Welcome to the Power BI February 2024 update. We’ve got a lot of great features this month. Here are some key highlights:

Visual calculations make it easier than ever to do calculations that were very hard or even impossible.
The Power BI home provides a centralized location for all your Power BI desktop activities.
Fabric Copilot for Power BI can now add measure descriptions to your semantic model measures.
The Power BI add in now supports shareable links to make it easier for people to consume reports.
The new Explore feature gives you a better understanding of what’s in the data you’re exploring.

More users can now collaborate with protected PBIX in Power BI desktop

Reporting

Visual calculations

A new way of doing calculations has arrived! You can now add calculations directly on your visual using visual calculations, which are DAX calculations that are defined and executed directly on a visual. A calculation can refer to any data in the visual, including columns, measures, or other visual calculations. This approach removes the complexity of the semantic model and simplifies the process of writing DAX. You can use visual calculations to complete common business calculations such as running sums or moving averages. Visual calculations make it easy to do calculations that were previously very hard or even almost impossible to do.

To use visual calculations while in preview, you need to enable it in Options and Settings ➡️ Options ➡️ Preview features. Select visual calculations and select OK. Visual calculations will be enabled after Desktop is restarted.

To add a visual calculation, you first need to select a visual. Next, select the New calculation button in the ribbon:

To add a visual calculation, type the expression in the formula bar in the visual calculations edit mode that opens. For example, in a visual that contains Sales Amount and Total Product Cost by Fiscal Year, you can add a visual calculation that calculates the profit for each year by simply typing: Profit = [Sales Amount] – [Total Product Cost].

Additionally, you can easily add a running sum of profit by writing:

Running sum profit = RUNNINGSUM([Profit])

Here is a visual with the two visual calculations we have just created:

You can use many existing DAX functions in visual calculations. Functions specific to visual calculations are also available, such as RUNNINGSUM, PREVIOUS and MOVINGAVERAGE. Using these and other functions, visual calculations are much easier to read, write and maintain than the current DAX required.

We are only just getting started with this preview. There is a lot more that we have planned, so please stay tuned for updates in future releases. However, we invite you to jump in now!

Dynamic subscriptions for Power BI reports

Dynamic per recipient subscriptions is now available in Preview for Power BI reports! Like dynamic subscriptions for paginated reports, you can now distribute a personalized copy of a Power BI report to each recipient of an email subscription.

Imagine you have a report that includes sales data for your entire team. You want to schedule an email subscription that sends out a PDF copy of this report to each salesperson on a weekly basis, with the report filtered to only show their sales results.

This can now be done by connecting to a semantic model (previously Power BI dataset) that defines the mapping between recipients and respective filter values. When it’s time to send out the report, the latest data available in your semantic model will determine which employees should receive a report in their inbox, and with what filter values applied.

On-object Interaction Updates

This February release we added multi-visual container format support! Previously, when multi-selecting across different visual types, the format pane did not support any options for formatting the visuals. Now, when multi-selecting different visuals, we’ve added formatting support for container formatting such as changing the size, background color, adding a shadow or turning on/off titles in bulk.

When multi-selecting different visual types (e.g. a line chart and bar chart):

Before

No formatting options shown

Now with On-object

Visual container options are available

We’ve also added the ability to format a visual’s container size and position even if it’s empty:

Before

No formatting options shown

Now with On-object

Visual container size and position are available

This month we also bring you a handful of quality improvements to the on-object experience:

Bug fix: when working with a non-visual (text box, button, image, shape) the build pane accidentally closing automatically. The build pane now stays open unless explicitly closed regardless of selected item type.
Bug fix: style bug where the build pane was showing 5 icons across instead of the usual 6 has been fixed.
Bug fix: in some cases, the data flyout was extending beyond the window size making the search box hard to use, this has now been fixed.
Enhancement: When choosing a field using the data flyout – you can now click anywhere on the name, not just the checkbox next to it to select the field.

5.Enhancement: If replacing a field in a visual that does not use an aggregation or date hierarchy (other dropdowns are disabled), we auto open the data dropdown to save an extra click.

Power BI Home in Desktop is Enabled by Default

We are excited to announce the new and improved Power BI Home as the default experience! The Power BI Home has been redesigned to provide a centralized and familiar location for all your Power BI activities within the desktop application. Our aim is to enhance your productivity and make it easier to discover and consume content.

With Power BI Home, you no longer need to navigate through multiple menus or tabs to access your files and reports. This intuitive interface serves as a hub, like other popular office products, where you can effortlessly manage your reports, all from a single location.

Whether you’re a seasoned Power BI user or new to the platform, Power BI Home ensures a consistent and seamless experience across all your Power BI activities.

Now, you can:

Initiate a new report directly from the new home screen.
Access reports from recommendations that we have curated.
Locate your most recent reports through the Quick Access lists.

