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!
Announcing template apps one-click update
This month we’re excited to announce a new capability that makes it easy for template app users to update their apps in one simple step! Template apps are marketplace offers which provide Power BI Pro or Premium users with out-of-the-box reports for common data sources. Template app publishers release updates regularly, and as updates become available on AppSource, people who have installed these apps receive notification on the Power BI notification pane: Until today, after installing a template app update, users also had to go to the template app workspace and re-publish the organizational app to enjoy the update. Many users found this step confusing and were unsure about what to do. The result was that the org app often did not get updated, and thus never included the recent changes and improvements. Now, when you install a template app update, you can choose to update the organizational app as well, enabling you to update the app, navigate to it directly, and continue your work! The new capability works as follows: When you install an update, you’ll notice a new option in the update dialog: Selecting this new option will install the updates and republish the org app. You will be notified when update and republish finishes successfully – you are all set to go! The updated app will now include any updated app branding, such as app name, logo, and navigation, as well as the latest publisher improvements to content. In fact, users who have not made changes to the app’s content can go to the app. Installers will be notified via a banner if additional actions are required and of or data refresh status: With the rollout of this feature, updating and republishing a template app becomes a truly “app-centric” experience for personal and organizational use. Most of the time you can stay with the app - no more unnecessary detours to the workspace! Note that we’ve also kept the previous functionality of the update dialog, where you update only the workspace content without updating the org app. This is important especially for users who have customized the reports and are sharing them via the org app and want to control what to share. To choose this option, select the second radio button.
Power BI March 2021 Feature Summary
This month, we are continuing our work on the ongoing previews of DirectQuery for Power BI datasets and Azure Analysis Services, Small Multiples, and the Model View UI. Also, we are making it easier to specify filters in the DAX CALCULATE function. On the Service side, when you click on a dataset in the workspace list view you will be taken to our new dataset details page, which includes information about when the report was last refreshed as well as actions such as creating a new report. Of course, there is much more, so read on! Here is the full list of March updates: Reporting DirectQuery for Power BI datasets and Azure Analysis Services (preview) Advanced Data Selection in Azure Maps Visual Color Picker Updates Updates to new Field List (preview) Word-wrap in Small Multiples titles (preview) Updates to background settings on Small Multiples (preview) Analytics X axis constant line for line charts Modeling Model View UI (preview) IF.EAGER CALCULATE filters are easier to use Data connectivity Kerberos-based SSO for Denodo Certified Connectors Service Featured content on Home Updates View dataset details from workspace list view Filter apps gallery to view only endorsed apps Visualizations New visuals SMART KPI List by Nova Silva Comparison Chart Combo Bar PRO Visual Editor’s picks Template Apps Download PBIX files for installed template apps Analyze Popular Stocks with Power BI Facebook Ads Overview Report – by Windsor.ai Embedded The new Power BI embedded analytics playground Power BI Embedded Generation 2 (preview) Power BI embedded analytics new Contoso demo New Client API documentation Other Windows 7 Deprecation Certificate revocation check controls now available in Desktop interface External Tools integration in Desktop generally available Power BI instructor led training – Advanced Data Modeling and data shaping Desktop change log Check out the video below for a summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r88EE4IzZlE Reporting DirectQuery for Power BI datasets and Azure Analysis Services (preview) Thank you for giving your feedback on this feature! Based on your feedback, we’ve added some more capabilities that will be synced between a remote source and the local model that you’ve created in Power BI Desktop. Now, display folders and sort by column properties are set in a remote source will be synced with your local model. Read about this feature more in the original announcement. Advanced Data Selection in Azure Maps Visual The Azure Maps Visual in Power BI provides multiple visualization types (bubbles, 3D bar chart, real-time traffic etc.,) that make it easy to visualize your business data on a Map and observe how different parameters change across locations. In this post, we are happy to announce the release of new selection features that make it even easier to explore location data in Power BI. Selection control A new selection control option is available in the tool bar located on top right of the Azure Map Visual. Users will now have four new methods to select and interact with data on the Map. Range selection Use the range selection method to select all data that is within a specified