Maximizing Your Power BI Desktop File: Exploring Lesser-Known Setup Options

How often do you check or update your Power BI app? Do you swing by the Power BI blog for the latest updates and info?

Do you find yourself getting stuck with the options and settings in the desktop file? Like how to turn off the auto date/time feature or the automatic relationship detection in the model? These are just a couple of things every Power BI user should know and use before diving into any reporting or modeling. I hope you got already some previous knowledge of Power BI so you can follow along.

1) Is your Power BI app up to date? Just head over to HELP > About > Power BI blog to find out. Make sure to check this at least once a month for updates!

Check you Power BI version

2) Add your favorite Panes to the right side of your desktop file. The setup below is my personal one, without Copilot. Having everything right there is handy when developing, debugging or simply analyzing your report.

Organize your panel

3) This is probably one of the most crucial setups in the entire Power BI desktop app. Automatic column type detection can be tricky, especially if we don't realize it later in Power Query. Figuring out if something is a string or a number can be a fun challenge (or not). Here are two things to keep in mind:

a) never leave a column without a data type (or with ABC 123, which you might see in Power Query)

b) use the auto-detect column types feature carefully!

3.1) Importing data via import or DirectQuery can take longer as expected; take a look at this option Parallel loading of tables and this cases:

DirectQuery guidance

Just remember that it all depends on how your machine performs, plus the size and structure of your data.

My machine has 40GB of RAM, so it can handle complex queries and calculations. Just be cautious when tweaking these evaluation settings.

3.2) One of the key things you should do (just ask Google!) is to turn off the auto date/time setting. This feature automatically creates a date hierarchy whenever there's a date column in your model, which can clutter things up, make your data model larger, and complicate your DAX formulas.

3.3) Switch off automatic relationship detection! It might steer your model the wrong way!

3.4) Last but not least, always clear your cache!!!

Power BI Options

4) Stay up-to-date, always check and explore for new features.

Preview features activate

5) Change the auto recovery setting to 5 minutes instead of the default 10. That way, you'll be covered if you mess up a bit! =)

Set your save and recovery time

6) This feature might be a "hidden gem," but it's super useful if you use a ton of tooltips, especially on a page or larger visual format. It automatically scales them to the regular tooltip size. Pretty handy!

Adjust your report settings

7) Pick your theme and style your filter pane. Stand out with your report! 😊

Set your theme and format

So, that's it for this blog session! It's not something you hear or see every day, but it can help with developing your report. Plus, it can boost performance and shrink your data model size. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but knowing this already puts you way ahead! Happy Power BI-ing! 🚀📊