Problem
I need a structured reference guide to help me get started or expand on Power BI knowledge. I want to be able to bookmark a resource and then use it daily when needed as I build my data sets, reports, and dashboards. Can you please enumerate some common and helpful resources as a Power BI Quick Reference guide?
Solution
The goal of this tip is to create a living document that helps Report Developers, BIs, Data Analysts, etc., on a daily basis when working with all flavors of the Power BI eco system: Power BI Desktop, Power BI Service, Power BI Report Builder and Power BI mobile. Feel free to bookmark this article and suggest code to include in this tip in the comments section below.
If you are a beginner with the Power BI product and eco systems, also consider the following course as a starting point: Microsoft Power BI Training.
Power BI Getting Started
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| Overview | History and overview of Power BI. | Power BI for Business Intelligence |
| A list of things to consider before starting out with Power BI. | Power BI: What I wish I knew when I started? | |
| The key areas in which Power BI offers capabilities for data insights. | Overview of Power BI Dashboards and Visualizations in the Cortana Intelligence Suite | |
| Explore the diverse ways to present data in Power BI. | Power BI Dashboard vs Report vs Workbook | |
| Downloading | Install Power BI desktop and build your first report with modeling, transforming and visualizing data. | Power BI – Download, Install and Create Your First Report |
| How to download and start using Microsoft Power BI for your organization’s business intelligence needs. | Power BI – How to Download and Get Started | |
| How Power BI can get you started with the ability to share your data findings among your team concisely. | Getting Started with Power BI – Part 1 | |
| Power BI Desktop | What the Power BI Desktop tool is and how to use it best for business intelligence and data visualization projects. | Power BI Desktop – What is it and how do I use it? |
| Getting Started with Power BI Designer | ||
| Power BI Desktop – The What, Why and How | ||
| Power BI Service | How to publish your report to the Power BI Service. | Publish Power BI Report to Power BI Service |
| Power BI Report Builder | How to use excel/csv data source for a paginated report. | Power BI Paginated Reports with Excel Source |
| Power BI Embedded | Share or embed my Power BI Reports and App within other sites. | Power BI Embedded Example |
| Power BI Report Server | Power BI Report Server: Who, What, Where, When, and Why? | Introduction to Power BI Report Server |
| The Power BI Report Server is part of the Power BI Premium offering which enables building distributed hybrid BI systems that include cloud and on-premises mixed deployment. | Install and configure Power BI Report Server and Power BI Desktop | |
| Service and functionality comparison | When comparing Microsoft Fabric vs Power BI, it all seems very complex and we’re not even sure we need it. What will happen with Power BI? Will it be replaced with Fabric? | Microsoft Fabric vs Power BI |
| The pros and cons of two core BI tools: SSRS and Microsoft Power BI. | SSRS vs Power BI | |
| The difference between Power BI Desktop and Power BI Online. | Compare Power BI Desktop vs. Power BI Online | |
| Data visualization tool comparison: Power BI vs Tableau. | Comparing Power BI vs Tableau as Data Visualization Tools | |
| Comparison between Power BI vs Tableau for retrieving data. | Building Reports with Power BI vs Tableau from SQL Server Data |
Best Practices
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| General best practices | Things you should know to make the best use of Power BI for your reporting needs on-premises as well as in the Azure and AWS clouds. | Development Best Practices for Power BI |
| Some of the most common mistakes when working with Power BI | Top 5 Power BI Common Pitfalls | |
| Power BI Mistakes to Avoid – Part 2 | ||
| Performance improvements | Various tools, techniques, and suggestions for performance improvements in your Power Bi solutions. | Improve Power BI Performance with Horizontal Filtering |
| Power BI Performance Optimization Tips | ||
| Improve Power BI Performance with Auto Date/Time and DAX Variables | ||
| Improve Power BI Performance with SQL Server Indexing | ||
| Review and evaluate the performance of Power BI files. | Power BI Performance Analyzer | |
| External tools | What are the Power BI Desktop External Tools and how to use them. | Power BI Desktop External Tools and Why You Should be Using Them |
| Four Best Practices for Power BI Desktop and DAX | Best practices to help you get the most out of your models. We will also look the DAX formula language. | Power BI Best Practices |
| Mobile report development | Best practices for mobile report development. | Power BI Mobile Features |
Security
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| Row-level security (RLS) | How to use Row Level Security in Power BI. | Power BI Row Level Security |
| Instead of creating different reports based on what users can and cannot see, see how row level security can be utilized in Power BI. | Power BI Table Based Row Level Security | |
