What's New in the Power BI Desktop?

With all the changes in Power BI, it can be hard to keep up. In a recent webinar, our Director of Training, Devin Knight, got attendees caught up on some new releases and some of the bigger features that have become available. As many of the new features are around data visualization using Power BI Desktop, that’s the focus of Devin’s webinar and demos throughout.

Here are some of the features that he highlights:

1. Bookmarks

• Bookmarks are a great way to interact with your data in Power BI Desktop
• This was first released as a preview in October but was officially released this month
• Allows you to take a snapshot view of your report
• Add/Update Bookmarks
• Use View Feature to “Play” each Bookmark
• Works on: Slicers, Filters, In Focus Mode, See Data, Spotlight and Sorting

2. Sync Slicers

• Now you can create a slicer and you have the ability to sync slicers to interact with other report pages (either all pages or ones that you select)
• You also have the option to make the slicer visible on other reports

3. Report Page Tooltips

• Still in preview but in Devin’s opinion, the coolest new feature
• You can design, change and modify the tooltips inside your reports
• New Page size called Tooltip
• Ability to turn it on/off on each page

4. Organizational Custom Visuals (still in Preview)

• Admin can upload custom visuals approved for an organization to use
• Allows your organization to deploy and distribute proprietary custom visuals

5. Turn Off Visual Headers

• Hides the white bar above all visuals while in the Power BI Service in Reading Mode
• Can only be changed from the Power BI Desktop

6. Persist Filters

• Retains user-selected filters
• List of data view changes that reports currently persist: filters, slicers, sort order, drill location
• Can be disabled from the Power BI Desktop

7. Automatically Install Apps

• Makes it easier to distribute the right apps to the right set of people
• Automatically roll out Power BI Content to your users
• Must be turned on in the Admin Portal and on each App

View Devin’s complete webinar here, complete with demos of these new great features. Want to stay up to date on Power BI changes? Follow Devin on Twitter @knight_devin or check out his blog: devinknightsql.com. If you need Power BI training, Pragmatic Works On-Demand Training offers 9 Power BI courses, included in our library of over 30 courses in Business Intelligence, Business Analytics, Big Data, SQL Server Optimization and more. Visit us for a free trial.