Power BI Desktop

Sample manual - first two chapters

Manual 1225 - 224 pages –

 TABLE OF CONTENTS (1 of 7)

1 POWER BI BASICS Page 3 IMPORTING DATA Page

1.1 What is Power BI Desktop? 9 3.1 Our Example 24
1.2 Installing and Updating Power BI 10 3.2 Importing from Different Sources 25
From Microsoft Store 10 Re-Using a Data Source 25
Installing without Automatic Updates 10
3.3 Importing from Excel 26
3.4 Importing CSV or Text Files 27
2 GETTING STARTED Page
3.5 Importing from SQL Server 27
2.1 Getting Started in Power BI Desktop 11
Using Queries and Stored Procedures 29
Example for this Chapter 11 Passing Arguments to Stored Procedures 29
2.2 Working with Files 12 3.6 Importing from a Website 30
Creating New Files 12 3.7 Entering Data Manually 31
Opening and Saving Files 12
Pasting Data 31
2.3 Views in Power BI Desktop 13 Typing in Data 32
Switching Panes 13
Report, Table and Model View 14
4 DATA MODELS Page
2.4 Getting Data 15 4.1 Data Models 33
2.5 Transforming Data 16 Viewing a Model 33
Editing Queries / Transforming Data 16 Selecting Single Model Items 34
The Power BI Query Editor 17 Selecting Multiple Items 34
Promoting Row Headers 17 Searching for Fields 34
Replacing Values 18
4.2 Model Diagrams 35
Changing Data Types 18
Removing Columns 18 Arranging Tables in a Model 35
Diagram Layouts 35
2.6 Creating Visuals 19 Collapsing and Expanding Tables 36
Inserting a Visual 19 Controlling Expand/Collapse Field 36
Assigning Grouping Fields to a Visual 19 Visibility
Assigning Numerical Fields 20 Seeing Table Information 36

2.7 Three Ways to Format Visuals 21 4.3 Hiding Objects 37

In Situ Selection 21 Why you might Want to Hide Tables and 37
Fields
Changing what’s on your Chart 21
Hiding Tables 38
The Format Pane 22
Hiding Fields/Columns 38
2.8 Publishing your Report 23
4.4 Model Properties 39
Table Properties 39
Display Folders 39
Default Number and Date Formatting 40
Changing the Default Aggregation for a 40
Field

4.5 Relationships 41
The Need for Relationships 41
Parent-Child Relationships 41
Creating a Relationship 42
Editing Relationships 42
The Effect of Relationships 43
Cross-Filter Direction 43

© Copyright 2024 Page 2

 TABLE OF CONTENTS (2 of 7)

5 VISUALS Page 8 TABLES Page

5.1 Overview of Visuals 44 8.1 Basic Tables 66
5.2 Adding and Changing Visuals 45 8.2 Working with Table Columns 66
Adding a Visual then Selecting its Data 45 Sorting Tables by Columns 67
Data-First Visual Creation 46 Re-ordering Columns 67
Changing Visual Types 46 Changing Column Widths Automatically 67
Changing Column Widths Manually 68
5.3 Working with Visuals 47
Changing Word Wrap Options 68
The Visual Header 47 Renaming Columns 69
Focus Mode 47
8.3 Aggregating Data 70
Spotlight Mode 47
Resizing a Visual 48 8.4 Formatting Numbers 71
Selecting Visuals 48
Formatting Numbers within a Single Table 71
Moving, Copying and Deleting Visuals 48
Formatting Numbers for all Visuals 72
Locking Visuals 49
Setting Custom Number Formats 72
Aligning and Distributing Visualisations 49
Grouping Visualisations 50 8.5 Working with Dates in Tables 73
Showing a Visual’s Underlying Data 51
Displaying Dates as Dates 73
5.4 The Selection Pane 52 Changing the Default Format for a Date 73
Setting a Custom Date Format 74
Viewing the Selection Pane 52
Changing the Visual Layer Order 53 8.6 Specific to Formatting Tables 75
Changing the Tab Order 53
Column Headers 75
Hiding Visuals 53
Totals 75
Font Size and Typeface 76
6 VISUAL INTERACTIONS Page Table Padding and Gridlines 76
Table Styles 77
6.1 Overview 54 Formatting Columns Individually 77
6.2 Editing Visual Interactions 55
What the 3 Symbols Mean 56 9 CONDITIONAL FORMATTING Page
9.1 Conditional Formatting 78
7 FORMATTING VISUALS Page 9.2 Applying Conditional Formatting 79
7.1 Finding Formatting Properties 57 Setting Conditional Formatting 79
Searching for a Property 57 Changing Conditional Formatting 79
Finding a Property 57 9.3 Gradient Effects 80
7.2 Common Formats to Apply 58 Adding a Middle Colour 80
Setting Visual Backgrounds 58 9.4 Rules-Based Conditional Formatting 81
Borders and Shadow Effects 59
Titles, Subtitles and Dividing Lines 60 9.5 Formatting Using Field Values 82

