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Power BI – Slicer

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Slicers are the interactive filters used to format and analyze the parts of the data more effectively. We can create a slicer easily with 4 steps, as shown in the later stage of the article. We have various options to format slicers, we can change the value of the alt text, title, etc. We can also add various options like slicer headings, hierarchy distribution, and multi-select slicers. In this article, we will learn how to create and format a slicer in Power BI and explore its various options.

Creating a Slicer In Power BI

We have been given a dataset name Employee, for this article, we will need only, the Employee Name, and Salary columns. Our task is to create a Hierarchical slicer in Power BI.

Power BI - Slicer

 

The following are the steps:

Step 1: Under the visualizations, section. Click on the Slicer option.

Power BI - Slicer

 

Step 2: An empty slicer is created in the report space of Power BI.

Power BI - Slicer

 

Step 3: We have only one section, in Power BI slicers i.e. Field. We can add various columns of our dataset in the slicer. For example, Employee Name and Salary.

Power BI - Slicer

 

Formatting a Slicer In Power BI

After successfully creating a slicer in Power BI, we have multiple options to format it. For example, adding the title to the slicer, changing the color, and position of the slicer, and adding slicer settings, hierarchy, and Values in the slicer. There are two types of Formatting in visualizations i.e. visual formatting and general formatting.

Visual Formatting

Visual formatting comprises 4 options i.e. Slicer Settings, Slicer Header, Values, and Hierarchy.

Power BI - Slicer

 

Slicer Settings

Slicer settings, provide various options, to select the type of selection we want to apply in the filter. There are three options i.e. Single Select, Multi Select with Ctrl, and Show “Select all” option. The names are self-explanatory.

Power BI - Slicer

 

The following are the steps:

Step 1: Turn on the Multi-select with Ctrl, and Show “Select all” option. We can view that a new slicer value name Select All appears. We have also selected the multiple options in the slicer i.e. Arushi and Gautam.

Power BI - Slicer

 

Slicer Header

Slicer Header is the heading of the slicer, remember it is not the heading of this visualization, we can add a separate heading for the visualization using the title section. We have 3 options i.e. Text, Border, and Background.

 

The following are the steps:

Step 1: Click on the Text option. We have multiple options available. We can customize the heading of the slicer. Font can be used, to change the heading size. We can also change the Font color, to yellow.

 

Step 2: Click on the Border option. We can add a border to the slicer heading. Check the Bottom box, and a line appears under the slicer heading. We can change the color of the Border to Blue.

 

Step 3: Click on the Background option. We can set the background color of the slicer heading. For this case, we are keeping it white.  

Power BI - Slicer

 

Values

Values refer to the slicer data values. For example, Arushi and Gautam are the slicer values, on which the filter can be applied.  We have 3 options i.e. Values, Border, and Background.

Power BI - Slicer

 

The following are the steps:

Step 1: Click on the Values option. We have multiple options available. Font can be used, to change the slicer values size. We can also change the Font color, to Pink.

Power BI - Slicer

 

Step 2: Click on the Border option. We can add a border to the slicer values. Check the Bottom box, and a line appears under the slicer values. We can change the color of the Border to Blue.

Note: The border color cannot be different for slicer header and slicer values, PowerBI automatically converts them to the same color.

Power BI - Slicer

 

Step 3: Click on the Background option. We can set the background color of the slicer values. For this case, we are keeping it white.  

Power BI - Slicer

 

Hierarchy

Hierarchy are the nested values, added one after the other into the fields section. For example, salary is the nested value of the Employee Name, in the slicer. There are 2 options i.e. Levels, and Expand/Collapse.

Power BI - Slicer

 

The following are the steps:

Step 1: Click on the Levels option. This is used to set an indentation to the nested slicer values. We can view in the below image that, the position of the salary value has been changed, and shifted to the right.

Power BI - Slicer

 

Step 2: Click on the Expand/Collapse option. A drop-down appears. We can change the icon of the expand/collapse button. For example, we are setting the buttons to plus/minus.

Power BI - Slicer

 

General Formatting

There are multiple options in general formatting. For a  chart, we have options like Title, effects, alt text, etc. We will look at each of the options in detail.

 

Property

The property option is generally present in every visualization. It contains three options, Size, position, and Advance options. We, generally do not use these properties, because all are easily accessible with mouse clicks. The size property helps to resize the visualization created. The position property changes the position of the visualization, in the report. The Advance option comprises adding a layer order, which is rarely used.

 

Title

The title formatting is present in every visualization. As the name suggests, it adds a heading to the visualization. Click on the slider to enable the title.

The following are the steps:

Step 1: Click on the Title option. A drop-down list appears. Add the title, under the Text section. For example, Slicer. We can view in the image a title is added to the visualization. As done previously we can customize the size, font type of the slicer, etc.

 

Step 2: We can also change the color of the title. Under the text color, select the required color. For example, blue in this case. The title color changes to blue.

 

Effects

The effects section comprises three features i.e. Background, Visual Border, and Shadow. All works according to their names. The background adds a background color to the visualization, the Visual border adds a border around the visualization, and the shadow option creates a shadow on the outskirts of the visualization.

 

The following are the steps:

Step 1: Click on the Background option. Select the color of the background accordingly. For example, black. We can view in the below image that the background of the slicer changed to black.

 

Header Icons

Header-icons are the options, present on the top of the visualization. For this chart, there are three options, filter on visuals, More Focus, and more options. Click on the header-icons option, we will get various options, like Background, Border, and Icons. One can set its colors as per choice.

 

Alt Text

Alt text is a property present in each visualization. People generally misinterpret, alt text by its name, they think that alt text will be displayed when they hover over the visualization. Alt text is for the persons, who cannot see the visuals, images, etc. This option is only available if you are using a narrator in your system. When your narrator is active, then this alt text will be spoken by the system. Click on the Alt text, and type the required text.

 



Last Updated : 16 Jan, 2023
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