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This is a bigger update than most, largely because it includes two major new features emerging from preview (report themes and desktop Q&A), but it's the export to PDF feature which really catches the eye.
- New features in the August 2018 update of Power BI
- Exporting a report to PDF
- Report Themes
- Q and A improved and incorporated within Power BI Desktop
- Conditional formatting by field values
- Bookmark groups
- Showing slicer choices in the header - filter restatement
- Ability to change the categories of measures
- Summary of features still waiting in preview (this blog)
For a cumulative list of all of the updates to Power BI Desktop in the last few year or two, see this blog, or have a look at the Power BI courses that we run.
Posted by Andy Brown on 14 August 2018
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Summary of features still waiting in preview
What's coming to a (Power BI) desktop near you? In their monthly blog, Microsoft have started to give hints on what they're working on. So expect:
- The ability to expand and collapse rows/colums in matrices; and
- Significant improvements to scatter charts.
In the meantime the following features lurk in limbo, waiting to be released:
The features waiting in limbo, as of August 2018.
Here's my take on each of the generally useful features shown above:
| Feature | Notes | Rating | Months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shape map visual | The release of the MapBox custom visual and ArcGIS visual makes it ever less likely that this will ever see the light of day. | 4 | 7 |
| New From Web experience | Currently you can only import data from HTML tables; this will analyse web pages and allow you to import almost any content. | 8 | 4 |
| Custom data connectors | You'll be able to define your own connections to data sources, using the M language. | 2 | 7 |
| Dates as a hierarchy | When you create a date hierarchy, this will appear in the field well. | 2 | 7 |
| Report page tooltips | You'll be able to specify that when a user hovers over a visual they will be able to see a scaled down preview of another page as a tooltip. | 6 | 5 |
| Python support | The ability to specify a Python program which outputs data as a data source. | 3 | 1 |
| Incremental Refresh Policies | For Power BI Premium only, to begin with, you'll be able to update only data which has changed. | 7 | 4 |
| Composite Models | You'll be able to mix and match data sources (so have a report getting some data via DirectQuery and some not). | 3 | 2 |
Notes:
- The subjective Wise Owl rating goes from 1 (of little importance for most Power BI Desktop users) up to 10 (will have a huge impact on your everyday report designs).
- The final column shows the number of months that each feature has spent in preview since I started tracking it.
- New features in the August 2018 update of Power BI
- Exporting a report to PDF
- Report Themes
- Q and A improved and incorporated within Power BI Desktop
- Conditional formatting by field values
- Bookmark groups
- Showing slicer choices in the header - filter restatement
- Ability to change the categories of measures
- Summary of features still waiting in preview (this blog)