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Category: Power BI

Using the DAX FILTER Function

Published 2025-08-21 by Kevin Feasel

Ben Richardson digs into a function:

If you’ve ever tried to build a measure that needed more filtering power than a basic slicer, you’ve probably hit a wall.

That’s where DAX’s FILTER function comes in.

While visual filters and slicers work great for basic scenarios:

FILTER gives you row-level control to create sophisticated calculations that respond dynamically to your business logic.

Click through for an explanation of the function, as well as several examples of how it works.

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Using Dropdowns in Translytical Task Flows

Published 2025-08-20 by Kevin Feasel

Jon Vöge isn’t content with slicers:

When building Translytical Task Flows for Power BI / Fabric, you’ll quickly come head to head with a few limitations:

  • They won’t work in Embedded scenarios
  • They won’t work with PBIR and PBIP formats
  • They natively only support inputs coming from the three new slicer types: Text, Button and List Slicers (all of which are in preview at the time of writing).

Read on to see how you can partially get around the third limitation.

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Using the Tabular Object Model via Semantic Link Labs

Published 2025-08-20 by Kevin Feasel

Gilbert Quevauvilliers does a bit of connecting:

In this blog post I am going to show you how to use the powerful Semantic Link Labs library for Tabular Object Model (TOM) for semantic model manipulation.

The goal of this blog post is to give you an understanding of how to connect using TOM, then based on the documentation use one of the functions.

Don’t get me wrong the documentation is great, but when implementing it, it works a little differently and I want others to know how to use it, so it can automate and simplify some repetitive tasks.

Read on for the instructions and some of the things you can do with the Semantic Link Labs library in Microsoft Fabric.

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Merging Data Tables in Power Query

Published 2025-08-20 by Kevin Feasel

Reza Rad merges tables together:

Power Query gives you the capability of joining (merging) tables together using key columns, and there are multiple types of Merge types to choose from. There is another way to merge tables especially when the data source is a relational database system. In this article and video, You will learn how this options works.

Click through for the article and accompanying video.

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Troubleshooting Power BI Report Performance

Published 2025-08-19 by Kevin Feasel

Ben Richardson speeds up a report:

Slow Power BI reports waste time and frustrate users.

The slowdown often comes from hidden issues in the data model, DAX, visuals, or refresh settings.

This guide shows you how to find the cause, fix it, and keep reports running smoothly.

Read on to see some of the built-in tooling for performance optimization, as well as more information on these four common issues.

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An Introduction to Query Folding in Power BI

Published 2025-08-18 by Kevin Feasel

Alex Powers takes us through one major performance optimization technique in Power BI:

One of the most powerful capabilities of Power Query and the M Language is Query Folding (also referred to as query delegation, and predicate push-down). Query Folding allows the Power Query Mashup Engine to push the transformations expressed in an M (mashup) query to the data source, in the data source’s query language, resulting in more efficient data processing.

For inexperienced database technology users this ability to leverage the graphical user interface of Power Query to dynamically generate a query written in the data source’s query language unlocks enormous opportunities to find insights with any data, at any scale.

Click through to see how you can know if query folding is enabled, as well as some hints around when and to what extent query folding will work.

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Downloading Power BI Reports from the Power BI Service

Published 2025-08-14 by Kevin Feasel

Gilbert Quevauvilliers wants to download a report:

I am sure we have all had it where there is Power BI report in the service which has been working for a long time. Then there is a requirement to make a change, and NO ONE can find the original PBIX.

There now is an easy way to download the Power BI Report or the Power BI Semantic model from the Power BI Service, and I will show you how to do this!

Click through to see how. No Power BI Report Server jokes this time around, however, because that functionality has been around for a while as long as you have appropriate permissions on the reports themselves.

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Custom Fonts in Power BI

Published 2025-08-13 by Kevin Feasel

Ben Richardson looks at fonts:

Want your Power BI reports to look more polished and on-brand?

Fonts play a big role in how your reports are perceived – impacting clarity, trust, and style.

But Power BI doesn’t let you upload custom fonts directly. So, what can you do?

Click through for several options.

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Recommendations around SUMMARIZECOLUMNS

Published 2025-08-13 by Kevin Feasel

Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari share some thoughts:

SUMMARIZECOLUMNS is the most widely-used function in Power BI queries. An important and unique feature of SUMMARIZECOLUMNS is that it determines automatically how to scan the model to produce its result. Indeed, when using SUMMARIZE, GROUPBY, ADDCOLUMNS, or any of the more basic querying functions, developers must declare the source table to perform the grouping, as well as the group-by columns and the measures to add to the result. On the other hand, SUMMARIZECOLUMNS requires only the group-by columns; there is no need to provide the source table, which is the primary ingredient of any query. SUMMARIZECOLUMNS figures out the structure of the result by itself, using a sophisticated algorithm that requires some understanding.

The pair do have a whitepaper available on their premium (paid) service but even the free post contains a lot of detail you’ll want to check out if you use DAX.

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