How to Show Matrix in Tabular Form in Power BI

Ever tried to make a Power BI matrix visual look like a standard, flat table and felt like you were fighting the software? The default stepped layout is great for pivoting and drilling down, but sometimes all you need is a clean, tabular report. This tutorial will show you exactly how to disable the hierarchical-style grouping and transform your matrix into the simple table format you're looking for.

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First, Why Doesn't a Matrix Look Like a Table by Default?

Before diving into the fix, it helps to understand why Power BI separates the Table and Matrix visuals in the first place. Think of them as two different tools for two different jobs, even though they both display data in rows and columns.

A Table visual is designed for two-dimensional data. It shows a flat list of records where each row is a unique item and each column is an attribute of that item. Picture a simple spreadsheet of daily sales: each row has one date, one product, one quantity, and one revenue amount. It's straightforward and easy to read from left to right.

A Matrix visual, on the other hand, is Power BI's version of a pivot table. It's built for multi-dimensional or hierarchical data. You can nest multiple fields into the Rows and Columns sections, creating natural groupings and sub-groupings. For example, you could place "Region" and then "Country" in the Rows field. The Matrix will automatically nest the countries under their respective regions, providing a condensed view with expand and collapse options. This is powerful for analysis but results in the "stepped" look that moves subgroups to the right, which isn't always ideal for reporting.

The core challenge is that while the Matrix visual offers the flexibility to use multiple fields for rows (something a basic Table doesn't do as gracefully), its default appearance is not the flat, export-friendly format many reports require.

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Your Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Tabular Matrix

Let's walk through the process of turning a standard, stepped matrix into a clean tabular report. We'll use a common business scenario: analyzing sales data by region, category, and sub-category.

Here's what our starting matrix looks like. It nested Category under Region, and Sub-Category under Category, creating a staggered, indented layout. It's functional but can be confusing to read and messy to export.

Step 1: Build Your Basic Matrix

First, create your matrix. Drag the Matrix visual onto your Power BI canvas. For our example, let's configure the fields as follows:

• Rows: Add the fields you want to group by, in order of hierarchy. We'll drag in Region, then Category, then Sub-Category.
• Columns: This can be empty, or you can add a field like Year if you want to pivot horizontally. For a simple tabular look, it's often best to leave this empty.
• Values: Add the numeric measures you want to see, such as Sales, Profit, or Quantity.

You'll immediately see the default stepped layout. Now, let's fix it.

Step 2: Locate the 'Format your visual' Pane

With your matrix selected, look for the 'Format your visual' pane, typically on the right-hand side of the Power BI window (it looks like a paintbrush icon). This is where all the magic happens. Make sure you're on the "Visual" tab, not the "General" tab.

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Step 3: Turn Off the Stepped Layout

This is the most critical step. Disabling the stepped layout is what flattens your rows into individual columns.

1. In the 'Format your visual' pane, find and expand the Row headers section.
2. Scroll down until you see a toggle for Stepped layout.
3. Click the toggle to turn it Off.

Instantly, you’ll see a dramatic change. Your nested rows will "unstack" and separate into their own columns: one for Region, one for Category, and one for Sub-Category. You’re already most of the way there! The data is now in a clear tabular structure.

Step 4: Remove the Expand/Collapse Icons (+/-)

After turning off the stepped layout, you might still see the plus and minus icons next to your row headers, which are used for drilling up and down the hierarchy. While useful for interactive analysis, they add clutter to a report intended to be simple and static.

Here’s how to remove them:

1. Stay within the Row headers section of the formatting pane.
2. Find and expand the Icons sub-section.
3. You'll see a toggle for +/- icons.
4. Click the toggle to turn it Off.

The icons will disappear, giving your matrix an even cleaner, more table-like appearance.

Step 5: Control Your Subtotals

Finally, a matrix automatically adds subtotals for each level of the row hierarchy. In our example, you'd see a subtotal for each Region and each Category. In a traditional flat table, these subtotals often just add unnecessary rows and confusion.

You have precise control over these totals:

1. In the 'Format your visual' pane, find and expand the Subtotals section.
2. Here you will see options for both Row subtotals and Column subtotals.
3. To remove all row subtotals, simply turn the Row subtotals toggle Off.
4. Alternatively, you can choose to apply subtotals "Per row level." This feature lets you enable or disable subtotals for specific fields (e.g., keep the total for Region but remove it for Category).

Once you turn off the subtotals, your transformation is complete. You now have a visual that uses the multi-row flexibility of a matrix but has the clean, flat appearance of a standard table.

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Bonus Tips for Perfecting Your Tabular Report

Now that you've handled the structure, here are a few extra formatting tips to make your new tabular report even more professional and readable.

• Improve Grid Lines: In the 'Format your visual' pane, go to the Grid section. You can add horizontal and vertical gridlines, change their color and thickness, and give your report a classic spreadsheet look.
• Column Header Formatting: Head to the Column headers section to adjust text alignment, font color, and background colors. Turning on "Text wrap" is especially useful for long column names.
• Adjust Column Widths: Simply hover over the edge of a column header on the canvas and drag to resize your columns for a perfect fit, just like in Excel.
• Use Conditional Formatting: To draw attention to key data points, go to the Cell elements formatter. Here you can apply background color scales, data bars, or icons to your value columns based on their performance, helping users quickly spot highs and lows.

When to Bother With This Tweak?

So, when should you use this technique instead of just using a standard Table visual? The key reason is flexibility.

Use this modified Matrix approach when:

• You need to display data from multiple row fields but require a flat, non-nested output for a report or dashboard. A standard table is more restrictive with its grouping.
• You want an easy way to create a dataset for export. The tabular format is perfect for users who want to export the data to Excel or CSV for further analysis.
• Your end-users find the default pivot table look confusing and have asked for a simpler, "flat file" view.

On the other hand, stick with the default Table visual when your data is already flat and doesn't need to be grouped by multiple row fields. If you just need a list of transactions, a simple table is quicker and easier.

Final Thoughts

By simply turning off the stepped layout, hiding the expand/collapse icons, and managing subtotals, you can force Power BI’s powerful Matrix visual into an excellent flat table. This trick is invaluable for creating reports that are easy to read, export, and understand, especially for audiences who are more comfortable with spreadsheets than pivot tables.

While mastering the formatting options in tools like Power BI is a great skill, we know it can become tedious to click through endless menus just to get the report you need. We built Graphed to remove this friction by connecting your data and letting you build reports with natural language. Instead of tweaking row headers and subtotals, you could simply ask, “Show me sales, broken down by region and category in a flat table for this quarter,” and we’d instantly create the live report for you. It turns hours of manual report building into a 30-second conversation.