| Data masking | How to implement masking and unmasking database strategies for testing and publishing a Power BI reporting solution. | Data Masking and Unmasking Strategy for Power BI Report Testers and Business Users |
| Workspace security | Overview of Power BI workspace permissions and roles. | Power BI Workspace Permissions and Roles |
Business Scenarios and Complete Solutions
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| Developing a Personal Finance Calculator | How to use Power BI to build personal expenses score card. | Power BI use case – Developing a Personal Finance Calculator |
| Analyzing Personal Finances with Power BI | Implement budget analysis in Power BI | Analyzing Personal Finances with Power BI – Expenses Versus Budget |
Connect to Data
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| General | How to load data into Power BI Desktop. | Power BI Desktop Data Source Considerations |
| SQL | In this article, we look at using DirectQuery versus Import Mode and when to use one option over the other for your Power BI reports. | Power BI Connect to SQL Server – DirectQuery vs. Import Mode |
| Querying Azure SQL data from Power BI Desktop. | Create Power BI Connection to Azure SQL Database | |
| Querying Azure SQL data mart from Power BI Desktop. | How to connect to a Power BI Datamart in Power BI Desktop | |
| Querying SQL data from Power BI Desktop. | Querying SQL Server Data with Power BI Desktop | |
| SSAS, SSRS | Change a Power BI report data source from a Multidimensional SSAS cube to the Tabular model and how to do this with minimal impact. | Change Power BI Reports Source from Multidimensional SSAS Cube to Tabular |
| Connecting to an Analysis Services 2022 Tabular model. | Extend your Power BI Reports with Analysis Services 2022 Data | |
| How to pin a SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) report to Power BI Dashboards. | Pinning a SQL Server Reporting Services Report to Power BI | |
| Excel and csv | How to import Excel workbooks into Power BI Online. | Power BI Data Import and Export with Excel |
| Integrate and render a Visio diagram in Power BI Report using Excel as a data source. | Integrate data driven Visio diagrams in Power BI Reports | |
| How to export data to Excel as well as the ability to analyze data directly within Excel. | Analyzing Power BI data with Excel | |
| Importing a csv file and applying basic transformations. | Introduction to the Power BI Desktop and the M Language | |
| How to leverage Power BI to transform and visualize data through hands-on exploration. | Power BI in One Hour | |
| SharePoint & OneDrive | Combining files in Power BI when we are expecting column names or column numbers to change at any time. | Get Files from SharePoint Folders in Power BI when Column Names or Column Numbers are Expected to Change |
| Combining several files from several folders from OneDrive for Business or SharePoint in Power BI. | Combining multiple files from multiple folders in OneDrive for Business in Power BI | |
| Dataflows | Different applications of Power BI dataflows and how to connect with various data sources. | Understanding Power BI Dataflows and Connect to Various Data Sources |
| Microsoft introduced Datamarts, a self-service platform to bridge the gap between business users and the IT department. | Power BI Datamart Low-Code and No-Code Functionality to Streamline Reporting | |
| Data Lake Gen2 | How to connect business intelligence tools like Microsoft Power BI to mass storage solutions like Azure Data Lake Gen 2. | Connect Power BI to Azure Data Lake Gen2 Storage for Reporting |
| Web | Scrape and load data from web sources. | Power BI Desktop Web Queries to Screen Scrape Data from Websites |
| Import JSON data from a web source. | Analyzing Multiple Pages of UK Petition Data Using Power BI | |
| How to use the PDF connector in Power BI. | Read and Import Data from PDF Files using Power BI | |
| Data gateway | How to connect Power BI Online to on-premises data sources with a personal gateway. | Connect to on-premises data sources with Power BI Personal Gateway |
| How to connect Power BI Online to on-premises data sources with an enterprise gateway. | How to use the Power BI Enterprise Gateway | |
| Power BI Data Gateway to Connect Data Sources in the Cloud and On-Premise | ||
| Native query and query folding | What is native query and to leverage it for more efficient data loading in Power BI. | Power BI Native Query and Query Folding |
| Data source files | What are PBIDS files and how to use them. | Power BI Data Source (PBIDS) Files |
| API | Using Azure Text Analytics in Power BI | Azure Text Analytics and Power BI |
| How to load data from an API using the M language. | Read API Data with Power BI using Power Query | |
| Datasets | An overview of the dataset and workbook objects of Power BI | Power BI Datasets |
| JSON | How to use JSON as a data source for Power BI | Using Power BI with JSON Data Sources and Files |
| Semantic models | A solution for pulling data into Power Query using the XLMA endpoint from a Power BI workspace without connecting directly to the database. | SQL Export to Excel via Power BI XMLA |
