6 min read
8 Power BI Tips for Users
Power BI is a powerful data visualisation tool, packed with features for its end users. So many, in fact, that you might not know them all. That is why we have collected 8 tips for Power BI users in this blog. These tips focus mainly on using Power BI for analysis and, to a lesser extent, on the back end (data connections/modelling).
Tip 1: Favourite and featured dashboards
Power BI Online
Do you have a dashboard you consider really important? Then you can mark it as a favourite. To do this, click the Favourite button while you are in the dashboard. This adds the dashboard to your Favourites list. You can also set a dashboard as your Featured Dashboard. This means that this dashboard opens straight away whenever you open Power BI.
Tip 2: Explaining differences
Power BI Online
One of the most interesting features of Power BI, in our view, is the ability to explain differences in your data visualisations. This feature is called ‘Insights’ and is designed to find out why there are increases or decreases in a chart. To use it, right-click a data point in a bar or line and select Analyse > Explain the increase (or Explain the decrease, as all insights are based on the change since the previous data point).
Tip 3: Ask your data questions
Power BI Online
Power BI Pro or Power BI Premium licence required
Power BI is an extremely intuitive, user-focused program. One example of this is the Q&A box. It lets you, as a user, ask questions about your data in simple, natural language, and specify how the data should be presented. For instance, you can ask for ‘total sales by region by month as a line’, or let Power BI choose a layout that suits the data by asking a more general question such as ‘what were the sales figures for last quarter?’.
The visualisation is also interactive and adapts as you refine your query. If you then find that the visualisation is exactly what you were looking for, you can pin it to your dashboard. This makes the feature an easy way to create a visualisation. You can find it in your dashboard, and it works best when you use keywords that already appear in the axis labels.
Tip 4: Bookmarks
Power BI Online
Power BI Pro or Power BI Premium licence required
Sometimes you want to run an analysis several times over a period. In Power BI, you can do this by creating a bookmark. When you create one, the currently configured view of a report is captured, including all filters, slicers and the current states of data visualisations. When you select the bookmark later, Power BI takes you back to that view. You can even create a bookmark for the default view of a report.
There are two types of bookmarks: those you create yourself and those created by the developer. Every Power BI user can create personal bookmarks. However, you do need a Power BI Pro or Premium licence to use bookmarks created by others. You can also group bookmarks into a collection. You can then arrange them in the order you want, so you can click through them when, for example, you are giving a presentation.
See where to find shared bookmarks
If a report designer has included bookmarks in the report, you will find them under the heading Report bookmarks. The report page below has two bookmarks: B1 and B2. Select a bookmark to switch to that report view.
See how to create personal bookmarks
When you create a bookmark, the following elements are saved with it:
- The current page
- Filters
- Slicers, including the slicer type (for example dropdown or list) and the slicer state
- Visual selection state (such as cross-highlight filters)
- Sort order
- Zoom location
- Visibility (of an object, via the Selection pane)
- The focus or Spotlight mode of a visible object
Configure a report page the way you want it to appear in the bookmark. Once the report page and visuals are arranged as you like, select Add in the Bookmarks pane to add a bookmark. Add the personal bookmark.
Power BI then creates a personal bookmark and gives it a generic name or a name you enter yourself. You can rename, delete or update a bookmark by selecting the ellipsis next to the bookmark name and choosing an action from the menu that appears.
Once you have created a bookmark, you can display it by simply selecting it in the Bookmarks pane.
Tip 5: Quick insights with AI
Power BI online
Do you have a new dataset but are not quite sure where to start with data visualisations? Then Quick Insights is a good solution. This handy AI feature in Power BI lets you quickly create data visualisations from your dataset that may reveal insights you had not yet thought of.
To use it, go to My Workspace > Datasets, select the dataset you want to use and click More options (..) > Get quick insights. Power BI will now get to work on your data; this takes a few minutes, depending on the size of your dataset.
When Power BI is finished, a pop-up will appear saying your Insights are ready; click View insights. The visualisations are then displayed on a special Quick Insights canvas with up to 32 separate cards and insights. Each card contains a chart or diagram plus a short description.