driving distance or driving time from a specified location. This method is especially useful to visualize the catchment area of a retail store. Radial selection Click on the ‘Circle’ icon in the selection control bar to activate the radial selection mode. Next click at a desired point on the Map canvas and drag mouse to desired radius. A circular region centered at the selection point highlights all locations within the radial. Click again to complete the selection. Only selected points remain active on the Map canvas. To cancel selection, click anywhere on the Map. Polygon selection For a fine grain control of what data to select, use the polygon selection. With the mouse-key pressed down, drag and draw any freeform shape to select data lying within the shape. To close the shape, just double click on the Map. Without keeping the mouse-key pressed down, you can click anywhere on the Map to specify vertices of a polygon boundary and select data within the boundary. Radial and Box selection The radial and box selection method provide ability to select on the Map using a circle or rectangle drawn on the Map canvas. The new selection control is enabled by default. To turn on/ off the selection control, edit the Azure Map Visual, go to “Format” tab in the control panel. Locate the section titled “Map Settings”, expand it and make sure the “Selection Control” toggle option is set to true (slide the control to right). Color Picker Updates Thanks for your feedback on last month's release! Based on that feedback, this month, we've changed the color picker to prioritize popping up on the right side, so that less of it overlaps with the report canvas. We also released a bugfix for users who could not use ESC to close the color picker. We've put other new color picker functionality on our backlog, so please continue to provide feedback to help us understand your needs and prioritize solutions! Updates to new Field List (preview) We appreciate all the feedback from last month’s release on the new field list. We have tightened the padding, added the context menu back when all the tables are hidden, brought back the yellow indicator when reordering fields in the field wells, and fixed icon discrepancies just to name a few! We will continue chipping away at these small fixes and as always we look forward to your continued feedback to help improve our preview features to make then GA ready! Word-wrap in Small Multiples titles (preview) Continuing our work on the small multiples preview feature, we’ve added word wrap to small multiple titles! Now, you can ensure your longer titles aren’t truncated if they run beyond the width of the small multiple column. Keep in mind that we will allocate space for the longest category name in all of your small multiples to ensure the plot areas align properly. As a result, if some of your small multiple titles are much longer than others, turning on word wrap may leave extra whitespace under the shorter titles. We encourage you to consider the trade-off between the space reserved for plot areas and titles when considering word wrap. To learn more about what else we have planned for small multiples, check out the announcement blog post. And please continue to send us feedback on the feature through the feedback survey here. We’re actively iterating on our planned feature work based on your feedback, so make your voice heard! Updates to background settings on Small Multiples (preview) This month, we are also updating the small multiples background color and background transparency formatting settings to include new default values. While the previous default value for background color was automatically inherited from page background and the default transparency was 100% (totally transparent), the new defaults will instead be "no fill" and 0% (totally opaque), respectively. This change will allow you to see immediate changes in your small multiples background colors without your having to change the transparency setting. However, this change in defaults will also affect existing reports: if you have previously adjusted transparency without changing the small multiples background color, the previous (default) color will have become "no fill" -- meaning you will no longer see a background color on your small multiples grid. if you have previously changed the small multiples background color without changing transparency, the previous transparency (100%) will now become 0% -- meaning you will now see your background color applied to the small multiples grid. Changing your color and transparency settings away from the new defaults will avoid this behavior. Analytics X axis constant line for line charts We now support adding a X axis constant line in line charts for continuous type data. You can create this line by selecting 'Add' on the 'X axis constant line' from Analytics icon from the Visualizations section. The value can be date time or numeric value depending your data. You can configure all sorts of options for your line from its Color, Transparency percentage, Line style, Position, Data Label just like the existing Y axis constant line. This constant line is used in visuals in the Anomalies pane to indicate the date time of the anomalies in the series. Modeling Model View UI (preview) Thank you for your continued feedback on this feature. Based on your comments and input, we’ve made some changes to how relationships look in your model diagram. The cardinalities are now shown at the end points of a relationship