7.3 Header Icons 61 9.6 Data Bars 83

7.4 Tooltips 62 9.7 Displaying Icons 84

7.5 Useful General Formatting Tricks 63

The Wonderful Format Painter 63
Expanding and Collapsing Cards 64
Removing all Formatting 64

7.6 Themes 65

© Copyright 2024 Page 3

 TABLE OF CONTENTS (3 of 7)

10 MATRICES Page 12 CHART BASICS Page

10.1 Overview of Matrices 85 12.1 The Parts of a Chart 93
10.2 Creating a Matrix 86 12.2 Types of Chart Available 94
The Sections of a Matrix 86 12.3 Working with Charts 95
Sorting in a Matrix 86
Creating a Chart 95
10.3 Multiple Rows, Columns and Values 87 Suggesting Chart Types 95
Sorting Charts 96
Multiple Row Fields 87
Zoom Sliders 97
Multiple Values Fields 88
Excluding and Including Data 98
Multiple Column Fields 88
12.4 Quick Ways to Format Charts 99

11 TEXT BOXES, IMAGES AND Page 12.5 Chart Legends 100

SHAPES 12.6 Detail Labels 101
11.1 Overview 89 Leader Lines for Data Labels 102
Drawing Text Boxes, Images or Shapes 89 Total Labels 102

11.2 Images 90 12.7 Background and Gridlines 103

Scaling Images 90 Plot Area and Background 103

Adding a Hyperlink to an Image 90 Gridlines 103

11.3 Text Boxes 91 12.8 Axes 104

Inserting Values 91 Categorical versus Continuous 104

Formatting
11.4 Shapes 91 Formatting Axes 105
Scaling Ranges 105
Adding a Shape 92
Spacing Categories 105

12.9 Conditional Formatting 106

13 SMALL MULTIPLES Page

13.1 Overview of Small Multiples 107
13.2 Creating and Formatting Small 108
Multiples
Setting Grid Width and Height 108

13.3 which will leave 2 extra blank cells on 109

the bottom row.
Formatting Small Multiple Titles 109
Other Formatting Options 110
Suppressing Axis Titles 110
Using Different Axes for Different Charts 111

13.4 Making the Background Colour -1

Dynamic

© Copyright 2024 Page 4

 TABLE OF CONTENTS (4 of 7)

14 MORE ON CHARTS Page

14.1 Line, Combination and Area Charts 112 19 CUSTOM VISUALS Page

Multiple Fields in Line Charts 112 19.1 What are Custom Visuals? 134
Line Formatting 113 19.2 Adding Custom Visuals 135
Secondary Axes 114
Pinning Custom Visuals 135
Combination Charts 114
Area Charts 115 19.3 Working with Custom Visuals 136
14.2 Pie, Donut and Treemap Charts 116 Applying a Custom Visual 136
Removing Custom Visuals 136
Formatting Pie and Donut Charts 116

