8.1 Bookmarks, Navigation, and Drillthrough

Quick Answer: Bookmarks save a report page's full state (filters, slicer selections, visual visibility, sort order, drill state, spotlight) so you can replay it like a presentation slide. Drillthrough lets a user right-click a value and jump to a detail page filtered to that selection, with an auto-generated Back button. Navigation buttons wired to actions create an app-like guided experience. Drill-down explores a hierarchy inside one visual (Country -> State -> City). These four mechanisms are distinct and the PL-300 routinely asks you to pick the right one for a stated goal.

Bookmarks

Creating and capturing state

Open View tab -> Bookmarks pane -> Add. A bookmark is a snapshot of the current page. It captures filters and slicers (current selections), visual visibility (shown/hidden), sort order, drill state (which hierarchy level is showing), spotlight (whether a visual is highlighted), and the current page. Because a bookmark stores state, the workflow is always: arrange the page exactly how you want it, then click Add — editing the page afterward does not update an existing bookmark unless you right-click it and choose Update.

Bookmark scope properties

Each bookmark has toggles that decide what it restores. Getting these wrong is a classic exam trap — a "Reset Filters" bookmark that has Data turned off will not actually reset slicers.

The Selected visuals option is the key to building toggle buttons: select only the two visuals you want to swap, then create two bookmarks, so the rest of the page is untouched when the user flips between them.

Use cases

1. Storytelling. Build an ordered sequence — "Overview" (all regions), "Top Performers" (top 5 products), "Problem Area" (a declining region), "Action Plan" (recommendation visuals) — and drop a Bookmark Navigator visual (Insert -> Buttons -> Navigator -> Bookmark navigator) to give users slide-show arrows automatically.

2. Show/hide toggle. Pair two bookmarks (Table visible/Chart hidden vs. Table hidden/Chart visible) with two buttons so one click swaps a table for a chart in the same screen real estate.

3. One-click reset. Capture the default filter state in a "Reset" bookmark (Data on) and link it to a button so consumers clear all selections instantly.

Drillthrough

Drillthrough moves the user from a summary page to a separate detail page filtered to the value they clicked. To build it: (1) design the detail page, (2) drag the field (e.g., Product Name) into the Drillthrough well in the Visualizations pane, (3) Power BI auto-adds a Back button, (4) users right-click a product anywhere in the report and choose Drillthrough -> Product Details.

By default drillthrough keeps all filters applied on the source page; you can turn that off per drillthrough. Cross-report drillthrough (File -> Options -> Current File -> Report settings -> "Allow cross-report drillthrough") lets users jump between separate published reports in the same workspace — field and table names must match across both models for the context to pass.

Navigation buttons

Insert -> Buttons gives you action-driven buttons. Set the action under Format -> Action -> Type:

The Page Navigator visual (Insert -> Buttons -> Navigator -> Page navigator) auto-generates one button per page and updates itself when pages are added or renamed, so you never hand-maintain a menu.

Drill-down inside a visual

When a visual has a hierarchy (Year -> Quarter -> Month -> Day), the header shows drill controls. The double down-arrow goes to the next level for all items; the single down-arrow (drill mode) drills into only the item you click; the up-arrow drills back up; the fork (expand) shows all levels at once. Build a hierarchy by dragging one field onto another in the Fields well, or right-click a field -> New hierarchy.

Report-page tooltips

A whole page can act as a rich hover tooltip. Create a page, set Format -> Canvas settings -> Type = Tooltip (default 320x240 px), enable Page information -> Allow use as tooltip, add cards/charts, then on each target visual set Format -> Tooltips -> Type = Report page and pick the tooltip page. The tooltip is automatically filtered to whatever data point the user hovers.

Personal vs. report bookmarks

There are two bookmark kinds and the exam expects you to tell them apart. Report bookmarks are authored in Desktop or the service by someone with edit rights; they ship with the report and appear in the Bookmarks pane for everyone. Personal bookmarks are created by a consumer in the service (View -> Bookmarks -> Add a personal bookmark) and are private to that user — useful when a viewer wants to save a favorite filter combination without changing the published report. A consumer can also set one personal bookmark as their default landing view.

Worked example: a guided drillthrough report

A common scenario the exam dresses up: an executive Summary page shows Revenue by Region as a bar chart; a Region Detail page breaks down products, trend, and top customers. Steps: (1) on Region Detail, drag Region into the Drillthrough well; (2) Power BI adds a Back button automatically; (3) optionally add a card showing SELECTEDVALUE('Geography'[Region]) so the detail page's title reflects the chosen region; (4) the user right-clicks a bar on Summary and chooses Drillthrough -> Region Detail.

The detail page opens filtered to exactly that region, and the Back button returns the user with the Summary page's prior state intact. Note that drillthrough passes the clicked value plus any filters you chose to keep — if "Keep all filters" is on, slicer context (e.g., a selected year) travels too.

Traps to watch

• Bookmark not updating: adding a bookmark snapshots the page once. Changing the page later does nothing to the bookmark unless you right-click -> Update.
• Drillthrough field must be in the model relationship path: the field you drillthrough on must actually filter the detail page's visuals through the model, or the detail page shows unfiltered data.
• Cross-report drillthrough scope: both reports must live in the same workspace and use matching field names; it also must be enabled in report settings.
• Buttons need an action: an inserted button does nothing until you set Format -> Action -> On and choose a type and destination.

On the exam

PL-300 items frequently make you (a) distinguish drillthrough (cross-page, filtered detail) from drill-down (in-visual hierarchy), (b) pick bookmarks + buttons for "presentation mode" or "toggle visuals", (c) configure the correct drillthrough field, (d) set the canvas type and "Allow use as tooltip" for report-page tooltips, and (e) tell report bookmarks (shared, authored) from personal bookmarks (private, consumer-created).