Power BI tooltips are the small boxes that appear when you hover over a data point in a visual. They provide additional information about the data you’re viewing. For example, when you hover over a month in a sales report, the tooltip can display the sum of sales for that month. Tooltips also work with data included in a visual’s legend. If sales are divided by location, the tooltip can show information for each individual location.
Add additional data with custom tooltips
Sometimes you want users to see information that isn’t already displayed in the graph. For example, you might have a measure that calculates each location’s percentage of total sales. Adding that measure as another visual could take up valuable space on the report. Instead, you can add the measure to the visual’s Tooltips field in the Build options. Once it’s added, hovering over a data point can show both the total amount sold and the percentage of the total. As you move between data points, the tooltip recalculates to reflect the selected data. This provides a fuller picture of the data without adding another visual to the report.
When to use a tooltip page
Standard tooltips work well for adding a few pieces of information. However, they can become large as you add more data. A tooltip page provides another option. It allows you to use an entire report page as a tooltip, including visuals such as:
You can customize these visuals much like you would on a regular report page.
Create a tooltip page
Start by creating a new report page. With nothing selected on the page, open the Format pane and go to Page Information. Set the page type to Tooltip. Power BI shrinks the canvas to the tooltip size and provides an option to choose the field the tooltip will use. For example, if the original graph uses a month and year field, you can add that field to the tooltip page. If month and year are being treated as categories, keep the tooltip configured to work with categories. Under the canvas settings, the canvas type will now be Tooltip. The default tooltip canvas is 240 by 320 pixels. You can change the dimensions, although the default size is recommended.
Build the tooltip
Once the tooltip page is configured, you can start adding visuals. For example, a table could display:
- Location
- Sales amount
- Percent of total sales
The tooltip page can use many of the same Power BI visuals that you would use on a regular report page, although the smaller canvas size limits the available space.
Connect the tooltip page to a visual
Return to the original report and select the visual where you want to use the new tooltip. Open the Format pane, go to the visual’s properties, and select Tooltips. Instead of using the default tooltip from the Build pane, select Report page and choose the tooltip page you created. Now, when you hover over the visual, the report page appears as the tooltip. The metrics on that page recalculate for the specific category you’re hovering over.
Use charts inside tooltip pages
One of the main advantages of a tooltip page is the ability to include a graph. For example, instead of displaying a table, you can use a pie chart with sales amount as the value and location as the legend. The chart provides a visual breakdown of sales by location. When you return to the original report and hover over different categories, the chart recalculates for each one. This can help you simplify the original report. Instead of keeping every breakdown visible at all times, you can move supporting detail into the tooltip. Users can view overall results on the main report and hover when they want the additional breakdown.
Keep reports detailed without adding clutter
Tooltips are a useful way to add additional information to a Power BI report while keeping the primary report layout clean. Standard custom tooltips can quickly add extra measures and details. Tooltip pages provide more flexibility by allowing you to use report visuals such as charts, tables, and cards. Together, these options let you provide additional detail when users need it without requiring everything to appear directly on the report.
