: Have full control over the column order with the Sequence field. Drill Down: Use multiple categories to enable drill down directly on the chart. Automatic Subtotal Calculation: Automatically calculate subtotals if their fields are empty. Annotations: Display markers and comments on the chart from Comment and Comment Marker fields. Customization: Customize X and Y axes, legends, tooltip content, and adjust the appearance settings for positive, negative and total columns separately. Thresholds: Display up to four constant or dynamic thresholds as lines or areas. Cross-chart filtering: Dynamically filter data across multiple visuals to create interactive, insightful and intuitive reports. Get Drill Down Waterfall PRO on AppSource Closing That’s a wrap for the April 2026 Power BI update. This month’s release builds on recent investments across reporting, modeling, visuals, and Copilot, while introducing new previews for you to explore. As always, we appreciate your feedback—especially on preview features—and encourage you to continue sharing your input as we work on future updates.Deep dive into DAX query view with Copilot
Boost your productivity in DAX query view with Copilot to write and explain DAX queries. At Build in 2023, Christian and I showed an exciting vision demo of DAX query view and writing DAX queries with Copilot. In November 2023, the public preview of DAX query view released with native tooling for the powerful DAX queries. And now using DAX queries is even easier with the much-anticipated public preview of writing and explaining DAX queries in DAX query view with Copilot! Let’s see how Copilot can help. Type in what you would like in a DAX query and Copilot can write it for you. Such as simply showing sales by country or even all measures by a specific column, such as product. Comments are automatically added to explain each part of the generated DAX query as well as noting it was generated with Copilot with the user prompt. Adjust an existing DAX query with Copilot. Add additional group by columns or otherwise adjust a DAX query already written. The bonus of this approach is you will see all changes made by Copilot with an inline diff editor, so you know exactly what was added, removed, or updated. Create new measures with Copilot. DAX queries include the syntax to define a measure, and in a DAX query this measure can be Run without modifying the semantic model. So, you can create measures and try them out. Then finally, in DAX query view you can use the CodeLens to “Update the model” if you would like to modify the semantic model by adding the measure from the DAX query. Find out more about DAX functions or topics while you are in DAX query view with Copilot. This explanation will try and give you an example using your semantic model: staying in context of where you are working. No longer do you have to go to a search engine to find the answer using some other model as an example! Explain a DAX query already written with Copilot. Have Copilot explain step by step what is happening in the DAX query you are looking at. Your very own helper right where you need it! Let’s see it in action. To follow along, use the Power BI Regional Sales sample available at https://learn.microsoft.com/power-bi/create-reports/sample-regional-sales. The first thing I did after downloading the PBIX was to remove the relative month filter in the Filter pane to see data in the report. Type in what you would like in a DAX queries and Copilot can write it for you. Here I want to explore the Product Categories a bit, so I am going to ask to see them with “Show me all product categories”. Go to DAX query view in Power BI Desktop Invoke Copilot: CTRL + I, clicking the Copilot button in the ribbon, or the Copilot button next to the line number. Type in “Show me all product categories” Send it by hitting Enter key or clicking the send button to the right of the textbox. It will then change to a loading screen. The DAX query will be generated! You cannot Run this query just yet, and in a future update the Run button will be disabled while Copilot is active. Click Keep it, and then you can Run the query to see the results. That’s great! Now, using the Data pane / Model Explorer, I can see a bunch of measures already created in the model. Let’s see what those all look like by the Product Categories. Adjust an existing DAX query with Copilot. I select the DAX query, and again invoke Copilot. This time I use “Evaluate all the measures in this model by Product Category”. And just like that Copilot has added in all 15 measures in this model to my DAX query! I even get a diff view to show me what Copilot has altered in the original DAX query. Again, I click Keep it, and Run the query to see the results. This has saved me a lot of time. Before I could only see that if I went to report view and created a visual, dragging and dropping all the fields, or typed it all out by hand in DAX query view. Now let’s create new measures with Copilot. DAX queries support the ability to create measures without having to add them to the model. This useful way of creating measures means I can test it before adding to the model and I can also author multiple measures at once. For now, let’s create just one additional measure with Copilot’s help. I want to analyze the Revenue Won by Category further by adding in a % of total. I go to a new