14.3 Scatter and Bubble Charts 117

20 DRILL-DOWN Page
Creating Scatter Charts 117
Making Bubble Charts 117 20.1 Drill-Down for Charts 137
Formatting Scatter and Bubble Charts 118 What is Drill-Down? 137
Animating Bubble Charts 119 Enabling Drill Down 137
Drilling Down 138
Drilling Up 138
15 GROUPING AND BINNING Page
What Happens when you Drill Down 139
15.1 Grouping 120 Drill Down and Visual Interactions 139
Starting a Group 120 Viewing the Next Hierarchy Level 140
Editing Groups 121 Expanding All Levels in a Hierarchy 140
Using Group Fields 121 20.2 Drill-Down in a Matrix 141
15.2 Binning 121 Choosing Row or Column Fields 141

16 CARDS Page 21 SLICERS Page

16.1 New Cards 123 21.1 Introducing Slicers 142
16.2 Working with Cards 124 21.2 Working with Slicers 143
Creating a New Card 124 Creating a Slicer 143
Formatting Card Values and Labels 124 Selecting and Clearing Items 143
Formatting the Numbers in Cards 125 Changing Selection Behaviour 144
Card Shapes 125 Searching in Slicers 144
Formatting the Cards Themselves 126 Dropdown Slicers 144
Adding Images to Cards 126 Tile Slicers 145
Customising your Slicer Header 146
16.3 Reference Labels 127
16.4 Multi-row Cards 128 21.3 Hierarchical Slicers 147
21.4 Number and Date Slicers 148
17 GAUGES Page Sliders 148
Choosing Dates 148
17.1 Gauges 129 Picking Relative Dates 149
Adding a Gauge 129 Changing the Anchor Date 149
Minimum, Maximum and Target Values 130
Formatting Gauges 130

18 KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS Page

(KPIS)
18.1 Overview of KPIs 131
Creating a KPI 131

18.2 Creating Targets 132

Formatting KPIs 133

© Copyright 2024 Page 5

 TABLE OF CONTENTS (5 of 7)

22 NEW SLICERS Page 25 QUERYING DATA Page

22.1 Overview of the New Slicer Visual 150 25.1 What are Queries? 167
Benefits of the New Slicer Visual 150 25.2 Working with Queries 168
Enabling the Visual 150
Opening the Query Editor 168
22.2 Working with the New Slicer 151 The Query Editor 168
Default Query Steps 169
Adding a New Slicer Visual 151
Viewing Data at Different Steps 169
Basic Configuration 151
Editing a Query Step 169
Adding Images and Text 152
Renaming Steps 170
Adding Hover and Selection Effects 153
Deleting a Query Step 171
Deleting Multiple Query Steps 171
23 FILTERING REPORTS Page Adding a New Step 171
Viewing M Formulae 172
23.1 How Filters Work 154 Applying Query Changes 172
23.2 Working with Filters 155 25.3 Common Transforms 173
Showing the Filters Pane 155 Changing Data Types 173
Applying a Basic Filter 155 Renaming Columns 173
Adding Fields to the Filters Pane 156 Removing Columns 174
Removing a Filter 156 Removing Rows 174
Advanced Text Filters 156 Sorting Rows 175
Advanced Number Filters 157 Filtering Rows 175
Relative Date Filtering 157 Splitting Columns by Delimiter 176
Top and Bottom Filters 158 Splitting Columns by Number of 176
Sorting Filters 158 Characters
Extracting Values 177
23.3 Formatting Filters 159
Replacing Values 177
23.4 Controlling Filters for End Users 160 Duplicating Columns 177
Locking and Hiding Filters 160 25.4 Creating New Columns 178
Report Filter Settings 160
Creating a Column by Example 178
Creating a Formula 178
24 DRILL-THROUGH FILTERS Page Creating Conditional Columns 180

24.1 What are Drill-Through Filters? 161

24.2 Creating a Drill-through Filter 162
Step 1 – Create the Main Report Page 162
Step 2 – Create the Drill-Through Target 162
Page
Step 3 – Name and Hide your Drill- 163
Through Page
Step 4 – Configuring your Drill-Through 163
Page
Step 5 – Testing your Drill-Through Page 163

24.3 Three Ways to Drill Through 164

Modern Tooltips (Left Clicking) 164
Right-Clicking 164
Using a Drill-Through Button 164