and the direction of the relationship is shown at the center. These icons have also been increased in size to be more readable. Limited relationships UI In the image of the new relationships look, you may have also noticed that an icon was added: This icon indicates a limited relationship and easily allows you to identify them in your model. Limited relationships are relationships between different source groups. You can learn more about limited relationships and their special behavior at our documentation. Error icons tooltips When you are in live connect mode, errors on measures will display an error icon in the fields list and in the model diagram. When you hover over the icon, a tooltip will display more information about the error on that measure. IF.EAGER We are introducing a new function to DAX: IF.EAGER. This function has the same behavior as the existing IF function, but the performance may differ due to differences in how the function is evaluated by the engine: IF.EAGER uses eager evaluation, where the two branch expressions (second and third parameter) are evaluated regardless of the condition (first parameter) being true or false. In contrast, IF uses strict evaluation, meaning it only executes one of the two branch expressions, depending on the condition being true or false. Using IF.EAGER (and thus eager evaluation) has performance benefits specifically when the same calculation needs to be evaluated for both the branch and condition expressions. Please take a look at the following example. SalesEager := IF ( [Total Sales] > [Last Month Sales], [Total Sales], [Last Month Sales]-[Total Sales] ) In the example above, the [Total Sales] measure is evaluated in the condition expression, as well as the branch expressions. Additionally, the [Last Month Sales] measure is evaluated both in the condition expression as well as in the second branch expression. This means that Power BI will evaluate [Total Sales] three times when using the IF function, because it is included in both branch expressions and when the expression is False, [Last Month Sales] will get evaluated twice. However, switching to IF.EAGER would mean that the branch expressions get evaluated regardless so the Power BI engine will evaluate [Total Sales] and [Last Month Sales] only once as it can reuse the evaluations for the condition expression. Note that this does not mean that you should always be using IF.EAGER instead of IF going forward. We recommend using IF, unless you have this specific situation or have performance issues. Calculate filters are easier to use We have added extra flexibility in specifying multiple filters when working with the CALCULATE function. As an example, let’s say we need to calculate the sales amount for products that are either red or are part of our line for women (style indicator ‘W’). You already have a measure [Sales Amount] which is defined as: Sales Amount := SUM(Sales[SalesAmount]). You might be tempted to try the following: SalesRedW := CALCULATE(Sales[Sales Amount], Product[Color] = "Red" || Product[Style] = "W") Unfortunately this would not work: In order to make this work, you had to add an explicit table filter, like in the following example: SalesRedW := CALCULATE(Sales[Sales Amount], FILTER( ALL( 'Product'[Color], 'Product'[Style]), 'Product'[Color]="Red" || 'Product'[Style]="W")) However, starting with this release, the first syntax you tried works. This is now perfectly valid DAX and will work without error messages: SalesRedW := CALCULATE(Sales[Sales Amount], Product[Color] = "Red" || Product[Style] = "W") This makes it easier to build calculations that require multiple filters and complex combinations of conditions, such as OR (||) and AND (&&). Data connectivity Kerberos-based SSO for Denodo This update provides users an easier way to publish Power BI reports to the service that connect to Denodo using DirectQuery leveraging Kerberos-based single sign-on via the on-premises data gateway. Certified Connectors New certified connector: Kognitwin We are releasing one new certified connector, Kognitwin, allowing users to connect to Kognitwin Energy by Kongsberg for advanced digitalization and analytics. Updated certified connectors We are also releasing updates to the following nine certified connectors: Exasol Automation Anywhere Zoho Creator e-Way CRM IntelligentPlant Data Virtuality Vena FactSet MariaDB Service Featured content on Home Updates Featured content on your Home page now includes metadata as to who featured the artifact. Additionally, endorsed content can also be Featured in the same workflow. Head over to the docs page to learn more about these updates. View dataset details from workspace list view You can now open the dataset details page from the workspace content list view. When clicking on a dataset in the workspace content list view, the dataset details page is opened to provide meaningful information and quick actions: Information about the dataset including last refresh time List of reports that are built on top of the dataset (just reports that you have access to will be shown here) Usage metrics for the last 30 days, including how many users and report opens were there for the last 30 days, not including today. Quick actions: View lineage, create a report and Analyze in Excel Create from template – if there is a template report defined for this dataset, you can quickly create a report from this template. Please note that this feature is only available in the New workspaces. Read