query tab and invoke Copilot (CTRL+I or the Copilot button in the editor or ribbon). This time I use “create a measure for % of total revenue won and show it by product category with the revenue won” The DAX query is generated this time with a DEFINE block for the measure I wanted to create! I again click Keep it and Run my query to see the results. In DAX query view when a measure is defined in a DAX query that is not already in the model, there is a CodeLens option to Update the model by adding the new measure, which you can see there between lines 3 and 4. Right in context of what I am doing I have the tools I need to get the job done. Speaking of being in context, I can find out more about DAX functions or topics while I am in DAX query view with Copilot. The query just generated used the ALL function. Let’s see if Copilot can tell me a bit more about it. Again, I select the DAX query just created and invoke Copilot (CTRL + I). This time I ask, “Tell me more about the ALL DAX function”. Now I get back detailed explanation of the ALL DAX function, and how it’s used in the DAX query just generated! And now I understand more about the DAX functions where I am using them and in context of the model I am using them in. I can stay focused on my work without getting distracted by different websites or videos to explain it further, and I don’t have to reach out to my friend who can explain it to me. And speaking of that friend who could explain the DAX function to me, maybe they wrote a DAX query earlier and now I don’t quite remember what they said it did. Now I get into my last example: explain a DAX query already written with Copilot. I have a DAX query already written on a DAX query tab. For this example, I did the Quick query > Show top 100 rows on the Territories table. I select the DAX query, invoke Copilot (CTRL + I) and use the prompt “What is this DAX query doing?”. And I get a detailed explanation of the DAX query, and each of the parts in an easy-to-read format. Again, I am still in context of what I am doing, and in context of the model I am working with. I can keep going right where I left off after getting my answer. This feature should already be enabled in the latest Power BI Desktop version (March 2024 or later), but it can be turned on and off in File > Settings and Options > Options > Preview features section. Some things to be aware of while using DAX query view Copilot. During public preview we will be making changes and updating the functionality and UI so these examples may return different results for you. We are also parsing the DAX query returned by Copilot and performing one retry if the syntax is incorrect. In the uncommon scenario that the retry also fails a parser check, we will still return the DAX query but note that there is an issue. You can type in a new prompt or adjust the DAX query if you can see what is causing the issue. As stated above, currently the Run doesn’t work until you are finished with the inline Copilot, so in a future update the Run button will be disabled while Copilot is active. A final limitation we are also working on is that the inline Copilot is not aware of the previous prompt before you click Keep it. For example, if you ask it to create a DAX query to show “Sales by Year” then it generates the DAX query, you cannot simply type in “Add in product” to adjust it further. For now, you will have to click Keep it, select the generated DAX query, invoke Copilot again, and then “Add in product” will work as expected. So, try it out today! Share your feedback and check out additional resources available below. Share feedback at https://forms.office.com/r/AeLsLNX8Qy or at https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Desktop/Share-your-thoughts-on-DAX-query-view-and-Copilot-to-write-and/m-p/3793225 Learn more about DAX query view Copilot at https://learn.microsoft.com/dax/dax-copilot Learn more about DAX query view at https://learn.microsoft.com/power-bi/transform-model/dax-query-view Learn more about Fabric Copilot at https://learn.microsoft.com/fabric/get-started/copilot-fabric-overview Learn more about Fabric Copilot in Power BI at https://learn.microsoft.com/power-bi/create-reports/copilot-introduction Learn more about DAX queries at https://aka.ms/dax-queries Watch Carly and Guy in a Cube demonstrate DAX query view with Copilot at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kE3TE34oLMDeep dive into DAX query view for web
We are excited to announce you can now write DAX queries with DAX query view for web from published semantic models in the workspace. In Power BI, DAX formulas are used to define different types of calculations such as measures or calculated columns. DAX queries, on the other hand, can be used to return data from the semantic model. DAX queries are like SQL queries in that they can show your data by specified group by columns and aggregations. For DAX queries, this includes the measures already defined in your model and you can define additional query scoped measures, if needed. To write DAX queries in DAX query view in the web, there is a workspace setting that needs to be enabled and there are two entry points. DAX query view in the web needs the User can edit data models in the Power BI service (preview) turned on. This is found in Workspace settings > Power BI > General. DAX query view does allow some