24.4 Adding a Context-Sensitive Title 165

24.5 Extra Drill-through Options 166
Keeping All Filters 166
Drill-through from Summarised Fields 166

© Copyright 2024 Page 6

 TABLE OF CONTENTS (6 of 7)

26 CALCULATED COLUMNS Page 27 MAPS Page

26.1 Introduction to Calculated Columns 181 27.1 Overview of Maps 189
26.2 Creating Calculated Columns 182 27.2 Choosing a Map Visual 190
Starting a New Calculated Column 182 27.3 Maps Using Latitude and Longitude 191
Typing a Formula 182
Stopping Aggregation for Simple Maps 191
Multi-line Editing 182
Changing the Aggregation Method for 192
Comments and Indentation 183 Locations
Zooming In and Out 183
Formatting DAX 183 27.4 Maps without Latitude and Longitude 193

26.3 Conditional Functions 184 Using a Recognised Geographical Entity 193

Categorising Columns as Places 193
The IF Function 184 Fixing Locations to the UK 194
Operators in DAX 184 Converting Postcodes to 194
The SWITCH Function 185 Latitude/Longitude
26.4 The RELATED Function 186 27.5 General Maps 195
26.5 Blanks 187 Treating Maps as Visuals 195
Testing for Blanks 187 Changing the Map Style 195
Creating Blanks 187 Conditional Formatting 196
Blank Arithmetic 187 Manual Zoom Settings 197
Viewing Controls 198
26.6 Testing for Errors 187 Selecting Points on a Map 198
Selecting within Driving Time/Distance 199
Drill-Down in Maps 199

27.6 Specific Types of Maps 200

Bubble Maps 200
Heat Maps 201
Cluster Maps 202

27.7 Layers 202

3D Column Layers 203
Traffic Layers 203
Reference Layers 204

© Copyright 2024 Page 7

 TABLE OF CONTENTS (7 of 7)

28 PUBLISHING Page
28.1 Overview of Publishing 205
28.2 An Infinite Number of Variables 206
Your Power BI Licence 206
Linking to Data 206
Data Sources 207

28.3 Workspaces 208

Choosing a Workspace 208

28.4 Creating Workspaces 209

28.5 Publishing Reports 210
28.6 Viewing and Editing Reports 211
Reports and Datasets 211
Viewing Individual Reports 211
Editing a Report 212

28.7 Dashboards and Tiles 213

Adding Tiles to Dashboards 213
Using Tiles 213

28.8 Lineage View 214

28.9 Refreshing Data 214
Types of Connection 215
Types of Refresh 216
Web Connections: a Warning 216
Viewing and Managing Connections 217
Viewing Individual Connections 217
Scheduling Refreshes 218

28.10 Sharing and Exporting Reports 219

Creating a PowerPoint Presentation 219
Exporting to PDF 220
Generating a Public URL for your Report 220
Embedding your Report in a Website 221
Creating a Power BI Report File 221
Sharing a Report 221

© Copyright 2024 Page 8

 Chapter 1 - Power BI Basics

CHAPTER 1 - POWER BI BASICS

1.1 What is Power BI Desktop?

Power BI Desktop is a standalone software application from Microsoft which allows you to load data
into a model, and then create pretty reports like this:

This report contains an image, a text box and 6 visuals

(a slicer, 3 cards a bar chart and a map).

The report is based on tables which we’ve imported into

a model:

You can then publish these reports to the

Power BI Service, allowing anyone who has
a paid Power BI account to view them:

The same report as seen in Power BI Service

through a browser.

© Copyright 2024 Page 9

 Chapter 1 - Power BI Basics

1.2 Installing and Updating Power BI

There are two ways to install Power BI, depending on whether you want to get automatic monthly
updates.

From Microsoft Store

The easiest way to install Power BI is

from the Microsoft Store:

a) Type in Power BI Desktop in the Microsoft

Store search bar.

b) Choose to install the Power BI Desktop

application (although in this case it’s
already installed on this user’s machine).

Wise Every month Power BI will update automatically as Microsoft release new features.
Owl’s The best way to keep track of what these new features entail is to subscribe to the
Hint Wise Owl newsletter. This goes out at the start of each month and (among other
things) summarises and explains any new updates to Power BI.