| Power BI semantic models represent a source of data that is ready for reporting and visualization. You can create Power BI semantic models in the following ways described in this article. | What can you do with the Preview Data Feature in Power BI Service? |
Model Data
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| Star schema | Different ways to structure the data and tables to help improve Power BI query performance. | Schema Design Basics for Power BI |
| How to build a proper star schema that includes a fact table and dimensions. | How to Create a Star Schema in Power BI Desktop | |
| How to optimize your data model using the star schema pattern. | The Importance of a Good Data Model in Power BI Desktop | |
| How to create a date dimension table in Power BI and how to access this data directly with DAX? | How to Create Date Dimension Tables in Power BI from Text Columns | |
| Creating a Date Dimension Table in Power BI | ||
| Table Relationships | Using DAX to create multiple relations between the same table in Power BI desktop for business intelligence projects. | Multiple Relationships on the same Table in a Power BI Data Model |
| Custom columns and tables | How to build a Power BI time dimension. | Build Power BI Time Dimension with Power Query |
| Create a new column from either an existing single column or from multiple column selections. | Deep dive on Using Column from Examples in Power BI on Dates | |
| Design patterns for using calculated tables to store intermediate results. | Design Patterns for Calculated Tables in Power BI | |
| Perspectives | A perspective provides the opportunity to show only a selection of items (facts, dimensions, or measures) to a user. | How to use Perspectives in Power BI |
Transform Data with Power Query
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| Getting started | Introduction to Power Query, the self-service data preparation tool from the Power BI family. | What is Power Query? |
| ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) capabilities built into Power BI. | Getting Started with Power BI and Power Query for Simple ETL – Part 2 | |
| Transform datasets without complex DAX calculations. | Common Data Transformations in Power Query | |
| What visual / GUI type tools can assist you with the design and development of Power BI Dashboards. | Query Editing with Schema View | |
| Transforming | Using the Merge function for creating relationships and using the Append function for creating a union between two datasets. | Power BI Merge Queries and Append Queries |
| Shaping your data by using the conditional column feature. | Conditional Column in Power BI | |
| Shaping your data by using the split column feature. | Exploring the Split Columns Option in Power Query Editor for Power BI | |
| How to analyze my expenses across all my personal accounts. | Analyzing Multiple Personal Accounts using Power BI | |
| How to format text columns. | Power Query Editor in Power BI for Formatting Text Columns | |
| Data profiling and data exploration | How to invoke basic arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division without using complex DAX functions. | Power BI Calculations without Complex DAX using Power Query Editor |
| The new “Explore this data” feature in Power BI service allows end users to perform their analysis within Power BI without exporting the data to Excel first or connecting to the Power BI semantic model from Excel. | New Power BI Explore this Data Feature: An Alternative to Excel Pivot Tables | |
| Instructional overview of efficiently utilizing he statistical calculation functionality provided by Power BI. | Exploring Statistics Calculations in the Power Query Editor of Power BI | |
| How to use scientific calculations, which support operations like cube, square, logarithms. | Scientific Calculations in Power BI – Cube, Square, Logarithms, Powers, Inverse and more | |
| Grouping | How to implement grouping and binning in Power BI. | Binning and Grouping Data with Power BI |
| Create a Power BI Grouping Report | ||
| Pivot and Unpivot | How to normalize data to make it easier for reporting using unpivot. | Normalize Repeated Data in Power BI reports and Charts with Power Query |
| Parameters | How to use the parameters feature in Power BI. | Using Parameters in Power BI |
M Language
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| Getting started | The M, standing for data Mash-up, is a functional language behind the scenes of Power Query. | Getting Started with Power Query M Language |
| Tables | How to create a date table using a custom column and the M language in Power Query. | Create Calendar Table Using Power Query M Language |
| Conditions | Identify the most recent records of data and, at the same time, be able to see the historical records as well. | Identify the Most Current Record from a Historical Dataset for a Power BI Report |
| Concatenation | Create a column in Power Query (rather than in Power BI DAX) for modelling purposes. | Concatenate Strings in Power BI Using Power Query M Language |
| Rounding formulas | The rounding functions that are available using the M language. | Rounding Numbers using the M Language |
| A comparison among the numeric and logical operators in M. | Simple mathematical formulas using the M Language | |