paths to update or add measures. Click on Write DAX queries from the right-click, or context menu, on a semantic model in the workspace. Click on Write DAX queries from the top to the semantic model details page. And now you can write DAX queries using the DAX query view in the web. DAX query view is already available in Power BI Desktop, and most of the features are the same for web, with a few differences. DAX queries are discarded on close. DAX queries in Power BI Desktop are saved to the model and a semantic model may have DAX queries already saved in the model. DAX query view in the web currently will not display any previously saved DAX queries that may exist in the semantic model, and queries created in the web are not kept after you close the browser. Write DAX queries requires write permission on the semantic model. Workspace viewers will not be able to write DAX queries using this web experience in this milestone. Future updates will allow viewers to write DAX queries, but for now they will still have to use Power BI Desktop with live connection to the semantic model. DAX query view in web can be used on semantic models in import, DirectQuery, and Direct Lake mode. Microsoft Fabric customers already taking advantage of the new Direct Lake mode for Power BI now have the new measure editing capabilities of DAX query view available them through this web experience. Here is an example of using DAX query view in the web to add measures to a semantic model in Direct Lake mode. This example with work with Power BI semantic model in import or DirectQuery storage modes too. This demo semantic model has one billion (1,000,000,000) orders in the Sales fact table, one for each row. I already have a measure called Avg Profit Per Order which I can use the Quick queries in the context menu to Define with references and evaluate to see not only this measures DAX formula, but also the measures referenced in this measure with their DAX formulas. DAX query view converts these model measures to query scoped measures, and I can not only see all 5 of these measures used to calculate Avg Profit Per Order, but I can also make changes. These changes can be seen when I Run the DAX query but will not impact the existing measures in the model until I am ready to convert them back to model measures. I want to create a new measure to show the Avg Sales Per Order. This will be the same DAX pattern as Avg Profit Per Order so I want to first copy it then modify it to be for Sales. I can use the Command palette to find the shortcut to Copy Line Down to help me with this task. Now I only have to make two updates, one to change the name and the second to update [Profit] to [Sales]. When I am done, I can see this measure does not already exist in the model because of the CodeLens action text that shows between line 6 and 7 prompting me to Update model: Add new measure. I can test out this additional measure by clicking the Run and I see the result is as expected. I can also take the opportunity to improve the readability of all these measures with Format query ribbon button. I am happy with all the changes I have made and now I can use the Update model with changes (6) button to see I have 6 measure expressions that differ from the model expressions and to update them in a single click. After clicking Update model with changes, I can see the new measure in the Model Explorer of the Data pane to the right of the DAX editor. And I can remove the DEFINE block and run the DAX query again to see the results still. Without the DEFINE block I can always see the DAX formula of any measure being used in the query by hovering over it with my curser. When there is a DEFINE block for this measure, it will show both model DAX formula and query DAX formula, if they are different, too. If a measure description is provided, this shows as well. And the Fabric Copilot to help write and explain DAX queries is also available in DAX query view in the web. Learn more about DAX queries, DAX query view, Copilot to write and explain DAX queries, and any other limitations with DAX query view in web with these resources. DAX queries at https://learn.microsoft.com/dax/dax-queries Work with DAX query view at https://learn.microsoft.com/power-bi/transform-model/dax-query-view Deep dive into DAX query view and writing DAX queries at https://powerbi.microsoft.com/blog/deep-dive-into-dax-query-view-and-writing-dax-queries/ Write DAX queries with Copilot at https://learn.microsoft.com/dax/dax-copilot Deep dive into DAX query view with Copilot at https://powerbi.microsoft.com/blog/deep-dive-into-dax-query-view-with-copilot/ Overview of Copilot for Power BI at https://learn.microsoft.com/power-bi/create-reports/copilot-introduction And keep letting us know your feedback with the Share feedback button in DAX query view. All the feedback so far has helped us greatly to keep delivering updates and bug fixes to DAX query view!Microsoft Fabric Copilot to write DAX queries in Power BI update
