How to customize reports in Power BI: A complete and updated guide

Power BI It has become an indispensable tool for companies and professionals who want to efficiently analyze, visualize, and share data. But beyond the creation of basic reports, one of its most powerful features is the ability to fully customize the appearance and behavior of those reports.

From applying corporate colors and configuring visual styles to allowing users to fine-tune their own visualizations, Power BI enables a Detailed customization that adapts to both individual needs and company standardsThe purpose of this article is to provide you with a guide complete, up-to-date and practical about all the ways you can customize reports in Power BI, including using built-in and custom themes, configurations using JSON files, interactive tools, and more.

Power BI Report Themes: What They Are and How to Use Them

One of the first steps to customizing reports in Power BI is to apply a theme. A theme is a set of preset definitions that change the visual appearance of all report elementsThis includes colors, fonts, backgrounds, and borders. Power BI offers two types:

• Built-in themes: Pre-designed options with common color combinations, similar to other Microsoft products.
• Custom Themes: These are created from scratch or by modifying an existing one. They can be saved and imported using JSON files.

Apply a built-in theme

To apply a built-in theme in Power BI Desktop:

1. Go to the tab View.
2. Click the arrow next to the button Themes.
3. Select one of the available built-in themes. You can also access the Theme gallery to download other themes created by the community.

When you apply a theme, all report visuals are automatically updated with the new colors and styles. You can change it again at any time without losing any content.

Create and edit a custom theme

If you want more precise control, you can customize a theme directly in Power BI Desktop:

1. Select a base theme in View > Topics.
2. Click on Customize current theme.
3. In the dialog box, you can modify aspects such as colors, text, backgrounds, filter panel, and more.
4. Save and apply your changes to reuse that theme.

The options are organized into clear sections such as Name and colors, Text, Visual objects, Page y Filter Panel.

Using JSON Files for Advanced Topics

In the even more advanced customizationPower BI allows you to import JSON files that precisely define all the graphical elements in your report. These JSON themes can include colors, typography, line styles, borders, text sizes, and even specific settings for each visualization type.

What can a theme JSON file include?

• Definición of data colors.
• Colours structural such as backgrounds, borders, grid lines, etc.
• Text classes with font, size and color settings.
• Specific visual styles for objects such as charts, cards, matrices, among others.

A basic example of a JSON file would be:

{ "name": "My Custom Theme", "dataColors": }

This file can be imported from Browse Themes > Import in Power BI Desktop. You can also export an existing theme for later editing.

Deep customization with visualStyles

With the property visualStyles within the JSON you can establish a detailed customization by type of visual:

{ "visualStyles": { "barChart": { "*": { "gridlines": } } } }

This disables gridlines on all bar charts in the report. This setting allows you to establish a unified style for an entire category of visuals.

Customize each visual in the report

Power BI allows you to individually edit each chart, table, or card in your report. This can be done from either the dashboard or the Visualizations as from the tab Format, where you can:

• Change colors of bars, lines or backgrounds.
• Modify borders, shadows, and visual styles.
• Apply conditional formatting based on numeric values ​​or fields.
• Adjust labels, legends, and headings.

A useful trick is to use the option Reset defaults if you want to revert all changes made to a visual.

Individual colors per data point

In charts like bars or columns, you can apply a unique color per category selecting the element and setting the color from the section Data colors. This allows, for example, highlight a sales segment which has had an exceptional performance.

Allow user customization

One of the most innovative features of Power BI is the ability for the end user customizes visuals in the report's reading view, without requiring editing permissions or contacting the author. This feature allows you to:

• Swap columns or measures.
• Change the display type (for example, from bar chart to line chart).
• Add or remove legends or labels.
• Save custom views through personal bookmarks.

These changes are temporary and only affect the user in question, who can revert to the original version at any time.

Enable the option to customize visuals

To activate this functionality:

1. In Power BI Desktop or the service, go to Page layout.
2. Activate the option Allow to customize visual object.
3. You can also limit the option by individual visual or by page as needed.

You can also use perspectives created in tools like Tabular Editor to provide a focused view with only certain fields available for customization, which is ideal for very large data models.

Customize reports in your own workspaces

Another important approach is to create a personalized workspace that allows you to better control data access and visualization. This is especially useful when using capabilities like process mining or custom user reports.

When you create a workspace in Power BI, you can:

• Assign roles and permissions to different users.
• Import analytics from other tools like Power Automate.
• Allow updating and publishing reports directly from Power BI Desktop.

This is crucial when each user needs to see only the data that corresponds to them, for example, a project manager who only needs access to their own KPIs and metrics.

Filters, templates and customized visualization per user

One of the most powerful features of Power BI is the ability to create filters that are applied at the user levelThis is achieved by establishing relationships between the logged-in user and the data they can view, using features such as:

• Security fields in the database (e.g., 'Responsible Code').
• Row-Level Security (RLS) Roles and Rules.
• Using dynamic parameters to filter datasets.

This ensures that each person accesses only their own information, respecting the company's confidentiality.

Related article:

How to Analyze Data and Generate Reports Effectively with DeepSeek

Isaac

Passionate writer about the world of bytes and technology in general. I love sharing my knowledge through writing, and that's what I'll do on this blog, show you all the most interesting things about gadgets, software, hardware, tech trends, and more. My goal is to help you navigate the digital world in a simple and entertaining way.