| Math formulas | Advanced mathematical formulas in the M language, including integer division, modulo division, power, square, and factorial. | Advanced Mathematical Formulas using the M Language |
| How to convert and format numbers using the M language. | Converting and formatting numbers using the M Language | |
| Text manipulation | Having a deeper understanding of the M language will help a BI developer in cases where the menus cannot solve the problem. | Text Extraction using the M Language with Power BI |
Visualize and Format Data
General topics
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| Data Quality | Step-by-step guide to create a Power BI dashboard for data quality and profiling. | Power BI to Visualize and Profile Data for Data Quality |
| Chart and Page Formatting and Configurations | Configure your Power BI Service to display the right date formats in each browser kind you use. | How to Manage Date Formats in the Power BI Service |
| How to configure the new card visual. | Exploring New Card Visual in Power BI Desktop for Better Data Presentation | |
| How to enhance your tooltips in Power BI. | Power BI Tooltips Enhancements | |
| How to adjust the interactions that take place between different visuals on a Power BI report page. | Power BI Visual Interactions | |
| How to create dynamic tooltips that provide additional insight from the primary report and charts without the need for drill-down reports. | Power BI Tooltips for Context Specific Intelligent Reporting | |
| Ways to re-configure the canvas settings of the page to allow it to have an increased space to add your visuals. | How to Increase the Vertical Orientation of Power BI Report Page | |
| Filtering | How to use the Power BI filter pane. | Power BI Filter Pane |
| How to use the FacetKey visualization to create faceted search and filters in Power BI Reports. | Faceted Search and Filtering in Power BI Reports | |
| Conditional formatting | How to use conditional formatting in a Power BI chart to highlight essential data points. | Power BI Dynamic Conditional Formatting |
| How to use the RAG symbols (Red, Amber, Green Symbols) within Power BI conditional formatting. | Power BI RAG Icons Custom Conditional Formatting | |
| Navigation | How to create a custom page navigation for a Power BI report. | Dynamic Page Navigation in Power BI |
| Create a navigation bar from bookmarks. | Power BI New Navigation Features | |
| Create and manage personal bookmarks. | Power BI Personal Bookmarks | |
| How to create a Toggle Button using bookmark navigation to toggle between different charts. | Power BI Toggle Button to Navigate Between Charts | |
| Dashboards | What is a Power BI dashboard and how to build one. | How to Build your First Power BI Dashboard |
| How to use Focus mode and pin tiles to a dashboard. | Power BI Focus Mode for Images and Data on Dashboards | |
| Drill-through | With drill-through in Power BI reports, you can create a destination target page in your report that focuses on a specific entity such as a supplier, customer, or manufacturer. | Setting up Drill Through in the New Power BI Report User Interface |
| Drill through navigation features. | Power BI Drill Through Example | |
| Canvas, theme & design | Advanced theme customization in Power BI. | Power BI Theme Generator New Methods and Customizations |
| Theme personalization for making good-looking reports. | Power BI Personalization | |
| How to make great data visualization reports with Power BI Desktop. | Power BI Desktop Report and Panel Design | |
| How to configure the canvas size for different orientations and aspect ratios. | Increase Power BI Canvas Size | |
| Zoom and focus | How to zoom a visual and focus on specific data range. | Power BI Zoom and Focus |
By chart type
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| Area and line chart | How to emphasize the intensity of change and the cumulative total of values over a time series. | Area Chart in Power BI to Understand Data Changes Over Time |
| How to study the historical trend of data and forecast the future trend with a line chart. | Data Forecasting and Analytics with Power BI Desktop | |
| What is a pulse chart and how to use it. | Power BI Pulse Charts | |
| Bar chart | How to implement dynamic lines representing descriptive statistics such as mean, median or standard deviation in a horizontal bar chart. | Analytics with Power BI Desktop Dynamic Line References |
| How to implement constant lines in a horizontal bar chart. | Analytics with Power BI Desktop Using Constant Lines | |
| How to dynamically view the Top N and Bottom N values of a measure in one chart. | Dynamically Display Top N and Bottom N Records in One Power BI Chart | |
| How to perform segmentation analysis using a unique chart in Power BI Desktop based on stacked bar chart. | Segmentation analysis using Mekko Charts in Power BI Desktop | |
| How to compare moderate number of categories using a clustered bar chart. | Build Stacked Column and Bar Chart in Power BI | |
| Track project progress and performance against a target in a single column with one or more color-coded columns. | Create and Format a Bullet Chart in Power BI | |
| How to enable the small multiples feature and an example of how to use this in a Power BI report. | Power BI Small Multiples Visual Example | |
