How to Make Multi Row Card Vertical in Power BI

The multi-row card in Power BI is a fantastic way to display several key metrics together, but its default horizontal layout can be a real roadblock when you need a vertical design. You've probably tried to find a simple toggle switch for this, only to realize one doesn't exist. This article will show you a few practical and effective workarounds to get the vertical multi-row card you need, from simple tricks to more advanced techniques.

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Why Is the Multi-Row Card Horizontal by Default?

Before jumping into the solutions, it helps to understand why the multi-row card behaves the way it does. The visual is designed to show multiple related metrics for a single category. For example, you might want to see Sales, Profit, and Cost for "North America." The visual lays these out side-by-side (horizontally) because they all belong to that one category.

When you want to display a list of distinct KPIs, like 'Total Website Sessions', 'Conversion Rate', and 'Total Revenue', a vertical list just works better visually and is much easier to read. While Power BI doesn’t offer a built-in "vertical mode" for this visual, you can get the exact same result using other standard visuals with a bit of formatting.

Method 1: Use a Formatted Table Visual (The Easiest Way)

The most straightforward and reliable way to create a vertical list of your metrics is to use a standard Table visual and format it to look exactly like a series of cards. It’s flexible, requires no DAX, and gives you a surprising amount of control.

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Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Create Your Measures

First, make sure each value you want to display is a distinct measure in your data model. For example, you might have measures like:

Total Sales = SUM('Sales'[SalesAmount])

- ``` 
Total Profit = SUM('Sales'[ProfitAmount]) 

Unit Count = SUM('Sales'[OrderQuantity])

Having these as separate measures is crucial for the next step.

#### 2. Manually Enter Data for Labels
Since a table needs a column for your labels, you'll create a simple, disconnected table to hold them. This gives you full control over the names and order.

- Go to the **Home** tab and click **Enter data**.
- A new dialog box will appear. Name the column something intuitive like "Metric Name".
- In this column, type the labels for each of your measures exactly how you want them to appear. For example: "Total Sales," "Total Profit," "Units Sold."
- Give the table a name (e.g., "KPI Labels") and click **Load**. This table is not related to any other tables in your model.

#### 3. Create a SWITCH Measure to Provide the Values
Now, you'll write a single DAX measure that dynamically provides the correct measure value based on the label in your new table. This is the engine that will power your vertical card.

KPI Value = SWITCH( SELECTEDVALUE('KPI Labels'[Metric Name]), "Total Sales", [Total Sales], "Total Profit", [Total Profit], "Units Sold", [Unit Count], BLANK() )

This measure looks at the label name from your 'KPI Labels' table and returns the corresponding measure value.

#### 4. Build the Table Visual
Now you can put it all together on your report canvas.

- Select the **Table** visual from the Visualizations pane and add it to your report.
- Drag the **'Metric Name'** column from your 'KPI Labels' table into the Columns field well.
- Drag the new **[KPI Value]** measure into the Columns field well right after it.

Instantly, you should see a two-column table with your labels in the first column and their corresponding values in the second.

#### 5. Format the Table to Look Like a Card
Now, you'll format the table so it doesn't resemble a table and instead looks like a vertical card list.

- **Remove Default Styling:** In the *Format your visual* pane, go to *Style presets* and select *None*. This removes any alternating row colors or other default styles.
- **Turn Off Headers:** Go to the *Column headers* section and turn the toggle off. Your column titles ("Metric Name" and "KPI Value") will disappear.
- **Remove Gridlines:** In the *Grid* section, turn off both the *Horizontal gridlines* and *Vertical gridlines* toggles and set the *Border* to "None".
- **Turn Off Totals:** Scroll down to the *Totals* section and switch that toggle to off.
- **Format the Values:** Expand the *Values* section to adjust the fonts. Increase the font size to make the text larger and easier to read, just like on a card. You can also change the font color and style here.
- **Customize Each Column Individually:** This is a powerful feature many overlook. Go to the *Specific column* section. From the dropdown series, select "Metric Name." Here, you can change the font style of just the labels—perhaps make them a muted grey or bold them. Then, switch the series to "[KPI Value]" and make the numeric value much larger and bolder to make it stand out.
- **Adjust Spacing:** Under *Grid -> Options*, you can adjust the *Row padding* to add more vertical space between each 'card', giving your visual a cleaner look.

You'll be left with a perfectly stacked, clean-looking vertical list of your key metrics that dynamically updates and behaves exactly like a custom visual.

## Method 2: Stacking Individual Card Visuals
Sometimes the simplest solution is the best, especially if you only need to display two or three metrics. This method involves using the standard 'Card' visual for each metric and just arranging them vertically.

### Step-by-Step Instructions:

#### 1. Create and Format Your First Card
Select the **Card** visual from the Visualizations pane. Drag the measure you want to display into the Values field and give the card a title or category label.

#### 2. Duplicate the Card
Use simple copy-and-paste to duplicate a card. Highlight the first card you created, then copy and paste. After creating a second card, simply swap the measure to show the new card's intended value.

#### 3. Align and Group the Cards
The hardest part is aligning the visuals once all cards have been made. Hold **Ctrl** and click each of the duplicated cards to highlight them all, then click **Format** to see more buttons. Under the same tab, choose to distribute horizontally. This will stack the cards neatly.

**Pros of this method:**
- Extremely simple.
- It is "What You See Is What You Get." There are no illusions about where the visuals might go, just buttons for each card, nothing complicated.

**Cons of this method:**
- It is not dynamic. You are managing multiple visuals, which might be time-consuming.

## Method 3: Creating an Advanced DAX Technique with the Matrix
Using DAX is very effective at taking the data you'd like visualized and doing that seamlessly for you. We'll create a DAX expression for you to recreate right here. The SWITCH expression is useful to bring out certain values you would like a card for.

Value from a SWITCH to an alternate = SWITCH( SELECTEDVALUE('Metric_Measure'), "TotalProfit", [Profit for Total Amount], "TotalUnit Sales", [Amount of Total Unit Sales], BLANK() )

To conclude:
- The formula is checking our Metric_Measure name and outputting the corresponding value.
- When clicking a name on the metric, you see the intended measure. With DAX, you can get very precise. To get multiple values, repeat the command for each.

## Final Thoughts
The best of us have gone down rabbit holes, but there is hope at the end! With the workarounds provided and the helpful information, converting row visuals from horizontal to vertical won't be a problem in Power BI anymore.

Manually building reports in tools like Power BI is a powerful but tedious exercise in report creation for a simple task. With Graphed, we aim to solve a problem by giving you more time back to your day. It’s the simplest way to turn all of your data into insight.