Power BI March 2026 Feature Summary
Welcome to the Power BI March 2026 Feature Summary—and welcome to FabCon!
As FabCon gets underway, this month’s update reflects the momentum we’re seeing across Power BI and the conversations happening with customers right now. March brings a thoughtful set of improvements across Copilot, reporting, modeling, and data connectivity—focused on making everyday authoring smoother, visuals more expressive, and analytics experiences more flexible and open.
Whether you’re refining reports, enabling more interactive analytics, or modernizing semantic models, there’s plenty to explore in this release—and we’re excited to keep the conversation going throughout FabCon.
If you haven’t already, check out Arun Ulag’s hero blog “FabCon and SQLCon 2026: Unifying databases and Fabric on a single, complete platform” for a complete look at all of our FabCon and SQLCon announcements across both Fabric and our database offerings.
Contents
March Monthly Update Video
https://youtu.be/INwbDNhRMG0
March Power BI Desktop
Power_BI_April_2026_Feature_Summary
Events and Announcements Power BI DataViz World Championships live at FabCon and SQLCon Atlanta! Four finalists took the stage at FabCon to compete for the title of world champion, view the preliminary round entries that sent them to the finals.
We'd like to offer a huge congratulations to the winner, Gustavo Bavia the Power BI Dataviz World Champion!
Couldn't make it to Atlanta or just want more FabCon+SQLCon? Join us in Barcelona this September! FabCon Europe is happening again in 2026. Mark your calendars for September 28 – October 1, 2026. Register now to access Super Early Bird pricing! General Deprecation of Old File Picker Experience in Power BI Desktop Beginning April 2026, as part of the SU04 release, users will no longer be able to access the old file picker experience in Power BI Desktop.
In January, we announced an updated file picker experience that provides users with a more intuitive, straightforward way of navigating between files and folders. As of next month, we are moving the updated experience out of preview and making it the default experience in Power BI Desktop. With this change, users will no longer be able to toggle between the old and updated experience.
Note: No action is required from users as part of this deprecation; this is simply an informational announcement.
QuickBooks Online Connector Retirement The QuickBooks Online connector is being retired and will no longer be supported as of March 2026.
As part of our ongoing platform evolution, this change streamlines our connector portfolio and ensures our continued commitment to only the highest level of secure data connectivity.
After retirement, customers will no longer be able to create new connections, and existing connections may no longer function.
Copilot and AI Copilot pane user experience update To match the standalone experience, we’ve updated the Copilot pane in Reports and Apps to have the same look and feel.
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Before
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After
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 Screenshot_of_the_current_Power_BI_Copilot_pane_displaying_a_user_query_about_toFigure: Power BI Copilot pane showing current user experience
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 Screenshot_of_the_updated_Power_BI_Copilot_pane_displaying_a_query_about_total_bFigure: Power BI Copilot pane showing updated user experience to match standalone
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Functionally, the pane operates the same as before with the same capabilities. You may notice a few small changes in behavior:
The starting button suggestions will disappear after you start your conversation. If you need to find them again, you can access them from the prompt guide (book icon):
Screenshot_of_a_text_input_box_labeled_Ask_a_question_about_this_report_with_a_s
Figure: Power BI Copilot pane with prompt guide icon
or clear your chat to start over:
Screenshot_of_a_chat_interface_showing_a_user_request_for_an_executive_summary_o
Figure: Power BI Copilot pane with clear chat history sweep icon
Input box now appears enabled while processing an ongoing request and you can type your next prompt. However, you will still need to wait until the current prompt finishes before submitting your next.
The copy action has been moved to the bottom of the response output next to the feedback buttons.
Screenshot_of_a_text_excerpt_highlighting_Copilot_summary_response_with_the_copy
Figure: Power BI Copilot pane with text summary response and copy icon
Learn more about the Copilot report pane in our documentation.
Copilot feedback update Across all Power BI Copilot experiences, you’ll see an updated feedback dialog that now allows you add diagnostics with your submission to the product team. Sharing diagnostics with your thumbs up or down feedback provides more conversational context to your rating and is especially helpful during support case investigations. You can also preview the diagnostics file before submission to ensure you are not sending any sensitive information.
