Changing the scope of table and matrix data bars

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What's new in the March 2024 Power BI Desktop update Part two of a four-part series of blogs
There are updates to on-object interactions and visual calculations this month, but these major new features still remain in preview. This leaves small changes to data bar and data label formatting - and a new way of doing row-level security - as the only signficant changes in this month's update. What's new in the March 2024 Power BI Desktop update Changing the scope of table and matrix data bars (this blog) Allowing horizontal alignment of chart data labels You can now create row-level security without DAX We've been creating our idiosyncratic monthly blogs on Power BI updates since November 2016, and also deliver online and classroom Power BI courses.

What's new in the March 2024 Power BI Desktop update

Part two of a four-part series of blogs

There are updates to on-object interactions and visual calculations this month, but these major new features still remain in preview. This leaves small changes to data bar and data label formatting - and a new way of doing row-level security - as the only signficant changes in this month's update.

What's new in the March 2024 Power BI Desktop update
Changing the scope of table and matrix data bars (this blog)
Allowing horizontal alignment of chart data labels
You can now create row-level security without DAX

We've been creating our idiosyncratic monthly blogs on Power BI updates since November 2016, and also deliver online and classroom Power BI courses.

Posted by Andy Brown on 28 March 2024

This seems like a feature which would be low down on anyone's request list. It also - surely - currently contains a bug, although read on to see if you agree.

The new feature allows you to extend data bars like this to include the totals in a table or matrix.

So here's how this works. Find the Cell elements formatting card with a table or matrix like the one above selected, and apply Data bars:

Choose a numeric column (here we've chosen Quantity sold) then turn data bars on.

If you then click on the standard fx button shown above, you'll be able to customise how these data bars appear:

For this example I'm going to choose Values and totals.

The moment you do this, the OK button is greyed out:

Computer says ... no.

The only way to proceed seems to be to set a minimum and maximum quantity:

Here I've set the minimum to 0 and the maximum to 80000, and I can proceed.

The total is included when calculating the data bars:

Because the total is (obviously) bigger than all of the component data bars it has a much wider bar than any other cell.

If (like me) you are wondering what Totals only would mean for the above context, the answer is ... not much!

For a table, showing data bars for Totals only is pointless.

Totals only does have some meaning for a matrix:

Data bars make sense when comparing more than one number.

Why should you have to set a minimum and maximum threshold for your data bars when they include totals? I can't work out if this restriction is a bug or a necessary feature. Can anyone throw any more light on this?

Parts of this blog
What's new in the March 2024 Power BI Desktop update Changing the scope of table and matrix data bars (this blog) Allowing horizontal alignment of chart data labels You can now create row-level security without DAX