How to Show Image in Power BI

Adding images to your Power BI reports transforms them from simple data grids into engaging, easy-to-understand dashboards. Instead of just showing a product name, you can show the actual product, instead of listing sales reps, you can display their headshots. This article walks you through exactly how to add, configure, and manage images within Power BI tables and other visuals.

Why Bother Using Images in Your Power BI Reports?

Before diving into the "how," it's helpful to understand the "why." Integrating images into your reports isn't just about making them look pretty, it's about making them more effective. A well-placed image can add crucial context, speed up comprehension, and make your data story much more compelling.

Here are a few common scenarios where images add significant value:

• E-commerce Reporting: Displaying product images next to sales figures, inventory levels, or return rates is incredibly powerful. Stakeholders can see exactly which items are being discussed without having to look up SKUs.
• HR and Management Dashboards: Putting employee photos next to their performance metrics or sales numbers adds a human element to the data. It's easier to recognize faces than names in a long list.
• Geographic Analysis: Using country or state flags in tables and slicers adds a quick visual cue that is faster to process than reading the name of the location.
• Project Management: Displaying logos of client companies or project brand identities in a portfolio dashboard helps team members quickly identify relevant projects.

The First Step: Making Your Images Accessible Online

This is the most important concept to grasp: Power BI does not store image files directly. Instead, it dynamically loads images from a URL you provide in your data. This means your images must be hosted somewhere on the web and accessible via a direct link.

Where Can You Host Your Images?

You have several options, ranging from simple to more robust. The key is that the URL must be publicly accessible, meaning anyone with the link can view the image without needing to log in.

• Public Website or Server: If your company website runs on a platform like WordPress, you can often upload images to its media library and use their URLs. Similarly, you can store them in a public folder on a company web server.
• Cloud Storage Services: Platforms like Azure Blob Storage, Amazon S3, Google Drive, or Dropbox can work, but you have to be careful. You must ensure the link you use is a direct public link to the image file itself, not a link to a viewing page. For services like Google Drive, this often requires modifying the share link to be a direct download link.
• Dedicated Image Hosting: Services like Imgur can be a quick and easy solution for personal projects or testing, as they are designed to provide direct links. Be mindful of their terms of service for commercial use.

The Anatomy of a Power BI-Friendly URL

For Power BI to recognize and display an image, the URL in your data must meet two criteria:

1. It must be publicly accessible (you can test this by opening the link in a private browser window).
2. It must end with a standard image file extension, such as .jpg, .jpeg, .png, or .gif.

This is what a good link looks like:

https://www.yourcompanysite.com/images/products/blue-widget.png

This link might not work:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/abcdef12345/view/blue-widget

Step-by-Step Guide to Showing Images in Power BI

Once you have your images hosted and their URLs ready, the process within Power BI is straightforward. It involves two main phases: adding the URL to your data model and then configuring Power BI to interpret it correctly.

1. Add an "Image URL" Column to Your Data Source

Your dataset must have a dedicated column that contains the full URL for the image corresponding to each row. For example, if you have a product sales table in Excel, it might look something like this:

When you load this data into Power BI, the "ProductImageURL" column will come with it as a simple text field.

2. Set the Data Category to "Image URL"

This is the magic step. By default, Power BI sees the URL column as just a plain string of text. You need to explicitly tell it to treat those strings as links to images. Here's how:

1. In Power BI Desktop, switch to the Data view (the grid-like icon on the left-hand navigation pane).
2. From the "Fields" pane on the right, select the table containing your image links (e.g., 'Product Sales').
3. Find and click on the header of the column that contains your URLs to select it. The entire column should now be highlighted.
4. With the column selected, the Column tools menu will appear in the top ribbon.
5. Find the Data category dropdown menu. It will likely say "Uncategorized" by default.
6. Click the dropdown and select Image URL from the list.

That's it! You won't see anything change in the data grid, but Power BI now knows what to do with that column when you use it in visuals.

3. Add Images to a Table or Matrix Visual

With the data category set correctly, displaying the images is simple.

1. Switch back to the Report view (the bar chart icon in the left-hand navigation).
2. Add a Table or Matrix visual to your canvas from the "Visualizations" pane.
3. From your "Fields" pane, drag the fields you want to display into the "Values" or "Columns" well of the visual. For our example, this would be ProductName and Sales.
4. Now, drag your previously categorized ProductImageURL field into the "Values" or "Columns" well. Power BI will instantly fetch the images from the links and display them in the table.

Pro Tip: Adjust the Image Size

Out of the box, the images might be too small. You can easily adjust their size within the table properties.

• Select your table visual.
• Go to the Format pane in the "Visualizations" section (the paintbrush icon).
• Expand the Grid section, and then find the Image size property.
• You can increase the pixel height and width values here to make the images larger and more visible.

Troubleshooting Common Image Issues

Sometimes things don't go as planned. Here are some of the most common problems and how to fix them.

Problem: My table shows the full URL text, not an image.

Solution: You most likely missed step 2. Go back to the Data view, select the URL column, and make sure its Data category in the "Column tools" ribbon is set to Image URL. If you changed it after adding the field to the table, you may need to remove and re-add the field to the visual for the change to take effect.

Problem: I see a broken image icon.

Solution: This means Power BI tried to load the image but failed. This is almost always an issue with the URL itself.

• Copy one of the URLs from your data table.
• Paste it into a new private/incognito browser window. If the image doesn't load there, Power BI won't be able to load it either.
• Check for typos, ensure the link is public, and confirm it ends with an image extension.

Problem: My report is loading very slowly.

Solution: High-resolution images can significantly slow down your report's performance because Power BI has to download each one.

• Resize your images. Before you host them, resize your image files to be no larger than the maximum size you'll display them at in the report (e.g., if the image will be 150x150 pixels in a table, an original 5000x5000 pixel image is overkill).
• Compress your images. Use a tool like TinyPNG to reduce the file size without sacrificing much quality. Optimized images load faster and create a better user experience.

Final Thoughts

You’ve now learned how to properly display images in your Power BI reports by preparing online URLs, assigning the correct 'Image URL' data category, and adding them to visuals. This technique significantly boosts the engagement and clarity of your dashboards, transforming them into more intuitive and visually appealing tools for analysis.

While Power BI is fantastic for deep, hands-on dashboard creation, the setup can sometimes take you away from your primary goal: getting quick answers. At Graphed, we simplify this process by allowing you to connect your data sources and then use natural language to get the insights you need. Instead of manually adjusting data categories and visual settings to build a sales report, you can simply ask, “Show me a dashboard of my top products by revenue with their images.” We help you go from data to decisions in seconds. Find out more by signing up for free with Graphed.