MIN and MAX in Power BI - Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

MIN and MAX functions help you find the smallest or largest number in a list of values. This is useful when you want to quickly see the lowest or highest sales, dates, or scores in your data.

When you want to find the earliest or latest date in your sales data.

When you need to show the highest sale amount in a report.

When you want to highlight the lowest score in a test results dashboard.

When you want to filter data based on the minimum or maximum value.

When you want to compare the smallest and largest values across categories.

Steps

Step 1: Click

- Modeling tab

The ribbon shows options to create new measures and columns

Step 2: Click

- New measure button

A formula bar appears at the top for entering DAX expressions

Step 3: Type

- Formula bar

The measure is created and appears in the Fields pane

💡 Use syntax like: MinValue = MIN(TableName[ColumnName]) or MaxValue = MAX(TableName[ColumnName])

Step 4: Drag

- New measure from Fields pane to a card visual on the report canvas

The card visual shows the minimum or maximum value from the selected column

Step 5: Click

- Visualizations pane

You can format the card to highlight the min or max value clearly

Before vs After

Before

Report shows a table with sales amounts: 100, 250, 75, 300, 200

After

A card visual shows the minimum sales amount: 75 and another card shows the maximum sales amount: 300

Settings Reference

Data type

📍 Modeling tab > Data type dropdown

Ensures MIN and MAX work correctly on the right type of data

Default: Depends on column data

Format

📍 Modeling tab > Format dropdown

Controls how the min or max value appears in visuals

Default: General

Common Mistakes

Using MIN or MAX on a text column

MIN and MAX work only on numbers or dates, not text values

Use MIN or MAX only on numeric or date columns to get meaningful results

Typing the column name without table name

DAX requires full column reference with table name to avoid errors

Always write TableName[ColumnName] inside MIN or MAX functions

Summary

MIN and MAX find the smallest or largest value in a column.

Use them to highlight key numbers like lowest sales or latest dates.

Remember to use the full column name with table and choose numeric or date columns.