How to Remove Subtotals in Power BI Matrix

Working with a matrix in Power BI can feel like a superpower for summarizing data, but sometimes those automatic subtotals just get in the way. They can clutter your visual, distract from the key details, or make your report look too busy. This guide will show you exactly how to remove row and column subtotals, giving you full control over your matrix’s appearance and focusing your audience’s attention where it matters most.

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Why Remove Subtotals in a Power BI Matrix?

Before diving into the "how," let's quickly touch on the "why." By default, Power BI adds subtotals to your matrix for each level of your hierarchy. While often useful for getting a quick summary, there are several good reasons you might want to turn them off:

• Improved Readability: A clean, minimalist report is often easier to read. Removing extra rows can help your audience focus on the granular data without being distracted by intermediate sums.
• Report Design and Aesthetics: You might be designing a dashboard with a specific look and feel, and subtotals might not fit your visual style. Hiding them gives you a cleaner layout.
• Focusing on Specific Levels: If your matrix has multiple levels (e.g., Year > Quarter > Month), you might only want your viewers to compare the monthly data. Removing the quarterly subtotals forces the focus onto the lowest level of detail.
• Preparing for Export: When exporting data to Excel or another format for further analysis, subtotals can interfere with sorting, filtering, and running calculations. A clean export of raw data is much more versatile.

Whatever your reason, the good news is that hiding them is straightforward. Let's look at the easiest way first.

Method 1: Using the Visualizations Pane (The Easy Way)

For most situations, you can remove subtotals with just a few clicks in the formatting options of the matrix visual. There’s no need to write any code or complex formulas.

Here’s the step-by-step process:

Step 1: Select Your Matrix Visual

First, click on the matrix visual within your Power BI report to select it. When it's selected, you'll see a border appear around it, and the “Visualizations” pane on the right-hand side of the screen will update to show the settings for that specific visual.

Step 2: Navigate to the "Format your visual" Tab

In the Visualizations pane, you’ll see three icons at the top: “Add data to your visual,” “Format your visual,” and “Add further analysis to your visual.” Click on the middle icon, which looks like a paintbrush, to open the formatting options.

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Step 3: Locate the Subtotals Section

Under the “Visual” tab in the formatting pane, scroll down until you see a section called “Subtotals.” Click on a card to expand it and reveal its options. You will see separate cards and options for "Row subtotals" and "Column subtotals." This allows you to control them independently, which is incredibly useful.

Step 4: Turn Off Row and/or Column Subtotals

Now you have precise control over which subtotals you want to show or hide.

To remove row subtotals:

In the "Row subtotals" section, you'll see a toggle switch labeled “+/- icons”. Toggling this controls the expand/collapse functionality. Below this, you can control where the values are applied and at what levels.

To turn subtotals off for specific row fields:

1. Expand the "Row subtotals" card.
2. Find the dropdown for "Apply settings to."
3. Select the specific row field from the hierarchy that you want to modify.
4. Turn the "Subtotals" toggle switch to off.

To turn subtotals off for all row fields at once:

1. In the "Apply settings to" dropdown, ensure "All" is selected.
2. Turn the main "Row subtotals" toggle switch off at the top of the card.

To remove column subtotals:

The process is nearly identical for column subtotals.

1. Expand the "Column subtotals" card in the formatting pane.
2. Just like with rows, you can choose to apply the setting to "All" column levels or a specific field via the dropdown.
3. Turn the main "Column subtotals" toggle switch to Off.

As soon as you toggle the switch, your matrix visual will update, and the corresponding subtotals will disappear. It’s that easy!

A Note on Grand Totals

It's important to distinguish between subtotals and grand totals. This formatting section controls the intermediate totals within the hierarchy. The grand totals (the final summary row and column for the entire matrix) are controlled separately in a different section of the formatting pane called “Grand total.” If you want to remove those as well, you can just expand that section and toggle them off.

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Method 2: Using DAX for Advanced Control

The formatting pane method works perfectly for 95% of use cases. However, sometimes you run into a scenario that requires more nuance. For example, what if you want to show a value for the detailed rows but display a blank or a different calculation for the subtotal row, rather than an aggregated sum?

In these cases, you can use DAX (Data Analysis Expressions), Power BI's formula language.

The key to this technique is the ISINSCOPE() function. This function returns TRUE when the specified column is the lowest level in the current context of a hierarchy. In other words, it lets us check if a row in our matrix is a detail row or a subtotal/grand total row.

Example Scenario: Showing a Value Only on Detail Rows

Let's say you have a matrix showing Category and SubCategory as rows and Total Sales as the value. You want to see the sales for each SubCategory but you want the Category subtotal row to be blank.

Step 1: Create a New Measure

Instead of using the default summarized Total Sales field, we will create a new measure that includes our logic.

In Power BI, navigate to the “Data” pane, right-click on your table, and select “New measure.”

Step 2: Write the DAX Formula

In the formula bar, enter the following DAX expression:

Sales No Subtotals = 
IF(
    ISINSCOPE('Products'[SubCategory]),
    SUM('Sales'[Sales Amount]),
    BLANK()
)

Let’s break down what this measure is doing:

• ISINSCOPE('Products'[SubCategory]): This is the conditional check. It asks, "Is this current row in the matrix at the SubCategory level of detail?" For rows showing individual subcategories, this will be TRUE. For the Category subtotal row, it will be FALSE.
• SUM('Sales'[Sales Amount]): This is the calculation to perform if the condition is TRUE (i.e., for the detail rows). You would replace this with your actual measure.
• BLANK(): This is what the measure will return if the condition is FALSE (i.e., for the Category subtotal row and the Grand total row). This effectively hides the value.

Step 3: Use the New Measure in Your Matrix

Now, go back to your matrix visual. In the Visualizations pane, under the “Values” field well, remove the original Total Sales field and drag in your new measure, Sales No Subtotals.

Your matrix will now display the sales values for each subcategory but will show blanks for the category subtotal rows. This gives you incredibly fine-tuned control over your report's output.

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Common Issues and Troubleshooting

"The Subtotals Toggle is Grayed Out!"

If you find that the toggle switch for subtotals is disabled, the most likely reason is that your row or column hierarchy only has one level. Since there are no levels below it to subtotal, Power BI grays out the option because it is not applicable.

"I want to change the word 'Total' in the Subtotal Row."

You can customize the subtotal labels easily! By default, Power BI labels the row with the field name and the column subtotals as "Total."

1. Go back to the Subtotals section in the formatting pane.
2. For either rows or columns, you'll find an option for "Row header label".
3. You can type any custom text you want into this box, such as "Category Summary" or "Quarterly Total."

This little customization can add a lot of context and clarity for your readers without requiring any complex changes.

Final Thoughts

Mastering the presentation of your data is just as important as the accuracy of the data itself. Knowing how to efficiently manage subtotals in a Power BI matrix allows you to create clearer, more focused reports that better serve your audience, whether you use the simple formatting toggles or a more advanced DAX measure.

Building reports in tools like Power BI gives you incredible control, but it also comes with a learning curve and time spent clicking through menus. We created Graphed because sometimes you just need answers from your data without becoming a BI expert. Instead of configuring matrix visuals, you can just ask in plain language, "show me sales by category and subcategory for last quarter,” and instantly get a dashboard. We connect all your tools - from Google Analytics to Shopify to Salesforce - so getting insights across platforms is as easy as having a conversation.