Tip 6: Turn your report into a PowerPoint presentation
Power BI Online
Power BI Pro or Power BI Premium licence required
Power BI also lets you turn your report into a PowerPoint presentation. This is useful when you want to create a presentation based on your data quickly.
When you export a report to PowerPoint, the following happens:
- Each page in the Power BI report becomes a separate slide in PowerPoint
- Each page in the Power BI report is exported to PowerPoint as a high-resolution image
- You can keep the filter and slicer settings you have added to the report
- A link to the Power BI report is created in PowerPoint
Exporting your report is very quick and works as follows:
- In Power BI online, select the report you want to export
- In the menu bar, select Export > PowerPoint
Tip 7: Subscribe to reports and dashboards
Power BI Online
Another handy Power BI option is the ability to subscribe to dashboards. With this feature, you receive an email notification whenever a change is made. You can of course set how often you want to receive notifications: daily, weekly or only when the data is refreshed. You can also set a specific time at which Power BI sends the emails. In total, you can set up to 24 different subscriptions per report or dashboard.
See how to set up a subscription
To subscribe to a dashboard, do the following:
- Open the dashboard or report.
- In the top menu bar, select Subscribe or select the envelope icon .
- If you want to subscribe to more than one page in a report, select Add another subscription and select another page from the dropdown at the top.
- Use the yellow slider to switch the subscription on or off. Setting the slider to Off does not delete the subscription. To delete it, you need to select the bin icon.
- Add optional details for the subject and body of the email.
- Select the frequency of the subscription. You can choose Daily, Weekly, or After data refresh (daily) You can also specify whether you only want to receive the email on certain days.
- If you choose Daily, Hourly, Monthly or Weekly, you can also choose a scheduled time for the email.
- Schedule the start and end date by entering dates in the date fields. By default, the subscription start date is the date you created it and the end date is one year later. When your subscription reaches its end date, it stops automatically unless you re-enable it. You will also receive a notification asking whether you want to renew the subscription.
- Select Run now to review and test your subscription. This immediately sends an email to you.
- Finally, select Save and close when everything looks right.
You can also set up alerts via the Power BI mobile app. Below, we explain how to set this up for both Android and iOS.
See how to set up mobile alerts
iPhone
- Tap a number or gauge tile in a dashboard to open it in focus mode.
- Tap the bell icon to add an alert.
- Tap Alert rule
- Choose to receive alerts above or below a certain value, then set the value.
- Decide whether you want to receive alerts hourly or daily, and whether you also want to receive an email when you get the alert.Note
You will not receive alerts every hour or every day unless the data has actually been refreshed in that time. - You can also change the title of the alert.
- Tap Save.
- A single tile can have alerts for values both above and below certain thresholds. In Manage alerts, tap Alert rule
Android
- In a Power BI dashboard, tap a number or gauge tile to open it.
- Tap the bell icon to add an alert.
- Tap the plus sign (+).
- Choose to receive alerts above or below a certain value, then enter the value.
- Tap Done.
- Decide whether you want to receive alerts hourly or daily, and whether you also want to receive an email when you get the alert.Note
You will not receive alerts every hour or every day unless the data has actually been refreshed in that time. - You can also change the title of the alert.
- Tap Save.
Data-driven alerts provide information about your data. If your device is stolen, for example, it is therefore advisable to use the Power BI service to turn off all data-driven alert rules.
Tip 8: Cross-filtering
Power BI Online
Power BI Pro or Power BI Premium licence required
All data visualisations on a report page are connected to each other through the underlying data. This makes cross-filtering very easy. Cross-filtering means that when you select a data point in one data visualisation, all other data visualisations containing that data change based on your selection. This can be useful, for example, to show how one of the values in your data contributes to another.
To cross-filter, select a data point in one of your data visualisations. You will see that the rest of your report page changes too, showing only the data directly linked to the selection you just made.
Want to know more?
Those were our 8 Power BI tips for users. Want to learn more about Power BI? Then sign up for the free Power BI Basics training on 28 May! The training takes place online via Microsoft Teams.
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