Installing without Automatic Updates

If you want to control when monthly Power BI

desktop updates are installed on your computer,
choose this installation option instead:

a) Googling install power bi desktop should lead you to

this page in your browser.

b) Click to download the latest version of Power BI

Desktop (it’ll be up to you to update this manually to
incorporate changes).

© Copyright 2024 Page 10

 Chapter 2 - Getting Started

CHAPTER 2 - GETTING STARTED

2.1 Getting Started in Power BI Desktop

This chapter describes the basic workflow you’ll use to build a report in Power BI Desktop:

Stage Details
Loading and Loading one or more tables from various data sources, cleansing the data and
transforming data linking the tables together if necessary.
Creating a report Using the data that you’ve loaded to create a report, including visuals like charts.
Publishing this Publishing the results to your report server (usually Microsoft’s Power BI Service)
so that other people can view your reports.

You’ll find much more detail on the ideas mentioned in this chapter in later parts of this courseware.

Example for this Chapter

To demonstrate the basic process of building a report, we’ll import a table of data from a webpage
and create and publish a report based upon this:

At the time of writing these are the snow

conditions at selected resorts courtesy of
https://www.igluski.com/snow-reports .
We’ll transform the data to tidy it up (for
example, we can remove columns we
don’t need).

We’ll then present this data using visuals such as this chart:

We can use the imported, cleaned data to create a variety of

visuals, such as this chart.

Finally we will publish this report to the Power BI Service,

so that anyone in your organisation can see it:

The final report published to Power BI Service, and viewed

through your browser.

© Copyright 2024 Page 11

 Chapter 2 - Getting Started

2.2 Working with Files

Creating New Files

You can create a new report in Power BI Desktop in the following ways:

a) If you already have Power BI b) Click on this icon to create a new

Desktop open, select the File menu. report.

Opening and Saving Files

You can open and save files using options in the File menu:

a) From the Power BI Desktop menu choose the File menu.

b) Choose one of these menu items to open or save a report (the

dialog box which appears is similar whichever you choose).

c) Click on this button to find the d) Files that you save in e) Click on this button to open
folder which contains (or will Power BI Desktop will have the report you’ve chosen or
contain) your report. a pbix extension. to save this report

Wise Every time you open a Power BI Desktop report a new instance of the application
Owl’s will launch, leaving the current report you’re working on unaffected. To close a report
Hint you must close down the Power BI Desktop application containing it (there is no
option to close a report but still leave Power BI Desktop running).

© Copyright 2024 Page 12

 Chapter 2 - Getting Started

2.3 Views in Power BI Desktop

The most important components of the Power BI Desktop screen are as follows:

These tools allow you to switch between This is the Power You can use the Pane Switcher to change
the 3 main views in Power BI Desktop: BI Desktop menu what to look at. The two main views are
Report view, Table view and Model view. and ribbon. Data and Format, as explained below.

These tools allow you to switch between You can use the slider to zoom in and out, although you
designing reports for viewing on desktop may find it easier to hold down the Ctrl key and use your
computers or mobile phones. mouse wheel instead.

Switching Panes

You can use the icons on the right-hand side of your Power BI screen to choose what to show:

Click on this icon to see the data tables in your model …

… or this icon to see the format properties of the thing

you currently have selected (in this case a chart visual).

You can also use these tools on the View tab of the
Power BI Desktop ribbon to choose what you want to
view.

© Copyright 2024 Page 13

 Chapter 2 - Getting Started

Report, Table and Model View

You can switch between the three views of a report using the tools on the left of the screen:

View Icon What it shows Example view

The report that

you’re creating,
Report
consisting of visuals
and shapes.

The tables of data

that you’ve loaded
Table into your model (you
can see one table at
a time in this view).

The links between

the tables in your
Model model, called
relationships in
Power BI Desktop.

Wise The 4th icon – if present – allows you to create queries in DAX to interrogate the data
Owl’s
Hint
upon which your report is based, but this is definitely not something to consider in
this courseware chapter!