our document to learn how to upgrade from a classic workspace to a new workspace. Filter apps gallery to view only endorsed apps When getting a new app from the apps gallery you can choose to filter the gallery to view only certified and promoted apps. These apps were set by their owner as trusted. Learn more about how to endorse an app. Visualizations New visuals This month we have one new visual: Multi Card KPIs. SMART KPI List by Nova Silva One important goal of any well designed dashboard is to inform its readers by creating one overview of all KPI’s. This requires a compact and effective way to display them all together. The SMART KPI List is created specifically for this purpose. Why do we name it SMART? Because this visual allows everyone to create an overview of their KPI’s that is: Specific: the red-dot highlights the KPI’s that need immediate attention; Measurable: A value alone is a weak indicator of performance. A sparkline shows the trend to determine if you are moving towards your goal; Achievable: By comparing each result with a target you can determine if your KPI has met expectations; Relevant: Within the sparkline you can add a bandwidth of acceptable results which helps the user to identify “normal” and “abnormal” results in the past; Time-bound: The sparkline adds the required historic context to each indicator to enrich the indicators signals; Don’t hesitate and try the SMART KPI List now on your own data by downloading it from the AppSource. All features are available for free to evaluate this visual within Power BI Desktop. Questions or remarks? Visit us at: https://visuals.novasilva.com. Comparison Chart Have you ever had the need to visually compare the development of figures, like “sales“ or “order volume“ with an index? With the Comparison Chart you can visualize e.g. the development of the gross domestic product of the top 5 countries in Europe compared to the world. Or your top five products compared to the growth of all products in your company. If you have access to market data you can compare the development of your sales with the sales in the market. When using Power BI’s default line chart you have to decide beforehand which products you want to visualize (via the “legend” or via measures for each product). The Comparison Chart offers you the freedom to select your top five products dynamically and visualize the index information on a second axis with a lot of formatting options. Find this visual in AppSource. Learn more. Combo Bar PRO Visual https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuXpyvZtLuE&feature=youtu.be Combo Bar PRO Visual by ZoomCharts lets you combine bars, vertical lines and vertical areas in one visual in any combination. Designed for fast, efficient and exciting data exploration with single touch/click drill down and drill up functionality. Among the main features for the Combo Bar PRO Visual by ZoomCharts, you will find: On-chart interactions – click, pan, zoom-in/out to explore multiple drill-down levels; Multiple chart types – choose between bar, line and area chart for each series; Stacking and clustering – stack or cluster series, chose between series specific or cumulative(total) values; Static and dynamic thresholds – set up to 3 thresholds to demonstrate targets or benchmarks; Full customization – customize X and Y axes, legends, stacks, tooltip, fill settings, outlines; Multi-touch device friendly – get equal experience on any device and many more. Find this visual in AppSource. Editor’s picks The new Editor’s picks visuals of the month are: Ratings by MAQ Software Comicgen SMART KPI List The Editor’s picks can be found in the in-product AppSource in Power BI Desktop and service under Editor’s picks category. Template Apps Download PBIX files for installed template apps Template apps have just become a one-stop-shop for distributing Power BI dataset, reports, and dashboards outside the organization! Starting from the end of February, as a template app publisher you can allow Power BI Pro users to download a PBIX file directly from your template app once they've installed it! All you have to do is turn on the download PBIX feature on the Control tab when you're creating your template app. Learn more. When PBIX download has been enabled for a template app, Power BI Pro users will be able to download the PBIX file from the report or template app workspace: Analyze Popular Stocks with Power BI We are very excited to announce a new template app to get you hooked on Power BI! The Analyze Popular Stocks with Power BI app shows you multiple KPIs to start your analytics journey in Power BI. Use it to track end-of-day quotes as well as weekly, monthly, or yearly trends for popular stocks and ETFs. See Power BI in action with tracking of stock highs and lows, moving averages, sector-wise distribution, Bollinger bands, and even performance comparisons for popular stocks over time! The Analyze Popular Stocks with Power BI app is brought to you by the Power BI team and is available on AppSource – we’ve made sure the app can pull refreshed, end-of-day stock data without any additional subscriptions. Getting stock data requires a Power BI Pro license. If you don't have Power BI Pro, give it a try with the free Power BI Pro Trial! Learn more about the app’s functionality in our documentation. Facebook Ads Overview Report – by Windsor.ai We are also very excited to announce the first Facebook Ads template app for Power BI. The Facebook Ads Overview Report helps