Power BI Bookmarks and Buttons for Interactivity

Bookmarks and buttons turn a Power BI report from a set of pages into something closer to an app: readers switch views, follow a guided story, and move between pages with clear controls. Used carelessly, they also create the most fragile reports in an organisation, where one new slicer silently breaks a dozen bookmarks. This guide covers what each feature actually does, four patterns worth using, and how to keep them maintainable.

What a bookmark captures

A bookmark saves the state of a report page. According to Microsoft's documentation, that includes the current page, filters, slicers with their type and state, cross-highlight selections, sort order, drill location, the visibility of each object as set in the Selection pane, and spotlight or focus mode (Microsoft Learn: bookmarks). Report authors create report bookmarks in the Bookmarks pane on the View tab; readers can also create personal bookmarks in the Power BI service for their own use.

The options that decide what a bookmark restores

Each bookmark has options, set from the More options menu next to its name:

Most bookmark problems come from leaving Data ticked. Microsoft's guidance notes that when bookmarks switch between views, you will usually want Data turned off, so that the reader's filters are not reset every time they change view.

Pattern 1: switch between a chart and a table

1. Place a chart and a table of the same data in the same position.
2. In the Selection pane, hide the table and add a bookmark called "View - Chart".
3. Show the table, hide the chart, and add "View - Table".
4. For both bookmarks, untick Data and choose Selected visuals, with only the chart and table selected.
5. Add two buttons and set their actions to the two bookmarks.

Readers now toggle views while their slicer selections stay put.

Pattern 2: a guided story

Create bookmarks for each step of an analysis, each highlighting a different insight, and put them in a bookmark group. Selecting View in the Bookmarks pane plays them as a slide show, and if the selected bookmark is in a group, only that group is played. Keep Data ticked for this pattern, because each step deliberately sets specific filters.

Pattern 3: navigation without page tabs

For moving between pages, you often do not need bookmarks at all. A button with the Page navigation action goes to a page, and the Back action returns from a drillthrough page to where the reader came from (Microsoft Learn: buttons). To build a complete menu, Power BI's page navigator creates a set of buttons linked to the report's pages automatically, and a bookmark navigator does the same for a group of bookmarks. A navigator is quicker to build and keep consistent than a set of individually configured buttons. Drillthrough and drilldown covers the pages that Back buttons usually return from.

Pattern 4: apply and clear slicers

The Apply all slicers and Clear all slicers actions let readers set several slicers and apply them together, or reset them in one click. Applying together is especially useful on slow or DirectQuery models, where each slicer change otherwise sends new queries. Slicers, sync and hierarchies covers slicer design more broadly.

Button actions and states

Buttons support these actions: Back, Bookmark, Drill through, Page navigation, Bookmark navigation, Q&A, Web URL, and Apply all or Clear all slicers. Each button has states, default, on hover, on press and disabled, and shape and style can differ by state, so a button can visibly respond when readers hover or click. Buttons can also use fill images for each state. While editing in Power BI Desktop, hold Ctrl and select a button to follow its action.

Pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Adding a slicer clears it in existing bookmarks. Microsoft notes that a slicer added to a page after bookmarks were created is cleared in those bookmarks. Add slicers before building bookmarks, or update every bookmark afterwards.
• Visibility changes are not saved automatically. After changing visibility in the Selection pane, right-click the bookmark and choose Update.
• Bookmarks do not restore positions. Moving a visual after creating a bookmark does not move it back when the bookmark is selected.
• Custom visuals may not support bookmarks. If one misbehaves, ask its developer.
• Too many bookmarks become unmanageable. Name them by pattern, such as "View - Chart" or "Story 1 - Revenue", group them, and prefer page navigators over bookmarks for plain navigation.

A maintenance routine

Before publishing, click through every button and bookmark with slicers set to unusual values, and confirm that each one restores only what it should. Keep a short list in the report's documentation page of which bookmarks exist and what they control. When the report changes, repeat the check. Power BI dashboard design covers how navigation fits into the overall page design.

Bookmarks and buttons are part of the advanced Power BI module of the Power BI course.

Sources

• Create report bookmarks in Power BI (Microsoft Learn) — Microsoft Learn
• Create and configure buttons in Power BI reports (Microsoft Learn) — Microsoft Learn