Enhanced Reference Layer in Power BI Azure Maps Visual

We’re excited to introduce a significant enhancement to the Power BI Azure Maps visual reference layer feature. In response to valuable user feedback and in alignment with evolving industry standards, we have expanded the capabilities of the reference layer. Now, in addition to supporting the existing GeoJSON format, users can also utilize KML (Keyhole Markup Language) and WKT (Well-Known Text) formats.

We’re also adding URL as a data source alongside file upload. This addition offers users even more flexibility and convenience in importing spatial data into Power BI. Whether your data resides in GeoJSON, KML, WKT, or through a URL link, the Power BI Azure Maps visual seamlessly integrates these formats, ensuring a comprehensive and versatile geospatial analysis experience.

Modeling

Measure descriptions with Copilot

Add descriptions to your semantic model measures with Fabric Copilot for Power BI! People building reports from your semantic model can see the name and description of your measures, making the description property essential documentation. And Fabric Copilot is here to help!

Streamline your semantic model documentation by creating measure descriptions with Copilot.

1. Click on the model measure in the Data pane of Model view to see the measure properties.

2. Click on the Create with Copilot (preview) button under the Description textbox.

3. Review the measure description from Copilot, then click Keep it.

4. Now the measure description is in the Description box. Fine tune the description, as needed.

5. You update the measure later? No worries, just click the button again when you need the description updated!

Try this out today and let us know what you think! Get started today by turning on this public preview feature in Options > Preview features.

DAX query view improvements

We released the public preview of DAX query view in November 2023, and in this release, we made the following improvements:

Boolean values are now showing in the Results grid.

A share feedback link has been added in Options > Preview features. We would love to hear your feedback on DAX query view!
A bug causing active query tab to stop being highlighted is fixed.
A bug with close brackets of a nested IFs DAX formula is fixed.

And we have released additional INFO DAX functions.

INFO.CHANGEDPROPERTIES()
INFO.EXCLUDEDARTIFACTS()
INFO.FUNCTIONS()
INFO.LINGUISTICMETADATA()

Data connectivity

Certified connectors updates

SingleStore, we’re thrilled to inform you that our connector has now officially moved out of beta. We want to express our gratitude for your valuable feedback and for being an essential part of our beta journey. Your insights have played a crucial role in shaping the enhancements we’ve made.

This upgrade comes with an exciting new feature – you can now cancel running queries, hassle-free. No more queries running in the background after you refresh the UI/visual or navigate across the pages in the report.

Our team is dedicated to continuously improving and adding even more useful features to enhance your experience. Thank you for your ongoing support, and we can’t wait to continue providing you with top-notch features that elevate your data connectivity and reporting capabilities.

Service

Storytelling in PowerPoint – Replace report URLs with shareable links in Power BI add-in

When you add the Power BI add-in to a presentation, you can pick a report suggested to you or paste a link to a specific report.

When you paste a standard report link (the URL copied from the browser address bar), and if sharable links are enabled for your organization and allowed for this report, you have re-share permissions to this report, Power BI add-in can replace the link you pasted with shareable link. In that case you will see a checkbox added below the report URL that offers you automatic access to this report. Just mark this checkbox and Power BI add-in will create a shareable link for you.

Using a sharable link ensures that other users viewing the presentation have the required permission to see the report, and do not need to request access when viewing the presentation.

Data overview in Explore

Have you tried out the new Explore feature yet? This month we added a data overview feature to Explore that allows you to get the “gist” of what your data is all about. Powered by Copilot, data overview gives you a summary of what’s contained in the data you’re exploring and highlights some interesting tidbits to get you started. Let us know what you think!

DirectQuery connections update

Maximum connections per data source is a setting to configure the maximum number of connections DirectQuery opens for each underlying data source. This controls the maximum number of queries that can be executed concurrently against each data source and is configurable per semantic model.

We recently updated the upper limit of the number of concurrent Direct Query connections allowed per semantic model. The updated limits for each SKU are listed in the table below.

Fabric SKUs	Power BI SKUs	Max concurrent DirectQuery connections (per semantic model)
F2	–	5
F4	–	5
F8	EM1/A1	10
F16	EM2/A2	10
F32	EM3/A3	10
F64	P1/A4	50
F128	P2/A5	75
F256	P3/A6	100
F512	P4/A7	200
F1024	P5/A8	200
F2048	–	200

The upper limit for Power BI PPU is 100 active connections. Note that there is no change to the Power BI Pro and Report Server limits and the default maximum value remains as 10 concurrent connections.

Mobile

Shared device mode is now GA!

Introduced last September, shared device mode is now generally available! With shared device mode, organizations can safely deploy the Power BI mobile app across their pool of shared devices.