advertisers and marketers connect Power BI to the Facebook Ads Insights API. The app contains a connector, and to get started all you need is access to a Facebook Ads account. As with other templates, this template app offers automatic data refresh, and you can set a date range to get historical data. The app has two visually rich report pages which allow you to gain insights about Campaigns and Ad Sets. A variety of breakdowns is available and includes breakdowns by country, age, gender, objective, device, publisher, etc. You will also find metrics about cost, CPM, impressions, clicks, and much more. To get started Connect your Facebook Ads Data here. Take note of the API key that you get. Select at least one Facebook Ads account from the dropdown Install the Facebook Ads Overview Report Power BI Template App Enter the API key you got in Step 1 On the next screen click Sign In Your data will load. This may take a minute or two depending on the size of your data. Get the Facebook Ads Overview Report template app from AppSource. Embedded The new Power BI embedded analytics playground The new Power BI Embedded Analytics playground was recently announced. It allows developers to get hands-on coding experience in our developer sandbox using samples or their own reports. Developers can discover and interact with client APIs and see instant results. Additionally, you can check out our interactive feature showcases to get inspiration on how to apply the latest features to your applications. Developers and Product Managers can learn about the latest Power BI embedded analytics capabilities including tutorials and documentation. You can explore the new playground here. Power BI Embedded Generation 2 (preview) The 2 nd generation of Power BI Embedded, referred to as Embedded Gen 2, became available recently for Azure subscribers to use during the preview period. Embedded Gen 2 offers enhanced performance, greater scale, lower entry level for paginated report and AI workloads, instant scaling and without downtime, and improved metrics, that allow developers to auto-scale up and down, by scripting or using Azure Alerts rules. Read more Power BI embedded analytics new Contoso demo The new Power BI embedded analytics Contoso sales demo was recently introduced to customers and partners, allowing you to explore a data-driven application with customized dashboard views built on Power BI embedded analytics. Learn how a Microsoft Dataverse database with Row Level Security (RLS) ensures each user sees only the data they have access to, see APIs in action including exporting, custom action buttons, writeback, and Service Principal-based authentication, and most importantly, browse the open-source code behind the demo via GitHub and customize with your own data. To get started, follow these steps: Open the Contoso Sales Demo application. Select Salesperson. Select Enter in demo mode. New Client API documentation The new Client APIs documentation is now available. Check out all the new articles explaining how to use the client APIs of Power BI embedded analytics and how to get started with embedding Power BI artifacts. Included are references for all our client libraries: powerbi-client, powerbi-models, and powerbi-report-authoring. Other Windows 7 Deprecation If you’re a Windows 7 user, it’s important to note that Power BI Desktop stopped supporting Windows 7 on January 31st, 2021. Power BI Desktop is now only supported on Windows 8.1 or newer versions of Windows, and as always for only the newest release of Power BI Desktop. Certificate revocation check controls now available in Desktop interface Last month, we introduced changes to the certificate revocation check to give you more fine-grained control over what is accepted as a valid certificate. This month, we are adding controls in the Power BI Desktop Options. You can find these options in Options > Global > Security: Learn more about this fine-grained control, read our documentation. External Tools integration in Desktop generally available With the March release of Power BI Desktop, we are happy to announce General Availability (GA) of external tools integration. You can leverage a wide range of additional semantic modeling features, DAX query/expression optimization and authoring utilities, and application lifecycle management (ALM) capabilities in Power BI Desktop by using ALM Toolkit, Tabular Editor, DAX Studio, Metadata Translator, and many more open-source tools. Along with GA, we are also announcing the following additional enhancements. Support for dynamic format strings Metadata translation Object-level security (OLS). For a full list of supported operations see https://aka.ms/ExternalTools. Power BI instructor led training – Advanced Data Modeling and data shaping Jeroen (Jay) ter Heerdt from Power BI product team, Yana Berkovich and from the Power BI content team and Alex Powers Senior Technical Specialist at Microsoft will be hosting an 8-hour training delivered over two days (4 hours each) as well as answering your live questions during the sessions! This fantastic team will walk us through Power BI capabilities to enhance the data model and help shape your data for business users. In two sessions, we will explore how to connect to your data and make all the preparations prior to the data visualization stage. We will explore together how to clean and shape your data, working in the query editor to be able to answer future business questions using the improved data set. We will