How to Use Bookmarks in Power BI for Interactive Reports

In Power BI, use Bookmarks to capture the current state of a report page, including filters, slicers, and visuals. You can create bookmarks from the View tab, then use them to build interactive navigation or storytelling by linking bookmarks to buttons or shapes.

Syntax

Bookmarks in Power BI are created and managed through the Bookmarks pane. The main actions are:

• Create: Save the current report view as a bookmark.
• Update: Refresh an existing bookmark with the current view.
• Delete: Remove a bookmark.
• Show/Hide: Control visibility of visuals when a bookmark is applied.

Bookmarks can be linked to buttons or shapes using the Action property to enable interactive navigation.

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1. Open Power BI Desktop.
2. Go to the View tab and open the Bookmarks pane.
3. Set your report page as desired (filters, slicers, visuals).
4. Click 'Add' in the Bookmarks pane to create a new bookmark.
5. To link a bookmark to a button:
   - Insert a button or shape.
   - Select it, go to the Format pane > Action.
   - Turn Action On, set Type to 'Bookmark', and select the bookmark name.
6. Use the button in reading mode to navigate to the bookmark state.

Example

This example shows how to create two bookmarks to switch between two filtered views of sales data by region, then link them to buttons for easy navigation.

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1. Filter your report to show sales for 'North' region.
2. Open Bookmarks pane and click 'Add'. Rename it 'North Sales'.
3. Change filter to 'South' region.
4. Add another bookmark named 'South Sales'.
5. Insert two buttons labeled 'North' and 'South'.
6. Select the 'North' button, enable Action, set Type to Bookmark, and choose 'North Sales'.
7. Select the 'South' button, enable Action, set Type to Bookmark, and choose 'South Sales'.
8. In reading mode, clicking each button switches the report view to the respective region's sales data.

Output

Clicking the 'North' button shows sales filtered to North region.
Clicking the 'South' button shows sales filtered to South region.

Common Pitfalls

• Not updating bookmarks: If you change filters or visuals after creating a bookmark, remember to update it or it will not reflect the new state.
• Bookmark visibility settings: Bookmarks can save visual visibility states; forgetting this can cause visuals to unexpectedly hide or show.
• Using bookmarks with slicers: Slicers must be included in the bookmark capture; otherwise, slicer selections won't change when applying bookmarks.
• Action not enabled on buttons: Buttons must have the Action property turned on and set to Bookmark to work.

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/* Wrong: Creating bookmark but not updating after filter change */
// Create bookmark with filter on 'North'
// Change filter to 'South' but do NOT update bookmark
// Clicking bookmark still shows 'North' data

/* Right: Update bookmark after filter change */
// After changing filter to 'South', click 'Update' on bookmark
// Clicking bookmark now shows 'South' data

Quick Reference

Action	Description
Create Bookmark	Saves current report page state including filters and visuals.
Update Bookmark	Refreshes an existing bookmark with the current view.
Delete Bookmark	Removes a bookmark from the list.
Show/Hide Visuals	Controls which visuals are visible when bookmark is applied.
Link Bookmark to Button	Enables interactive navigation by assigning bookmark to a button's action.

Key Takeaways

Bookmarks capture and save the current report view including filters and visual states.

Use the Bookmarks pane to create, update, and manage bookmarks in Power BI Desktop.

Link bookmarks to buttons or shapes with the Action property for interactive report navigation.

Always update bookmarks after changing filters or visuals to keep them current.

Be mindful of visual visibility settings saved in bookmarks to avoid unexpected display issues.