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Before
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After
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 Screenshot_of_a_feedback_submission_form_for_Microsoft_requesting_users_to_descrFigure: Previous Power BI Copilot feedback dialog experience
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 Screenshot_of_a_feedback_submission_form_for_Microsoft_prompting_users_to_descriFigure: Updated Power BI Copilot feedback dialog experience with diagnostics attached
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Learn more about our Power BI Copilot experiences in our documentation. Reporting AI Narrative auto refresh Instead of clicking Refresh every time you select a slicer in a report with the AI Narrative visual, use the Auto refresh toggle in the visualizations pane. This enables the summary to update automatically whenever a slicer selection changes, creating a smoother and more efficient reporting experience.
AI_narrative_message_displayed_when_a_slicer_is_selected_in_the_report
Figure: AI narrative message displayed when a slicer is selected in the report
Toggle_the_option_to_enable_automatic_refresh_of_the_AI_Narrative_in_the_format
Figure: Toggle the option to enable automatic refresh of the AI Narrative in the format pane
Translytical task flows (Generally Available) Translytical task flows enable end users to perform actions directly within Power BI reports, such as updating records, adding data, or initiating workflows in other systems, all without navigating away from the report.
Screenshot_of_the_Translytical_task_flow_authoring_experience_in_Power_BI_showin
Figure: Translytical task flow in Power BI
Translytical task flows use Fabric user data functions to connect reports to underlying data sources. Common scenarios include editing data records in place, adding annotations, deleting outdated entries, and calling external APIs like Azure OpenAI. For example, a sales team can update discount values directly in a report, or request approvals that post automatically to Teams.
Data writeback supports Fabric SQL databases, Fabric warehouses, and Fabric lakehouses (for files). For heavy read/write reporting scenarios, SQL database is the recommended data source. To get started, refer to the Translytical task flows overview documentation or follow the step-by-step tutorial to build your first task flow.
Modern visual defaults and customizing theme improvements (Preview) Power BI Desktop visuals now start with a modern look. This preview introduces an updated base theme aligned with Fluent 2, featuring subtitles, uniform padding, style presets, and a grey canvas background at 1080x1920px by default. Charts display with smooth lines, slicers default to dropdown mode, and buttons have a refreshed appearance without manual formatting.
Power_BI_report_page_using_the_new_modern_visual_defaults_Fluent_2_styling_showi
Figure: Example report page with modern visual defaults applied—uniform padding, updated typography, and refreshed visual styling on a gray 1080×1920 canvas
Enable the preview in Options and settings > Options > Preview features by turning on modern visual defaults and customizing theme improvements. This preview is available in Power BI Desktop, and published reports retain the new base theme for editing in the browser. The base theme on existing reports remains unchanged until you go to View > Themes > Customize current theme and select Update theme. The theme schema also supports setting page size and defining reusable named colors.
Please share your feedback through the Modern Visuals Preview Feedback form, and learn more in the Use report themes in Power BI Desktop documentation.
Custom totals (Preview) Table and matrix visuals display a DAX measure by category, with a total. The total (which you can toggle on or off) evaluates the measure in the entire filter context of the report page, rather than simply summing the category values, as in the waterfall visual. This ensures the correct result is shown for many non-additive calculations, such as averages, counts, margins, and maximum (or latest) values, among others. This is an intended design; the behavior of totals in these visuals is like tables and pivot tables in Excel. Understanding this behavior helps explain why a total may differ from a simple sum of the rows in a table or matrix.
To illustrate, the following example demonstrates this behavior. The calculations for DAX measures average sales and number of customers are non-additive, so the totals in the table do not show the sum of all categories, as they do for an additive measure such as total sales:
Table_titled_Sales_by_Category_listing_Accessories_Bikes_Clothing_and_Components
Figure: Sales by Category summary showing Bikes as the primary revenue driver ($46.98M total sales), contributing most of the $62.17M total across 18,485 customers
Some report authors wish for more control over totals in tables and matrices. Custom totals are a new feature to address scenarios where a summed row total is the desired behavior for these visuals. Keeping the measure definition unchanged, a custom total instead adjusts the visual’s aggregation logic to override the measure’s default total behavior. Using this feature does not alter the underlying DAX measure; it changes how the total row is calculated for the configured visual only by using a visual calculation.
Setting a Custom total is easy. First, make sure the visual calculations preview is turned on. Then, to set a custom total, right-click a column or use the Build pane to choose or define the desired calculation, without writing DAX. Options such as Sum, Min, Max Count (Distinct) and Count allow you to tailor the total to the context of the visual. “Reset to default” will return the total to the default DAX-driven total behavior whenever needed.