create a data model together, explaining tables and relationships. During the session we will discuss the impact of the choices we make on performance and visualizations as well as enabling our end users to make data driven decisions based on the Power BI report. After loading the data and model into our blank canvas, we will create columns & measures, discussing the differences and available options to get more values from your existing data. We will have knowledge checks and assignments during the training. The training will be divided into two parts: Wednesday 24th March, 2021 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM PST Thursday 25 th March 2021 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM PST Read more and sign up here. Desktop change log Many of you have noticed frequent updates to Power BI Desktop being published outside of the regular monthly cycle. These updates mostly provide fixes to issues found with that month’s release, which will be carried forward into the next month’s release. However, we have not been very clear as to what fixes are included. Therefore, we are pleased to announce the Power BI Desktop change log so now you can see exactly what fixes are part of what update. If you download the installer from Microsoft.com you’ll have to manually download each update. If you get Power BI Desktop through the Store – which we recommend – you’ll be delivered these updates automatically. That is all for this month! Please continue sending us your feedback and do not forget to vote for other features that you would like to see in Power BI! We hope that you enjoy the update! If you installed Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft Store, please leave us a review. Also, don't forget to vote on your favorite feature over on our community website. We are looking forward to hearing from you!Automate configuration of a template app installation
This month we are excited to announce a new capability that enables template app publishers to automate the configuration of a template app installation for their customers! Until today, in the course of installing a template app, users had to configure parameters in order to connect the template app to their data. Oftentimes they found this step confusing and were unsure about what information to provide, with the result that they often quit the installation without ever connecting the app to their data. Now, as a template app publisher, you can preconfigure the template app installation, making life much easier for your customers by eliminating that frequently encountered source of frustration. Why should you automate template app configuration? It reinforces the connection between your service and Power BI, making sure your users have a smooth, positive experience when redirected to Power BI for analytics consumption. It reduces or eliminates customer frustration with configuring parameters. It costs almost nothing to implement - we have working samples ready for you to use! Get started today! Create your own Automated configuration of a template app installation by following these three simple steps: Create an Azure application for authenticating to Power BI API's. Integrate your service/app with Power BI automation API’s to pass the necessary parameters in the template app installation link (See the following Azure function sample to get you started) Redirect users to their Power BI account where they’ll install the preconfigured template app.New way of getting apps
Finding the right tool for the job is often tricky, especially as your colleagues are sharing more apps with you and given the ever-growing variety of apps available on the AppSource marketplace. We’re thrilled to introduce a new look for getting apps! As of today, getting an app from your organization or from the AppSource marketplace has never been easier! When template apps became generally available last year, many partners began contributing apps that connect us to common services most of us use daily such as Dynamics, YouTube, Google Analytics. These apps cover a wide variety of categories, such as sales, finance, IT, HR, and more. Template apps, which provide quality, pre-built reports in addition to connecting you to your data, enable Power BI pro users to ask smarter business questions and get to actionable insights faster by simply installing an app. Unified view As of today, when you press Get apps (on the Power BI apps page) you will land in a brand-new gallery experience where you can get apps both from your organization and from the AppSource marketplace. In this new, unified view, it is easy to explore, search, and find the apps you need. Template apps are marked with a blue shopping-cart icon, while apps from your organization can be installed directly via Get it now. Hovering over an app expands the description of the app, and for template apps you can even see the AppSource rating score. We’ve made sure to surface higher ranked apps first. Filter & Search Want to see just apps from your organization or from the AppSource marketplace? No problem! You can filter by organizational apps or template apps. We’ve also improved the search so you can go deeper. You can now search by publisher name, by app name, or even by category, to find what you need faster. Power BI template apps enable partners to build and publish apps to AppSource that provide out-of-the-box content to customers with little or no coding. Check out our documentation and get started today!