| Column chart | How to dynamically select what should be on the X or Y axis of a column using Field Parameters. | Power BI Dynamic X and Y Axis Using Groupings in Field Parameters |
| How to compare moderate number of categories using a clustered column chart. | Build Clustered Column Chart and Clustered Bar Chart in Power BI Desktop | |
| How to visualize rolling (moving) average without DAX. | Creating a Rolling Average Graph with Power BI | |
| How to build a Power BI Ribbon Chart. | Power BI Ribbon Charts | |
| How to use ribbon charts in Power BI Desktop for performance analysis. | Performance Analysis using Ribbon Charts in Power BI Desktop | |
| Donut and pie chart | Using a sunburst chart is extremely useful for comprehending hierarchical data structures: one ring or circle represents each level of the hierarchy, with the innermost circle serving as the hierarchy’s top level. | How to Create a Sunburst Chart in Power BI Desktop |
| Slicers | Solve the problem of sorting a date value by its string representation. | How to Sort String Date Values on a Power BI Slicer Visual |
| How to turn your Power BI card visuals into slicers. | Convert Power BI Card Visuals into Slicers to add Report Functionality | |
| How to create interactive slicers which contain images, text, and extensive formatting features. | How to Create a Chiclet Slicer in Power BI Desktop | |
| How to filter data based on quarter and month using a slider. | How to use the Timeline Slicer in Power BI Desktop | |
| How to dynamically show or hide a visual in Power BI based on a slicer selection. | Dynamically Show or Hide a Visual in Power BI Based on Slicer Selection | |
| KPIs | Change the default behavior of the KPI visual as it tends to show the most recent value rather than an aggregated value as the. | Change the Default Output on a Power BI KPI Visual |
| Highlight the key performance indicators, justifications, and supporting evidence with the Power KPI visual. | How to use the Custom Power KPI Visual in Power BI | |
| How to use Power BI Layouts and Custom Themes as a design template for Power BI Reports. | Power BI Layouts and Themes | |
| How to configure the KPI matrix visual. | How to Use Custom Power KPI Matrix in Power BI Desktop | |
| How to provide a compact view that can give immediate details about the overall structure using a custom visual. | Power BI Scorecard Examples | |
| Getting started with the card visual. | New Power BI Card Visual for Better Data Presentation | |
| Correlation plots | How to classify data in clusters using Power BI Desktop. | Analytics with Power BI Desktop for Data Clustering |
| How to leverage Power BI Desktop scatter plots to visualize clustering effectively. | How to Apply Clustering in a Scatter Plot to Visualize Segments in Power BI Desktop | |
| How to plot high voluminous data points to derive insights, trends, patterns, or clusters from a high-volume dataset. | Visualizing patterns in high voluminous data using Hexbin Scatterplot in Power BI | |
| How to visualize data using categorical scatterplots in Power BI. | Visualize categorical scatterplots in Power BI with Python | |
| Techniques for exploratory data analysis, outlier, and anomaly detection. | Anomaly Detection without any coding using Power BI | |
| Correlation plots can be used to quickly calculate the correlation coefficients without dealing too much with statistic. | ||
| How to apply the Locally Weighted Scatterplot Smoothing (Lowess) method and find out the trend of a data series in Power BI. | Locally Weighted Scatterplot Smoothing (Lowess) approach in Power BI | |
| Infographics and animations | How to use your own custom Power BI Visual or Infographic within a Power BI report. | Power BI Custom Infographics |
| How to create an animated GIF in Power BI. | Power BI Reports with Animated GIF | |
| How to analyze and visualize graph data. | Data Analysis using a Journey Chart in Power BI Desktop | |
| Power BI provides a Force Directed Graph visualization to create a visualization for graph data analysis. | Graph Analysis using Force Directed Graphs in Power BI Desktop | |
| Tree-type charts | How to perform classification and regression analysis using decision trees in Power BI. | Classification and Regression Analysis using Decision Trees in Power BI Desktop |
| How to perform exploration, drill down and analysis using a decomposition tree in Power BI. | Data exploration, drill down, and analysis using decomposition tree in Power BI Desktop | |
| How to analyze distribution in a hierarchy by categorizing the hierarchy with another attribute and use this attribute to visualize the spread of an entity in the hierarchy. | Distribution analysis on hierarchical data using a Hierarchy chart in Power BI Desktop | |
| A pie-chart tree is a custom visualization, which can be used to analyze rolled-up values using a tree-based approach. | Power BI Pie Chart Tree to Analyze Hierarchical Distributions | |
| This tutorial highlights all the steps to create a tree map chart in Power BI Desktop. | Power BI Tree map Chart Step-by-Step Tutorial | |
| How to implement categorical comparisons with many categories using a tree map chart. | How to use Tree map Bar Chart visuals in Power BI Desktop | |