We are excited to announce that writing DAX queries with Copilot can utilize semantic model descriptions, synonyms, and sample values from columns. Microsoft Fabric Copilot helps you with DAX queries in Power BI Desktop or the browser. In DAX query view, select the Copilot button to open an inline Copilot where you can enter your request for writing or explaining a DAX query. Your request will include the context of where you are, using metadata from tables, columns, and measures, such as names and data types. With this update, additional information is included to help Copilot understand the semantic model. Descriptions are a property on the model where you provide additional information about a column, table, or measure to help model consumers when building reports. This is great for spelling out acronyms. For example, for a measure called 'YOY Growth' the description could be 'Year over year growth in sales, based on same range starting 12 months prior.' To keep Copilot response fast, Copilot can only see the first 200 characters. Descriptions can be added in the Properties pane of any table, object, or measure selected in the Model explorer, available in the Data pane of Model view or in the new TMDL view. There is also a Copilot to help write descriptions of measures in a model, which is highly recommended as consumers of the model, with or without Copilot, can only see name and description and do not see the DAX formula itself. Synonyms can be added to provide alternative names or how others may reference this column. This can help Copilot identify the right column to use if the user request uses a synonym. For example, to keep the axis label shorter the column is named 'YOY Growth', the synonyms could include 'Yearly growth', 'YOY Change', and 'Year over year delta'. Learn more about how to add synonyms. Synonyms can also be added in the Properties pane of any table, column, or measure selected in the Model explorer, available in the Data pane of Model view and there is a Copilot to help you add these synonyms. Sample values include the minimum and maximum values of a column. This gives the context of the numerical or date range and text examples. For example, the range of quantities ordered could be from 1 to 10 or 10 to 100, and a column of state names may be entered as 'WA' or 'Washington'. You do not have to add these, we will do this automatically for you. Here I have a semantic model where I have added in synonyms and descriptions. Let’s see the power of descriptions. The model includes a calculated table with information about the semantic model’s tables, which is a self-documenting technique. The table is called 'xTables' which does not convey that purpose well but does put it at the bottom of the table list, which was why it was named that way. The description for this table can give more context with 'This is information about this semantic model's tables.' Now when I ask Copilot to tell me more about the tables in this semantic model, the DAX query returned utilizes that table. Note, the DAX function INFO.VIEW.TABLES() was used in the calculated table, which can also be run as a DAX query if you have permission to edit the model. If you only have permission to view and run queries, you cannot run that DAX function and would only be able to get the information from this table. And in the case of column name using an acronym, the description can remove ambiguity on what it may mean, and Copilot can find the correct measure to use. Here I have a measure abbreviated to 'S/O', which I provide additional context for with the description, 'Calculates the average sales per order by dividing the total sales by the total number of orders.' Now when I request 'Write a DAX query to show average sales per order', Copilot can find the correct measure to use. Let’s see how synonyms can help. The model has a measure called [Costs] but it has a synonym of 'expenses'. I can now ask Copilot using the synonym and I get the data I was expecting from the DAX query. Finally, let’s see how sample values can help. In my model, I can see the minimum and maximum values using the Column statistics quick query, available from the Data pane. The values for states in this model are spelled out instead of using abbreviations. When I ask Copilot for a DAX query, I may not know this and use the abbreviation. With the sample values included with the request to Copilot, Copilot generates a query using the correct filter value, in this case, using 'Alabama' instead of 'AL' from the request I sent. It also used 'USA' instead of 'America' as that was also in the sample values for the Country column. _DAX_queries_in_Power_BI_update When I run this query, I get the results I am looking for. For more guidance on best practices in semantic modeling to give your model consumers the best experience whether they are creating reports or using Copilot, check out Optimization for Power BI guide at power bi optimization - Optimizing for report authors and model consumers Copilot to write and explain DAX queries in DAX query view is also using the new Azure OpenAI model. You may notice some changes from previous interactions with Copilot and an overall faster experience. Learn more about Microsoft Fabric and Copilot for Power BI with these resources. What is Microsoft Fabric - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn Overview of Copilot in Fabric - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn Overview of Copilot for Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn Write DAX queries with Copilot - DAX | Microsoft Learn Use Copilot to create measure descriptions (Preview) - Power BI | Microsoft Learn Enhance Q&A with Copilot for Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
