How to Highlight a Row in Power BI

A static wall of numbers in a table can make even the most exciting data feel flat. To bring your Power BI reports to life and make them easier for your audience to interpret, you can highlight the row a user selects. This simple interactive feature helps focus attention, makes data comparison intuitive, and dramatically improves the user experience.

This tutorial will walk you through exactly how to set up dynamic row highlighting in your Power BI tables and matrices using conditional formatting and a bit of straightforward DAX.

Why Bother Highlighting Rows in Power BI?

Before we get into the "how," let's quickly touch on the "why." A well-designed report guides the user’s eye. When a user clicks on an item in a slicer or another visual, highlighting the corresponding data in a table offers immediate visual feedback. It confirms their selection and draws their attention to the right place.

This interactivity creates a more engaging and less confusing experience. Instead of forcing users to scan through lines of data to find what they selected, you’re pointing them directly to it. It’s a small change that makes your report feel more like a dynamic application and less like a static spreadsheet.

Method 1: Highlight a Row on Direct Selection

The most common scenario is highlighting a row when a user clicks directly on it within a table or matrix visual. This requires us to create a simple DAX measure that will tell Power BI what color to use when a row is selected.

Let's imagine we have a simple sales table with columns for Product Name, Region, and Total Sales.

Step 1: Create Your Table Visual

First, add a Table or Matrix visual to your Power BI report canvas. Drag the fields you want to display into the "Columns" or "Values" sections. For our example, we'll use:

• Product Name
• Region
• Total Sales

You should now have a basic, unformatted table on your screen.

Step 2: Create the DAX Color Measure

This is where the magic happens. We need to create a measure that returns a specific color code when a row is selected and a default color (or no color) when it isn't.

1. In the "Home" or "Modeling" tab of the ribbon, click on New Measure.
2. The formula bar will appear. Enter the following DAX formula. Feel free to copy and paste, but be sure to replace 'Sales'[Product Name] with your own table and column name.

Highlight Color = 
IF(
    ISFILTERED('Sales'[Product Name]),
    "#D6EAF8",  // Light blue for selected
    "WHITE"     // White for not selected
)

What This DAX Formula Does:

• ISFILTERED('Sales'[Product Name]): Checks whether the 'Product Name' column is currently filtered. Clicking a row applies a filter for that specific row.
• IF(... ): If the filter is active (TRUE), return #D6EAF8, a light blue shade.
• Otherwise, return WHITE.

Step 3: Apply Conditional Formatting to Your Table

Now that we have our measure, we need to tell Power BI to use it for cell backgrounds.

1. Select your table visual.
2. Go to the Format pane (paintbrush icon).
3. Expand Cell elements.
4. For the column you want to highlight (e.g., Product Name), change Background color to On.
5. Click on the fx button (Conditional formatting).
6. In the Format style dropdown, select Field value.
7. In Based on field, choose the measure Highlight Color.
8. Click OK.

Step 4: Repeat for All Columns

Repeat step 3 for each column you want to highlight, setting the "Apply to" dropdown to each relevant column and using the same Highlight Color measure for consistency.

Now, clicking on a row in your table highlights all its cells with the light blue color and reverts to white when you click away. You’ve just made your report more interactive and user-friendly.

Method 2: Highlighting Based on a Slicer Selection

What if you want the row to highlight when an item is selected from a slicer instead of clicking on the table? Luckily, the ISFILTERED() approach already supports this.

How to Set It Up:

1. Ensure you’ve completed the steps above.
2. Add a new Slicer visual.
3. Drag the same field (e.g., Product Name) into the slicer.

With this setup, selecting a product in the slicer applies a filter that your measure detects, resulting in the corresponding row being highlighted. If you select multiple items, you can refine the formula as shown below to better handle multi-select scenarios.

More Robust Highlighting for Multiple Selections

Highlight Color =
VAR SelectedProduct = SELECTEDVALUE('Sales'[Product Name])
RETURN IF(
  NOT ISBLANK(SelectedProduct) && MAX('Sales'[Product Name]) = SelectedProduct,
  "#DDDDFF", // Highlight a lighter blue
  "white" // Normal default state
)

This formula:

• Stores the selected product in SelectedProduct.
• Checks if the current row’s product matches the selection.
• Highlights the row in a lighter blue if matched, otherwise, white.

Pro Tips for Effective Highlighting

• Use subtle colors: Bright or neon colors can be distracting. Aim for hues that guide without overwhelming.
• Maintain consistency: Use the same highlight color across your report for clarity.
• Test with real users: Ensure the highlighting feels natural and improves usability.
• Highlight entire rows: For better visibility, consider applying conditional formatting to all columns rather than individual cells.

Bonus: The DAX Explained!

VAR is short for Variable, storing intermediate calculations within a measure. SELECTEDVALUE() retrieves the value when a single selection is made. If multiple are selected, it returns blank unless you specify an alternate result.

In our case, SelectedProduct holds the chosen product name, which we compare against each row to decide whether to highlight it. Using variables simplifies complex logic and improves readability.

Final Thoughts

Leveraging ISFILTERED() and SELECTEDVALUE() in DAX allows you to create dynamic, interactive reports that respond to user actions effortlessly. Such features turn static tables into engaging data explorations.

To handle specific needs or skip complex setup, tools like Graphed enable conversational data querying—just ask in plain English, and get instant answers. Happy reporting!