| Box and whisker plots | Basic principles of creating the box plot and, more specifically, how we can create a box plot in Power BI Desktop. | How to Create a Box and Whisker Plot in Power BI Desktop |
| Funnel and waterfall charts | What are Power BI Funnels and Waterfalls and how to use them. | Power BI Funnels and Waterfalls |
| A funnel plot is a variation of the scatter plot that aids in assessing and visualizing surveillance data by identifying outliers. | Power BI Funnel Plot for Outliers Detection | |
| Pareto chart | Visualizing data according to the Pareto principle. | How to Create a Pareto Chart in Power BI Desktop |
| Radar chart | How to perform quantitative multi-variate analysis in a scenario where there are too many performance metrics. | Multi-Variate Quantitative Analysis with Radar Charts in Power BI Desktop |
| Sankey chart | How to visualize inter-relationship between the entities proportionately in a relative manner without losing the progressive projection of the visualization. | Analyze entity data flow in Power BI Desktop using Sankey charts |
| How to visualize bi-directional inter-relationships data using a specialized diagram called a chord diagram visualization. | Analyze inter-relationships with chord diagram visualization in Power BI Desktop | |
| The Sankey chart can be a great tool to illustrate how resources flow for different hierarchies or how multiple resources contribute to different aspects. | How to create a Sankey Chart in Power BI Desktop | |
| Trend analysis | How to analyze trends in data from an analytics perspective using Power BI Desktop. | Analytics with Power BI Desktop for Trend Analysis |
| Tornado chart | This tutorial highlights all the steps to create a tornado chart in Power BI Desktop. | How to Build a Custom Tornado Chart in Power BI Desktop |
| Word cloud | How to use a custom word cloud visual to analyze the main theme of customer feedback. | Word Cloud in Power BI Example |
| Key Influencers | Using the first ever AI-driven visual known as Key Influencers to comprehend the behavior of major factors that impact key metrics. | Getting Started with the Key Influencers Visual in Power BI Desktop |
| What is the Power BI Key Influencer Visualization and how to use it. | Power BI Key Influencers Visual | |
| Timeline visual | How to use a custom timeline visual for time series analysis. | Time Series Analysis in Power BI using Timeline Visual |
| Gantt chart | How to use Gannt charts in Power BI for schedule analysis. | Schedule analysis using Gantt chart in Power BI Desktop |
| Maps | Geospatial analysis with Power BI. | Analyze Geospatial Data with Power BI Desktop |
| How to develop a custom map and use it as a visualization with your data in Power BI. | Creating Custom Maps to Display Data with Power BI | |
| Power BI supports a handful of interactive map visualizations to gain insights into the geographical data. | Power BI Bubble Map, Shape Map and Filled Map Examples | |
| Table and matrix | Complete overview of Power BI conditional formatting for matrix and table visuals. | Power BI Conditional Formatting for Matrix and Table Visuals |
| Customizing table visualizations. | Power BI Table, Matrix, and Chart Formatting |
DAX
General topics
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| Getting started | Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) is a formula expression language used in Analysis Services, Power BI, and Power Pivot in Excel. DAX formulas include functions, operators, and values to perform advanced calculations and queries on data in related tables and columns in tabular data models. | Getting started with DAX in Power BI |
| Slicing data | How to create a dynamic Power BI slicer Using DA. | Dynamic Power BI Slicer Using DAX Logic |
| Creating tables | How to create dynamic tables in Power BI using DAX, as they could with other programming and query languages. | Dynamically Create Tables in Power BI with DAX Functions |
| Conditions | Power BI logical functions for data analysis. | Write Logical Expressions using DAX with Power BI Operators and Functions |
By function
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, NOW | Build a dynamic countdown timer that is updated based on the underlying data and does not require any manual configuration. | Building a Dynamic Countdown Timer in Power BI |
| DAY, MONTH, YEAR | How to slice data by current week, previous week, two weeks ago, etc. | How to Slice Data by Week in a Calendar Table using DAX |
| How to set the current fiscal month identity in a calendar table when dealing with fiscal periods. | How to Slice Data by Fiscal Month using DAX for Power BI Reports | |
| WEEKDAY | How to generate a value for relative week with respect to the current week in SQL and Power BI. | Calculate Relative Weeks in Power BI |
| How to compute number of days or working days in a date range. | Calculate Working Days in Power BI | |
| CALENDAR | With the Power BI September 2025 feature updates, it is now possible to define custom Power BI calendars based on time intelligence. | Power BI Custom Calendars for Gregorian, Fiscal, Retail, 13-Month, and Lunar |
| Calculate values for previous year’s weeks as compared to that of current year. | Calculate Values for the Same Fiscal Week in a Previous Fiscal Year with Power BI and DAX | |