Developers

Power BI Custom Visuals New Local Storage API

This API allows Custom Visuals to store data directly in the local browser. Data stored locally is more secure and improves the performance of web apps. The API will be controlled by a global admin setting.

On-object interaction support for custom visuals

Our February release introduces the support of the new on-object interaction. This enhancement allows users to build and customize visuals directly on the visual in Power BI Desktop. It puts common actions for creating and formatting visuals on the visuals themselves, actions such as adding fields, changing visualization types, and formatting text.

TMDL in Power BI Desktop Developer Mode

The primary objective of Power BI Desktop developer mode is to provide friendly source control and co-development experience. With this objective in mind, you can now save your Power BI Project files (PBIP) using Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL) format. TMDL has been designed from the ground up to be human-friendly, facilitating not only readability but also easy editing in any text editor. This represents a substantial enhancement for source control and collaborative development experiences, particularly when dealing with complex file diffs.

Saving as a PBIP using TMDL is currently in preview. Before giving it a try, you must first enable this feature in Preview features: go to File > Options and settings > Options > Preview features and check the box next to “Store semantic model using TMDL format”.

After enabling the preview feature, when saving as PBIP, your semantic model will be saved as a TMDL folder named “\definition” with separate files for each table, perspective, role, culture:

You can also upgrade existent PBIP files to TMDL, by just opening them and choosing “Upgrade” when you save:

By default, Fabric Git Integration will still use Tabular Model Scripting Language (TMSL) to export the semantic model during the Public Preview. However, if the semantic model is imported into Fabric using TMDL, then Fabric Git Integration will export the definition into Git using TMDL in the event of any semantic model changes in the service.

Visualizations

Editor’s pick of the quarter

New visuals in AppSource

Multiple Sparklines

New features were added to Multiple Sparklines on Oct 23

When you double click a line chart, it will zoom in to screen size of visual and you can then compare it with any other line chart in that column.
You can use different colors for each line chart in a field/column.
You can insert ratings with bands.
You can add beeswarm / distribution microchart.

Once you double click the line chart, it zooms in to the visual size. You can then compare it with another line chart in the same column. This is shown below:

Rose Donut Pie Chart by Powerviz

Rose/Donut/Pie Chart is a powerful visual that lets you build four types of charts – a rose, a rose donut, a donut, and a pie chart. These chart types are commonly used to display part-to-whole relationships, proportions of categorical data, and ratios. Each arc represents the ratio from the total for easy comparison.

Key Features:

Chart Options: Rose, donut, pie charts with style customization.
Data Colors: Choose from 30+ palettes, including color-blind mode.
Fill Patterns: Apply patterns or use custom images.
Smart Labels: Improve readability with data and leaf labels.
Arc Customization: Easily adjust arc radius, padding, and stroke.
Ranking: Filter Top/Bottom N, show others intelligently.
Center Circle: Multiple layers, text, icons, and images in the center.
Mouseover Text: Display dynamic details when hovering over arcs.
Image Labels: Integrate dynamic image URLs for enhanced visuals.
Conditional Formatting: Detect outliers and set smart rules for measures/categories.

Other features included are annotation, grid view, show condition, and accessibility support.

Business Use Cases: Finance, Healthcare, E-commerce, Education, Customer Demographics.

xViz Gantt Chart by Lumel

xViz Gantt Chart by Lumel is a Microsoft Power BI Certified Visual. As the most feature rich Gantt in Power BI – it is widely used across most Fortune 500 companies world-wide.

Why Large Enterprises Choose xViz Gantt Chart:

Real-time Alerts for Project Managers: Leverage Conditional Formatting to receive color-coded alerts and status flags, ensuring timely awareness of schedule delays or progress issues.

Visualize Task Dependencies: Easily identify causes of delays with the ability to plot task dependencies using connectors within the roadmap view.

Adaptable for Different Users: From Stakeholders tracking yearly progress to Project Managers analysing monthly views and Developers scrutinizing smaller time grains with flexibility across three distinct timeline levels.

Strategic Planning with Reference Lines and Ranges: Utilize Reference Lines and Ranges to mark crucial dates, holidays, sprints, or deadlines across projects.

Customization Galore: Wide range of customizable options, including adjustable timeline limits, selectable week start days, and indentation customization for ragged hierarchies.

Hassle-Free Licensing: The visual is free for use in Power BI Desktop. For sharing & collaborating on Power BI service, the licenses can be purchased directly from Microsoft AppSource.

Control Chart XmR by Nova Silva

Years ago, Stacey Barr introduced us to the magic of Control Charts. Magic it is, because it allows everyone to split their temporal data in two: random noise and real signals. And we all are looking for real signals, and don’t want to be distracted by random noise.

In our last release of the Control Chart XmR we have added several new features to make it even easier to find real signals and ignore random noise in your data.