Screenshot_of_a_reporting_app_context_menu_with_options_such_as_Copy_Share_Summa
Figure: Right-click menu showing how to customize a visual’s total calculation (preview) by selecting an aggregation method such as Sum, Min, Max, Count (Distinct), or Count
Once you set a custom total, an Excel-like indicator appears. For instance, after setting Number of Customers to Sum, the column title updates:
Screenshot_of_the_Power_BI_Copilot_report_input_area_showing_a_text_box_labeled
Figure: Power BI Copilot pane showing the prompt guide (book) icon next to the “Ask a question about this report” input box
Custom totals use visual calculations and share their limitations. For example, formatting is not automatically applied to custom totals; use Data Format settings to format them, just as with visual calculations.
Although Custom totals add flexibility and convenience, they don’t replace Power BI’s default total behavior, which remains the most accurate representation of the measure as defined in DAX.
Learn more about Custom totals and how they work in our table and matrix.
Series label leader lines for line charts Leader lines for series labels are now available on line charts and related visuals, making it easier to understand which line belongs to which label—especially in dense or overlapping scenarios.
Line_chart_of_profit_over_time_year_quarter_for_multiple_states_with_series_labe
Figure: Series label leader lines on a line chart, connecting each label to its corresponding series for easier identification in dense visuals
When enabled, leader lines visually connect each series label to its corresponding data point, improving readability without changing which labels appear. The feature includes smart layout logic to avoid label collisions, along with formatting options for line style, width, and transparency so you can match your visual design. Leader lines turn on automatically when series labels are enabled for new reports, while existing reports remain unchanged. Series labels are also selectable, which highlight a line and turn on the markers. To select multiple items, use multi-select (Ctrl on Windows or Command on macOS).
Line_chart_of_profit_over_time_for_multiple_states_with_series_labels_and_leader
Figure: Selecting series labels highlights the corresponding lines and shows markers, making it easier to compare multiple series
For more information about visualizations in Power BI, refer to the Line charts in Power BI documentation.
Report theme updates This month introduces two new enhancements to custom report themes, providing you with greater control over your report's formatting.
You can now define a default page size directly in your theme file. When you add a page section to your theme JSON, any new pages added to your report automatically use those dimensions. This feature helps teams maintain consistent report layouts without manually configuring each page. For example, you can set a custom 1920x1080 resolution for presentation-ready reports:
{
"name": "Page Size Theme Example",
"$schema": "reportThemeSchema-2.149.json",
"visualStyles": {
"page": {
"*": {
"pageSize": [
{
"pageSizeTypes": "Custom",
"pageSizeWidth": 1920,
"pageSizeHeight": 1080
}
]
}
}
}
}
You can also now reference structural theme colors such as background and foreground. This example shows how to set different colors in a table visual preset.
{
"name": "Structural Colors Theme Example",
"$schema": "reportThemeSchema-2.149.json",
"foreground": "#242424",
"background": "#FFFFFF",
"secondaryBackground": "#F5F5F5",
"visualStyles": {
"tableEx": {
"*": {
"columnHeaders": [
{
"fontColor": {
"solid": {
"color": "foreground"
}
},
"backColor": {
"solid": {
"color": "secondaryBackground"
}
}
}
],
"values": [
{
"fontColor": {
"solid": {
"color": "foreground"
}
},
"backColor": {
"solid": {
"color": "background"
}
}
}
]
}
}
}
}
To learn more about creating custom themes, refer to the Create custom report themes in Power BI Desktop documentation.
Input slicer now supports conditional formatting The input slicer now supports conditional formatting (Fx) across multiple visual elements in the formatting pane. You can apply dynamic formatting rules to text colors, icon colors, borders, and accent bars based on measures or field values in your data.
Screenshot_of_Power_BI_Desktop_with_the_input_slicer_selected_the_formatting_pan
Figure: Input slicer conditional formatting (Fx) options in the formatting pane
Elements that support conditional formatting include:
- Filters: Text color, Dismiss button color
- Filter operator: Text and icon color
- Apply button: Icon color
- Input box: Placeholder text color and accent bar color
- Background and border colors for each element.
This update gives you greater control over the input slicer's appearance, allowing you to create visual cues that respond to your data. For example, you can change the accent bar color based on a status field or highlight the apply button when certain conditions are met.
Learn more about the input slicer and its formatting options in the Create and use an input slicer documentation.
Modeling Direct Lake in OneLake (Generally Available) Power BI is standardizing open-data formats by adopting Delta Lake and Parquet to help you avoid vendor lock-in and reduce data duplication. This minimizes data silos and fragmentation, offering a single source of truth across the enterprise. Direct Lake storage mode accelerates data-driven decisions..
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