© Copyright 2024 Page 14

 Chapter 2 - Getting Started

2.4 Getting Data

The first stage in building a report is to find some data!

a) From the ribbon, choose Home | Get Data then choose a type of
data source. Here we’re choosing a Web source.

b) Each type of data source requires different information to allow

your report to connect to it. For a web source you need to enter
the URL of the page and then click OK. You may also be asked to
enter credentials if the website requires some.

c) Tick which table you want to

import from this page (the best
way to see what each looks like
is to click on it).

d) Click on this button to load the

data into your model.

You can optionally rename a table after importing it into your report:

a) Click on this icon to show the Data pane.

b) Choose Rename from the menu which

appears.

c) Enter a new name for your table and

press Enter .

© Copyright 2024 Page 15

 Chapter 2 - Getting Started

2.5 Transforming Data

You’ll often need to make changes to the data you have imported so that it can be presented easily
in visuals. This process is known as transforming data.

We will change the column

headings, turn some
column into numbers and
remove the final column.

Wise
Owl’s As with everything else in this chapter, we will go into this topic in much more detail
Hint later in this courseware.

Editing Queries / Transforming Data

Each table that you import into a report generates a query which tells Power BI Desktop which data
to get (and how to get it). You can edit these queries in (at least) 3 different ways:

You can right-click on a table in the Fields pane and choose Edit
query…

…or you can choose this option from the Home tab of the ribbon
(although it says it’s doing something different, transforming data and
editing a query are actually the same thing!).

Alternatively, you could click on this button at the point at which you’re
first loading data to go directly into the Power BI Query Editor.

© Copyright 2024 Page 16

 Chapter 2 - Getting Started

The Power BI Query Editor

Choosing to edit a query as described above opens the Power Query Editor tool within Power BI
Desktop.

Although you’re still working in the

same Power BI Desktop file, the
Power Query Editor has a different
ribbon with options related to
modifying data.

When you have finished cleaning your

data click Close & Apply to close the
Power Query Editor.

Wise This program to edit Power BI queries has gone by many names in the past! This
Owl’s courseware will call it Query Editor, although this name seems to have been
Hint abandoned by Microsoft. Little known fact: everything that you can do using Query
Editor in Power BI Desktop you can also do when getting data in Excel.

Promoting Row Headers

For our example the first thing you need to do is to make the first row your table headers:

a) To tell Power BI Desktop to use the first

row of the table as column headers, click
on this tool on the Home tab of the
Query Editor ribbon:

b) Query Editor will add two steps: one to promote your row headers (as
requested), and then another to change the data types of the columns
following this step. Query Editor will often insert silent additional steps like
this to second-guess your intentions, and (to be fair) nearly always gets
these right.

© Copyright 2024 Page 17

 Chapter 2 - Getting Started

Replacing Values

To allow us to average snowfalls for our data we need to remove the cm suffices then convert the
resulting data to integer numbers:

a) Select the first column whose cm suffices you

want to remove, then hold down the Shift key
and select the last one (this is the easiest way to
select multiple columns in Query Editor).

b) Right-click on the selected columns and choose

to replace values.

c) Choose to replace the text cm with nothing, then select OK .

Changing Data Types

You can now change the data

types of the 3 columns you have
selected:

Right-click on the 3 columns and

choose to change their data types
to Whole Number (note that this
would have generated errors if we
had done this earlier).

Removing Columns

Finally, we’re not interested in the last snowfall depth, so we’ll remove this column.

Right-click on the Last Snowfall column and remove it

from your query.

© Copyright 2024 Page 18

 Chapter 2 - Getting Started

2.6 Creating Visuals

Visuals are the tables, charts or other gizmos which display the data in your report. There are many
types of visual ( you’ll learn a lot more about them in later chapters of this courseware).

Inserting a Visual

Probably the easiest way to add a visual to a report is as follows:

a) Make sure that you’re in Report view, otherwise you won’t be able to add
visuals!

b) Click on the side bar to the right of the visuals pane (this appears on both
the Home tab and the Insert tab of the ribbon).

b) Choose which visual you want to create. If you get this wrong,
you can always change it after creating your visual by clicking
here:

Assigning Grouping Fields to a Visual

Once you have inserted a visual you can begin assigning fields to it:

The easiest way to

assign fields to a visual
is to click on this tool.