Introducing Power BI Premium Capacity Metrics App as a template app
We are very pleased to announce the availability of the Power BI Premium Capacity Metrics App as a template app. This app will continue to support you in monitoring the health of premium capacities and making sound decisions about the best use of them and when to scale them so that your users get the best possible experience. As a template app, you will have the ability to connect to the underlying dataset, as well as customize of the report as per your needs. You can then distribute it as an app to colleagues in your organization. Install the app Let’s get started by installing the template app. As an administrator, the app can be installed by searching for “Power BI Premium Capacity Monitoring” in the Power BI AppSource or by clicking here to get it now Click get it now to install the application into the workspace of your choice. Once the app has installed, you will see it on your Apps page. Connect to data sources and schedule refresh Select the icon on your Apps page to open the app. On the splash screen, select Explore. The app opens, showing sample data. Select the option to Connect your data link on the banner at the top of the page. In the dialog box that appears, set the UTC offset, that is, the difference in hours between Coordinated Universal Time and the time in your location. Then click Next. In the next dialog that appears, you don't have to do anything. Just select Sign in. After you've signed in, the report connects to the data sources and is populated with up-to-date data. Click on the app to open it. Once open you will see a dashboard which shows an aggregated summary of all the capacities that you are an admin of. Schedule report refresh When the data refresh has completed, set up a refresh schedule to keep the report data up to date. In the top header bar, select Power BI. In the left navigation pane, look for the Power BI Premium Capacity Metrics workspace under Workspaces, and follow the instructions described in the Configure scheduled refresh article. Connect to the underlying Power BI Premium Capacity Metrics Dataset With your choice of client tools, use the following URL format to address a workspace as though it were an Analysis Services server name. Please make sure the workspace is in a premium capacity. powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/[your workspace name] myorg can be replaced with your tenant name (e.g. “mycompany.com”). [your workspace name] is case sensitive and can include spaces. You can easily copy the workspace URL from the workspace settings dialog. When using the URL, depending on the tool (for example SQL Profiler), you may need to specify Initial Catalog. How to specify it is shown in the following example using SSMS. Looking for sovereign cloud support Template apps are not available in sovereign clouds. If you are an admin and have a premium capacity located in sovereign cloud, please reach out to us here for support. Additional steps to use the Premium Capacity Monitoring app with Power BI Embedded This same app can be used to monitor any A SKU capacities you may have in Power BI Embedded. They will appear in the report provided you’re an admin of the capacity. Refresh of the report can fail unless you grant certain permissions to Power BI on your A SKUs. This can be done by opening your capacity in the Azure portal, clicking on Access control (IAM) and adding the “Power BI Premium” app to the Reader role. If you’re unable to find the app by name, you can also add it by its client Id: cb4dc29f-0bf4-402a-8b30-7511498ed654. Moving forward Now that you have the app installed, you can see metrics about all the capacities in your organization for which you are an admin. You can now make more informed decisions and more effectively manage the premium capacities, workspaces and datasets in your organization. And be sure to submit your ideas for more any suggestions. For information about the contents of report and how to use it, see Monitor Premium capacities with the app and How to install the Power BI Premium Capacity template appAnalyze LinkedIn Sales Navigator usage data in Power BI
Power BI recently announced the GA of Power BI template apps, allowing Power BI users to gain immediate insights through prepackaged dashboards and reports that are created from a live data source without the need to connect to, model, or visualize the data. The LinkedIn Sales Navigator Analytics Integration allows teams to seamlessly view and analyze Sales Navigator usage data within Power BI to increase sales effectiveness and maximize productivity. The LinkedIn Sales Navigator for Sales Operations enables sales operations personnel to identify and analyze things like: Who is using LinkedIn Sales Navigator When the best day is to send an InMail The Social Selling Index across all users Using the insights found in LinkedIn Sales Navigator for Sales Operations template app, sales operations professionals can: Uncover insights faster - Derive valuable insights faster by analyzing and visualizing your LinkedIn Sales Navigator usage data in Power BI within minutes Run deeper analyses - Perform deeper analyses and run comprehensive reports by merging other data sources (e.g. HR, CRM, sales acceleration) into one single view Optimize sales performance - Measure relationship-building activities and improve team and rep performance by identifying areas of opportunities for training or coaching The LinkedIn Sales Navigator for Sales Operations template app