First, we added a feature to allow any report consumer to override the applied rules. This allows everyone to analyze the effects of one specific rule or set of rules.

Drill Down Graph PRO

Drill Down Graph PRO lets you create elegant and user-friendly graphs to represent complex relationships between nodes. It’s ideal for both small and large network graphs and offers advanced features like cross-chart filtering and vast customization options. You can create hierarchies and explore them using this visual’s intuitive interactions.

Main features include:

Multiple layout options – dynamic, hierarchical, and radial
Focus nodes mode – for gradual exploration of graphs.
Customization options – choose colors, shapes, images, and labels.
Bidirectional links – show reciprocal relationships between nodes.
Touch device support – explore your data anywhere.

Popular use cases:

IT – asset management, IT infrastructure, IoT monitoring
Logistics – fleet management, stock management, parcel tracking
Sales & Marketing – community detection, account management, web analytics

ZoomCharts Drill Down Visuals are known for interactive drilldowns, smooth animations, and rich customization options. They support interactions, selections, custom and native tooltips, filtering, bookmarks, and context menu. Use them to create visually appealing and intuitive reports that business users will love on any device.

Purview

More users can now collaborate with protected PBIX in Power BI desktop

Have you ever wondered how to collaborate with your colleagues on sensitive data without compromising its security? Do you want to learn how to use Microsoft Purview Information Protection sensitivity labels to protect your data?

If so, you’re in the right place! We’ll show you how to use sensitivity labels with protection to encrypt and protect your data, and how to enable more users to edit and republish encrypted PBIX files. By the end of this article, you’ll be able to collaborate more securely with your data in Power BI.

Protecting your data with Microsoft Purview

Compliance admins in your organization can use Microsoft Purview Information Protection sensitivity labels to manage their org’s sensitive data across different apps and services and meet regulatory and compliance requirements.

They define file protection policies for the sensitivity labels, which result in files being encrypted when such labels are applied, allowing only authorized users to open and edit these files in Office apps and Power BI Desktop.

Sensitivity labels are widely adopted by enterprises today and used to label and protect content in Microsoft 365 apps such as Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook, and now in Power BI and Fabric as well.

All you have to do is enable Information Protection in Microsoft Fabric’s Admin Portal and let the labels do the rest.

How Power BI Desktop enforces sensitivity label protection

In Power BI Desktop, we enforce label protection on PBIX files. To open a PBIX file, you either must be the label issuer or have one of the following usage rights.

These usage rights are elevated permissions, as they grant permission to change the sensitivity label. Because Power BI and Office apps use the same label policies, compliance admins may prefer not to grant these usage rights for Highly confidential labels. This might block you from collaborating with your colleagues when you’re sharing or downloading Power BI reports and trying to open them in the desktop app.

Collaborating and keeping label protection on PBIX files

By enabling “Increase the number of users who can edit and republish encrypted PBIX files (preview)” in your tenant, users that have been assigned with all of the following usage rights should be able to open, edit, and republish the protected PBIX file to the Power BI service:

View Content (VIEW)
Edit Content (DOCEDIT)
Save (EDIT)
Copy and extract content (EXTRACT)
Allow Macros (OBJMODEL)

Thus, users who were once restricted can now collaborate with protected files, while keeping protection consistent with the organizational policy.

Note: These usage rights are a sub-set of the “Co-Author” permissions preset in Microsoft Purview compliance center.

What are the restrictions and why?

In order to align with compliance requirements, users with these usage rights are lightly restricted while editing a protected PBIX file.

No exporting to unsupported formats –The user won’t be able to export to formats that don’t support sensitivity labels, such as CSV files.

No label change – The user can’t change the label on the PBIX file.

Republishing to the original workspace only

Why restrict republishing into the original workspace only?

To remain compliant, we must keep users from gaining more permissions, including Power BI permissions (i.e., Read, Write, Reshare and Build). Meaning that a user who wishes to publish should not be able to publish to a workspace that might grant them additional permissions through Workspace roles.

Additionally, this feature is meant for collaborating and sharing items that are more restricted than usual, and confidential data is usually managed in a dedicated workspace. This restriction will prevent users from publishing confidential data across the tenant.

Side note: The file must be published at least once for other users to be able to republish it to that specific workspace. If the file has not yet been published, then the latest label issuer (the one who set the protected label) or a user with sufficient usage rights must publish it and then share the file with the other editors.

How to enable it

Prerequisite: The compliance admin must assign you and your colleagues the proper permissions for that sensitivity label.

Next, Fabric/Power BI admins must enable the feature in Admin Portal > Information protection > Increase the number of users who can edit and republish encrypted PBIX files (preview).

In Power BI Desktop, users who would like to open and edit protected PBIX files must enable the feature by opening File > Options and settings > Options > Preview feature > Less elevated user support.

Power BI February 2024 Feature Summary

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