| DATESINPERIOD | Calculate values for previous year’s weeks as compared to that of current year. | Calculate Values for the Same Fiscal Week in a Previous Fiscal Year with Power BI and DAX |
| NETWORKDAYS | How to calculate working days. | Calculating Workdays for Power BI Reports using NETWORKDAYS Function |
| PREVIOUSMONTH | Calculate the rate of growth in the usage of a certain product over time. | Calculate Percentage Growth Over Time with Power BI |
| DATEDIFF | Using DATEDIFF to calculate durations in various units. | Dynamically Compute Different Time Duration in Power BI Using DAX |
| TOTALMTD, TOTALQTD, TOTALYTD | How to calculate MTD, QTD, YTD and Running Total in Power BI. | Calculating MTD, QTD, YTD, Running and Cumulative Total in Power BI |
| CONCATENATE, CONCATENATEX | How to combine two or more text strings for data modeling purposes. | Combine Text Strings in Power BI Using DAX |
| The fine nuances between using CONCATENATE and CONCATENATEX. | Power BI DAX CONCATENATEX Function: How and When to Use It | |
| Detailed explanation of the CONCATENATE function with examples. | Power BI CONCATENATE Function: How and When to Use it | |
| RANKX | How to avoid two behaviors of the RANKX function that can lead to incorrect results. | DAX RANKX Function Behaviors Lead to Incorrect Results and Corrections |
| SUMMARIZE | Advanced ways to model your data by grouping using SUMMARIZE. | Power BI Calculate Cumulative Total by Week Within Quarter |
| NATURALINNERJOIN | Using NATURALINNERJOIN to streamline the task of merging tables. | Simplify Data Merging in Power BI with DAX NATURALINNERJOIN |
| ROUND, ROUNDOWN, ROUNDUP, FLOOR, CEILING | The various and common rounding functions DAX. | DAX Rounding Functions for Power BI Reports |
| RELATED | RELATED is a function that returns a value from another table. | Analyzing Personal Finances using Power BI |
| RELATED vs LOOKUPVALUE in DAX: How and when to use them in Power BI | ||
| VALUES | How to create a histogram in Power BI using DAX. | Power BI Histogram Example using DAX |
| TOPN | How to use the TOPN function in an example scenario. | Analyze UK Petition Data Using Power BI |
| RANKX | How to implement multi-column rankings. | Rank and Sort Data Based on Multiple Columns in Power BI with DAX |
| RANK and ROWNUMBER | Window functions making it easy to return a number indicating the rank for the current context within the specified partition, sorted by the specified order. | New Power BI DAX Functions – RANK and ROWNUMBER |
| AVERAGE | How to create your own data aggregations using DAX Sum, Average, Maximum, Minimum, or Count. | Aggregate Functions in Power BI – Running Total, Average, Max and Min |
| MINX, MAXX | The functions return the lowest/highest value that results from evaluating an expression for each row of a table. | Power BI DAX MINX and MAXX Functions for Values Across Data Set |
| IF, SWITCH | Implement branching expressions in DAX | DAX CASE Statement Functionality with IF, SWITCH and SWITCH True |
| INFO.VIEW | With these DAX functions, you can get metadata about your semantic model. | INFO.VIEW DAX Functions Usage and Examples |
Refresh Data
| Automating Data Refresh | How to use Power Automate to refresh a dataset used in a Power BI report. | Refresh a Power BI Dataset using Microsoft Power Automate |
| Creating a Logic Apps custom connector for refreshing a Power BI dataset from Azure Data Factory. | Refresh Power BI Dataset from Azure Data Factory – Part 1 | |
| Incremental Refresh | How to implement incremental refresh on a data source that does not normally support Query Folding. | Implement Incremental Refresh for non-Query Folding sources in Power BI within a Datamart |
| How to configure incremental refresh in situations where we have tables that do not have a date/time data type column but have integer surrogate keys in the date column. | Incrementally Refresh Data in Power BI with Power Query for Integer Date Fields | |
| Configure the incremental refresh within Power BI Desktop for data sources such as Excel, CSV, and Dynamics365 that do not support query folding. | Configure Incremental Refresh for Non-Query Folding Sources in Power BI Desktop |
Real-time Data Ingestion and Visualization
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| Real-Time Streaming | How to ingest IoT telemetry, social media data or other metrics that requires immediate action. | Real-Time Streaming using Power BI Streaming Dataset |
AI
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| Power BI AI Capabilities | Overview of AI capabilities in Power BI. | Artificial Intelligence Features in Power BI – Part 1 |
| Overview of Power BI AI Insights, a feature that contains a collection of pre-trained Artificial Intelligence models that help you implement better data insights. | Using AI Insights in Power BI | |
| The several ways of detecting and dealing with anomalies in Power BI. | Power BI Anomaly Detection | |
| Data Insights provides a way to compare one data point on a data visualization with a previous data point in the same series and category. | Power BI Data Insights | |
| AI-powered automated documentation creation for DAX code. | Generate Power BI Documentation with Fabric Semantic Link and OpenAI | |
