Power BI Drillthrough: Hidden Tips, Best Practices & Real-World Use Cases

Drillthrough is one of the most underrated Power BI features. Most users know the “right-click → Drill through” part — but few really understand how powerful it becomes when combined with smart page design, DAX context, tooltips, and UX tricks.

In this article, we’ll cover how Drillthrough works, how to build it properly, and hidden tips that even experienced users often miss.

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Check out some of our FREE templates and materials.

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What Is Drillthrough in Power BI?

Drillthrough allows users to navigate from a summary visual to a detailed page, while automatically passing filter context (like Product, Customer, or Country).

Typical examples:

• From Sales Overview → Product Details

• From Country KPI → Customer List

• From Exception KPI → Root-cause table

Unlike Drill Down, Drillthrough:

• Works across pages

• Can pass multiple fields

• Keeps slicers & filters intact (if designed correctly)
  

When to Use Drillthrough (and When Not)

✅ Use Drillthrough when:

• You want clean overview pages

• Details would clutter the main report

• You need transaction-level analysis

• You want to teach users analytical navigation
  

❌ Avoid Drillthrough when:

• The detail fits comfortably on one page

• Users expect instant inline expansion

• Performance is already tight

💡 Rule of thumb:Overview answers “what” — Drillthrough answers “why”.

Step-by-Step: Creating a Proper Drillthrough Page

1️⃣ Create a Dedicated Detail Page

• Add a new report page

• Rename clearly, e.g.Product Details (Drillthrough)

Dedicated Product page with drill through fields pane.

2️⃣ Add Drillthrough Fields

In the Visualizations → Drillthrough well:

• Drag the field(s) you want to pass

  • Example:

    • Product

    • Country

    • Customer ID

⚠️ Tip: You can add multiple fields — they act as AND filters.

Select or hover over the field to get the drill-through option.

3️⃣ Design the Page Like a Detail Report

Recommended visuals:

• KPI cards (Sales, Profit, Margin)

• Trend line (Date vs Sales)

• Transaction table

• Breakdown by Channel / Region

💡 Pro UX Tip:Add a large title card using the selected field:

SELECTEDVALUE(Products[Product Name])

4️⃣ Enable the Back Button (Manually!)

Power BI does not automatically add a back button.

Steps:

1. Insert → Button → Back

2. Enable Action = Back

3. Place it top-left consistently
   

Hidden Drillthrough Tips (Advanced but Practical)

🔹 Tip 1: Drillthrough WITHOUT Right-Click

Many users never right-click.

Better UX options:

• Buttons with Action → Drillthrough

• Icons inside tables

• Tooltip instructions (“Click to see details”)

This feels more app-like.

🔹 Tip 2: “Keep All Filters” = Game Changer

Enable Keep all filters on the drillthrough page to:

• Preserve slicers

• Keep date context

• Avoid confusing results

Perfect for:

• Time-intelligence analysis

• Multi-slicer reports
  

🔹 Tip 3: Drillthrough Tooltips (Yes, Really)

You can combine:

• Tooltip page

• Drillthrough page

Workflow:

1. Hover → quick insight

2. Click → deep dive

This is next-level UX and great for executive dashboards.

🔹 Tip 4: Teach Drillthrough with a Tooltip Hint

Most users don’t know it exists.

Add a small tooltip text:

Right-click to view detailed analysis

Or use an info icon with instructions.

🔹 Tip 5: Drillthrough + Field Parameters

Advanced pattern:

• Change table columns or KPIs on the drillthrough page dynamically

• Let users switch between:

  • Business view

  • Finance view

  • Operations view

Perfect for teaching modern Power BI UX patterns.

Bonus trick (at least for me)

By default, " Get more info " is greyed out (button). As soon as you click on fields like region or country (which are included in drill through), this button becomes clickable. It can give you a fancy look and more possibilities to access your data.

More info is greyed out by default

As soon you click on some field it turns into clickable button

Performance Best Practices

✔️ Filter data early✔️ Avoid massive tables unless needed✔️ Use measures instead of calculated columns✔️ Limit visuals per drillthrough page

💡 Remember: Drillthrough pages are often the heaviest pages.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Forgetting the Back button❌ Using too many drillthrough fields❌ Not labeling the page clearly❌ Repeating the overview visuals❌ No instruction for users

Real-World Teaching Example

Overview Page

• KPI cards

• Top products

• Sales by region

Drillthrough Page

• Selected Product header

• Sales trend

• Customer table

• Margin analysis

• Transaction detail

This structure is perfect for courses and workshops — especially if you teach context transition and filter behavior.

Mini Practice Dataset (Dummy)

You can easily create a drillthrough demo with this structure:

Drillthrough_Practice_Data.xlsx

Download XLSX • 70KB

Power_BI_Drillthrough_Practice_Guide.docx

Download DOCX • 28KB

Final Thoughts

Drillthrough is not just navigation — it’s a storytelling tool.

When done right, it:

• Keeps dashboards clean

• Improves performance

• Teaches analytical thinking

• Feels like a professional BI application
  

If you’re building training dashboards or templates, drillthrough should be a core concept, not an afterthought.