You can then click on

each part of a chart
(here we’re saying what
will appear on the
horizontal axis of this
column chart) then tick
the field you want to
include.

© Copyright 2024 Page 19

 Chapter 2 - Getting Started

Assigning Numerical Fields

You can assign numerical fields in the same way, then change how you want to aggregate them:

a) Click on the Y axis box the field well and choose to

show the Upper Slopes snow depth to get this:

b) Click on the field you’ve added and change it:

c) Once you’ve assigned a numerical field to a

chart you can click on it to say how you want to
aggregate it (here we’ve changed from
summing the upper slopes’ snow depth for each
country – which would be fairly meaningless –
to averaging it).

© Copyright 2024 Page 20

 Chapter 2 - Getting Started

2.7 Three Ways to Format Visuals

Much of your time in Power BI Desktop will probably be spent applying formatting like this:

The chart as it initially appears – the

title is hard to read and doesn’t stand
out, and it could do with a bit of oomph.

A chart which has been formatted within

an inch of its life (including the addition
of data labels showing the average
upper bound snow level by country).

In Situ Selection

There are a few parts of a chart that you can edit on the chart itself:

The parts of the chart you can edit directly are shown in red boxes.

When you double-click on any of these with the chart selected you will
be able to change the text displayed.

Changing what’s on your Chart

You can choose to add or remove some parts of your

chart using the following icon:

Click on this icon to add or remove certain chart

components (here we can add or remove the title, data
labels or a slider).

Wise
Owl’s The More options button is less useful than you might think: it just takes you to the
Hint Format pane on the right-hand side of Power BI Desktop.

© Copyright 2024 Page 21

 Chapter 2 - Getting Started

The Format Pane

You’ll spend much of your time in Power BI Desktop using the Format pane:

a) Select the visual you want to

format (otherwise you’ll see the
formatting properties of the page to
which it belongs instead).

b) Optionally, reduce the number of

properties displayed by typing in
part of the name of the one you
want to change (here we’ve typed
Title in the search box).

c) Expand a card to show its range of

formatting options, and make
changes.

d) Some of the changes made to

change the title to this:

Wise As a short-cut, double-click on a visual to select any part of it that you want to format;
Owl’s
Hint
the relevant card will automatically then be selected in the Format pane.

© Copyright 2024 Page 22

 Chapter 2 - Getting Started

2.8 Publishing your Report

When you’ve finished your report you will probably want to share it!

a) Check that you’re signed

in to a Power BI account.

b) Click on this Publish

button on the Home tab of
the Power BI ribbon.

c) If you have unsaved changes you will be asked at this point to

save them (you can’t publish a report which contains unsaved
changes).

d) Choose to publish
to the default My
workspace (see
hint below for
more on this).

e) Click on this link to see your report in Power BI f) Your report as it will appear to the world
Service on the Internet (you may be asked to log in (provided of course that they have the right
to your account again at this point). security level and licence …).

Wise A (much) later chapter in this courseware will cover publishing in more detail,
Owl’s
Hint
including an explanation of workspaces (and why you might want to create them),
how to create dashboards and much more besides.

© Copyright 2024 Page 23

 WHAT WE DO

ONLINE MANCHESTER AT YOUR BESPOKE

TRAINING OR LONDON OFFICE CONSULTANCY

Microsoft
Excel ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
VBA
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
OFFICE

macros
365

Office
Scripts ✓ ✓
Microsoft
Access ✓

Power BI
and DAX ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
PLATFORM
POWER

Power
Apps ✓ ✓
Power
Automate ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Reporting
Services ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Report
✓ ✓ ✓
SERVER

Builder
SQL

Integration
Services ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Analysis
Services ✓ ✓

SQL ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
LANGUAGES
CODING

Visual C# ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Python ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

www.wiseowl.co.uk | (0161) 883 3606 | [email protected]

www.wiseowl.co.uk | (0161) 883 3606 | [email protected]