also allows users to see Sales Navigator data next to data from other sources by pinning them to a common dashboard. For those users who want to mashup Sales Navigator product usage data with data from other sources, a new Sales Navigator connector is also available in Power BI Desktop. In order to use this template app, you must: Have a LinkedIn Sales Navigator Enterprise plan Be an Admin or a Reporting User on the Sales Navigator Contract (Note: A reporting license on the Sales Navigator contract does not take up a seat on that contract) Be a Power BI user The LinkedIn Sales Navigator for Sales Operations template app is available for download from AppSource. You can find out more about how to use the template app at https://aka.ms/pbilisn To view the full set of LinkedIn Sales Navigator announcements, visit their website here.Power BI Service and Mobile September 2019 feature summary
It’s time again to recap the features and announcements in the Power BI service and mobile for the month of September. Here’s a quick rundown in case you missed it: New Look for Power BI mobile (Preview) September update for On-premises data gateway Template apps update (Preview) Roadmap updates New Look for Power BI mobile (Preview) We announced the public preview of the “new look” for Power BI Mobile. As part of the new look, we introduced new experiences including a home page that provides quick access to your commonly used content, custom branding for your organization, and new navigation bars that give you an easy way of navigating through the app. If you haven’t opt-ed in and tried it already, give it a shot and let us know your feedback. Check out the announcement blog to learn more. nd_Mobile_September_2019_feature_summary September update for On-premises data gateway We also updated the Power BI On-premises data gateway for the month of September. Version 3000.9.194 includes an updated version of the Mashup Engine, which will match the one released as part of the Power BI Desktop September update. Learn more about the updates in our release blog or check it out by installing the new gateway. Template apps update (Preview) We rolled out a highly requested update to Template apps where after downloading and connecting a template app from AppSource, all users can update the app while preserving its connection configuration. In addition, we also further enhanced the sample data experience for template apps, so end users can try out the apps before connecting to their own data. That’s right! Every template app can be installed from AppSource and viewed with sample data. When opening a report or dashboard you’ll see a new banner, reminding you that you’re experiencing the app with sample data. Learn more Roadmap updates We use the Power BI section in the Business Application Release Notes to share details on what’s coming in the next three to six months. These release notes are updated weekly with details on shipping dates, screenshots, and new announcements. Here’s what we disclosed recently: Report multi select in the mobile app HoloLens v2 support Bookmark in Windows presentation mode and slideshow Android shortcuts New experience for report consumption – GA release date TBA Bookmarks (iOS, Android) – GA release date TBATemplate apps update (preview) is now available
We’re thrilled to introduce template apps update capability! Power BI template apps enable partners to build & publish to AppSource out-of-the-box content for customers with little or no coding. From now on, after downloading and connecting a template app from AppSource, every Power BI Pro or Premium user can update the app while preserving its connection configuration. For example, let’s assume you’re a user who downloaded the Project online template app and configured its parameters with your company’s SharePoint URL site. When a new version becomes available on AppSource, pressing “Get it now” will trigger an option to overwrite the existing version. If you choose to overwrite the existing version, you can access the latest reports and dashboards the publisher of the app has created. Note that if you customized the report or dashboard it might be a good idea save the report using “Save as” or clone the dashboard before overwriting. Updating the template app will get you the latest and greatest reports & dashboards the app author has created, so make sure to update it as app publishers are pushing updates on a monthly basis. Sample data experience We’ve also further enhanced the sample data experience for template apps, so end-users have a better experience trying out apps and then connecting to their own data. Every template app can be installed from AppSource and viewed with sample data. When opening a report or dashboard you’ll see a new banner, reminding you that you’re experiencing the app with sample data. Template app samples To show off the cool integrations and apps that are possible, we’ve added a list of samples to our documentation: Template apps samples. These samples are available for download now as .pbix source files, and we’ll be adding more awesome app samples in the future developed by Microsoft or partners who want to share with our amazing community! Say goodbye to service content packs It’s time to say goodbye to service content packs. We’ve already deprecated many of the content packs and are working closely with our partners to migrate the rest to template apps. By the end of September, most service content packs will be deprecated and all Power BI apps on AppSource will be template apps.
