Bookmarks, Navigation, and Drillthrough

Quick Answer: Bookmarks save page states for storytelling (like presentation slides). Drillthrough lets users right-click a value and jump to a detail page filtered to that selection. Navigation buttons with actions create an app-like experience. Drill-down explores hierarchies within a visual (Country → State → City).

Bookmarks

Creating Bookmarks

View tab → Bookmarks pane → Add (bookmark icon)

A bookmark captures:

• Filters and slicers — current selections
• Visual visibility — which visuals are shown/hidden
• Sort order — current sort state
• Drill state — current drill level
• Spotlight — whether a visual is spotlighted
• Page — which page is displayed

Bookmark Properties

Bookmark Use Cases

1. Storytelling Presentations

Create a sequence of bookmarks that tell a data story:

1. Bookmark: "Overview" — All regions, current year
2. Bookmark: "Top Performers" — Filter to top 5 products
3. Bookmark: "Problem Area" — Filter to declining region
4. Bookmark: "Action Plan" — Show recommendation visuals

Use Bookmark Navigator visual to create slide-show navigation.

2. Toggle Visual Visibility

Show/hide visuals using bookmarks and buttons:

• Bookmark A: Table visible, Chart hidden
• Bookmark B: Table hidden, Chart visible
• Buttons toggle between the two views

3. Reset Filters

Create a "Reset" bookmark that captures the default filter state. Link it to a button so users can clear all selections with one click.

Drillthrough

Configuring Drillthrough

Drillthrough allows users to navigate from a summary page to a detail page filtered to a specific value.

Step 1: Create the target (detail) page

Design a page showing detailed information (e.g., Product Details page with sales trends, customer breakdown, inventory).

Step 2: Set drillthrough filters

On the detail page:

Visualizations pane → Drillthrough section → Drag the field (e.g., Product Name)

Step 3: Power BI auto-creates a Back button on the detail page.

Step 4: Users right-click a product name in any visual on any page → Drillthrough → Product Details.

Drillthrough with Measures

You can also pass measure values as drillthrough context:

• Keep all filters (default) — passes all current filter context
• Or configure specific fields only

Cross-Report Drillthrough

Navigate between different .pbix files:

File → Options → Report Settings → Allow cross-report drillthrough

Requirements:

• Both reports must be in the same workspace
• Target report must have drillthrough configured
• Field names must match between reports

Navigation Buttons

Button Types

Creating a Navigation Button

Insert tab → Buttons → Choose button type or Blank
→ Format → Action → Select action type and destination

Page Navigator Visual

A built-in visual that automatically creates buttons for all report pages:

Insert tab → Page Navigator

Options:

• Show all pages or selected pages
• Customize button shape, color, and labels
• Auto-updates when pages are added

Drill-Down in Visuals

How Drill-Down Works

When a visual has a hierarchy (e.g., Year → Quarter → Month → Day):

Example: A bar chart showing Revenue by Year

1. Click 2026 → Drill down → Shows Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 for 2026 only
2. Click Q1 → Drill down → Shows Jan, Feb, Mar for Q1 2026 only
3. Click Up arrow → Back to quarters

Creating Hierarchies

In the Fields pane: Drag Month onto Year to create a hierarchy
Or: Right-click Year → New Hierarchy → Drag Quarter and Month into it

Tooltips

Default Tooltips

Power BI shows the data values when hovering over a data point. You can add additional fields to tooltips in the Tooltips well.

Report Page Tooltips (Custom Tooltips)

Create an entire report page as a rich tooltip:

1. Create a new page and set its size to "Tooltip" (320 x 240 px)
2. Enable tooltip behavior: Page Settings → Page Information → Allow use as tooltip = On
3. Add visuals to the tooltip page (cards, charts, images)
4. Set the tooltip on target visuals: Format → Tooltip → Page → Select the tooltip page

Report page tooltips can include:

• Multiple visuals (cards, charts)
• Conditional formatting
• Images and text
• Filtered by the hover context

On the Exam

The PL-300 frequently tests:

• Creating and configuring bookmarks for storytelling
• Setting up drillthrough pages with the correct filter fields
• Understanding the difference between drillthrough and drill-down
• Configuring navigation buttons with actions
• Creating report page tooltips