| QnA Functionality | The QnA functionality unraveled. | Power BI Advanced Q&A |
| How to implement advanced QnA functionality. | Power BI Advanced Q & A Techniques | |
| Introduction to the Smart Narrative feature. | Power BI Smart Narrative | |
| Adjusting QnA settings. | Power BI Q&A Linguistic Schema | |
| Example QnA scenario highlighting the capabilities of the feature. | Power BI Q & A Example and Demo |
Scripting
| General Guidance | How to use the Power BI Query Editor for execution of R and Python scripts to transform data. | Transform Data in Power BI with R and Python |
| Power BI Desktop supports direct sourcing of data from R and Python Scripts by executing the script in the respective R and Python environment. | Import data dynamically using R and Python in Power BI Desktop | |
| Python | Using Python scripts for generating visualizations. | Generate visualizations in Power BI using Python Scripts |
| R | How to perform ‘Market Basket Analysis’ by executing an R script in Power BI and creating visualizations of the R output. | Market Basket Analysis in R and Power BI |
| How to use the Power BI R script visual to generate a scatterplot matrix for multivariate data analysis visualization. | How to visualize multivariate relationships using Power BI | |
| Others | D3.js is a JavaScript library for producing dynamic, interactive data visualizations in web browsers. | How to render D3.js custom charts in Power BI Desktop |
Additional Features
| Automation | How to automate the creation of a new Power BI report based on the dataset. | Power BI Report Automation |
| How to schedule an export and emailing of Power BI reports with RLS using Power Automate. | Use Power Automate to Export and Email Power BI Reports with Row Level Security | |
| How to schedule an export and emailing of Power BI reports pages using Power Automate. | Schedule, Export and Email Power BI Reports using Power Automate | |
| How to receive automatic notifications of changes to Power BI Reports and Dashboards. | Power BI Subscriptions | |
| Workbooks | Explanation of the difference between a dataset and a workbook. | Power BI Workbooks |
| Content Packs | Content packs are bundles that can contain dashboards, datasets, reports and excel workbooks. | Power BI Enterprise Content Packs |
| Alerts and notifications | How to generate an alert when a value in a dashboard changes. | Power BI Online Alerts |
| Notify users when there is a change or updates in a report. | Notify Users of Power BI Dataset Changes | |
| The Power BI features available to notify a report consumer of data changes. | Power BI Features for Notifications | |
| MS Teams | The tip covers how to: Bookmark a report page.Analyze the report data in Excel.Export the report to PowerPoint.Embed the report on a Microsoft Teams page.Subscribe to a report | How to Make Power BI Reports More Useful for End Users |
| PowerPoint | How to export Power BI files to PowerPoint. | Power BI Export and Publish to PowerPoint |
| Others | Some of the most useful, yet overlooked Power BI features: Query parameters.Data profiling.Drill-through.Quick insights.Custom themes.Export to PDF/PPT. | Most Overlooked Features in Power BI |
| Template creation and printing. | Power BI Templates, Printing and Favorites |
Service Management
| Topic | Description | Resource |
| Administration, configuration, and monitoring | Overview of the best practices to manage and archive workspaces. | Power BI Workspaces Management and Archiving Best Practices |
| How to manage Power BI workspaces using a scripting language. | Managing Power BI Workspaces with PowerShell | |
| How to manage Power BI reports using a scripting language. | Manage Power BI Reports with PowerShell | |
| How to manage Power BI datasets using a scripting language. | Manage Power BI Dataset with PowerShell | |
| How to deploy dashboards and reports from Development to Test to Production. | Deploy Reports from Development to Test to Production using the Power BI Deployment Pipelines | |
| This tip provides insights into some common questions I have been asked relating to Power BI Deployment Pipeline features. | Power BI Deployment Pipeline Features |
Next Steps
Hristo Hristov is a seasoned data professional with 10+ years of experience spanning the intersection of data engineering and smart manufacturing solutions. Since 2017, he has specialized in implementing advanced analytics solutions for bridging the IT/OT gap.
A technical writer with over 80 published articles on data and AI technologies, Python development, and cloud solutions. Passionate about transforming complex data into business value through innovative applications of Azure Data Platform, Python, IoT solutions, databases, and other cloud technologies.
Currently applying Industry 4.0 best practices, focusing on IoT connectivity, and implementing data and AI systems in manufacturing. Hristo holds a degree in Data Science and several Microsoft certifications covering SQL Server, Power BI, and related technologies.
- MSSQLTips Awards
- Achiever Award (75+ tips) – 2026
- Rookie of the Year – 2021
- Author Contender – 2022/2023/2024/2025
This is great, thanks! Will you be adding Fabric items to this?
Thank you for sharing this. Just amazing and straight to land on precise topic. Very helful.