What Is Included in Power BI Visuals Site?
Power BI's standard array of visuals takes you far, but the real magic begins when you tap into its extensive library of custom visuals. If you want to create reports that go beyond basic bar charts and pies, the key is knowing where to find and how to use these powerful add-ons. This article will guide you through the Power BI visuals site, showing you what's included, how to add them to your reports, and what to look for when choosing the perfect one.
What is the Power BI Visuals Site?
The official home for custom Power BI visuals is Microsoft AppSource. Think of it as an app store, but exclusively for Power BI. It's a marketplace filled with hundreds of visuals built by both Microsoft and a community of third-party developers. AppSource is where you go when the built-in charts and graphs aren't enough to tell your unique data story.
Venturing into AppSource unlocks a whole new level of reporting. You can find everything from industry-specific Gantt charts for project management to animated charts that show data changing over time. By using these custom visuals, you can create dashboards that are more engaging, insightful, and tailored to your specific business needs without needing to write a single line of code.
Navigating the Landscape: Standard vs. AppSource Visuals
Before diving into the marketplace, it's helpful to understand the distinction between what comes standard with Power BI and what you can add from AppSource.
Standard (Out-of-the-Box) Visuals
When you first open Power BI Desktop, the Visualizations pane is already populated with a solid set of default visuals. This includes all the fundamentals:
Bar and column charts
Line and area charts
Pie and donut charts
Tables and matrices
Maps (Bing Maps integration)
Cards and KPI indicators
These visuals are the workhorses of data reporting and cover about 80% of common use cases. They are robust, fully supported by Microsoft, and perfect for building standard business dashboards. However, when you need to visualize data in a highly specific or creative way, you'll likely need to turn to AppSource.
AppSource (Custom) Visuals
AppSource visuals are add-ons that seamlessly integrate with your Power BI reports. They go beyond the basics to provide specialized functionality. For instance, while Power BI has a standard bar chart, you might find a custom visual on AppSource that allows you to embed images inside the bars or create a tornado chart for comparing categories side-by-side.
These visuals are created to solve specific problems and fill gaps that the standard visuals don't address. They empower you to design more dynamic, interactive, and aesthetically pleasing reports that can make complex data easier to understand.
How to Access and Add Visuals from AppSource
You can browse and add AppSource visuals in two primary ways: directly from within Power BI Desktop or by exploring the AppSource website. Both methods are straightforward.
Method 1: Get visuals directly from Power BI Desktop
This is the most convenient way to add new visuals while you're building a report. Here’s a simple step-by-step guide:
Open the Visualizations Pane: In Power BI Desktop, look at the Visualizations pane on the right side of your screen.
Click the Ellipsis (...): At the bottom of the visual icons, you'll see three dots (...). Click them.
Select "Get more visuals": A new menu will appear. Choose "Get more visuals" to open the AppSource window directly inside Power BI.
Browse and Add: You can now search for specific visuals, filter by category (like "KPIs" or "Maps"), or just explore what's popular. Once you find a visual you like, click on it to read its description and see user reviews. If you decide to add it, just click the blue "Add" button. The visual will now appear in your Visualizations pane, ready to be used in your report.
This method imports the visual for use in your current Power BI file (.pbix). If you open a new report, you will have to add it again.
Method 2: Browse the AppSource Website
If you prefer to browse in a full web browser or if your organization manages visuals centrally, you can use the AppSource website directly.
Go to the AppSource website: Search for "Microsoft AppSource Power BI visuals" or visit appsource.microsoft.com.
Navigate to the Power BI Visuals section.
Search and Filter: Just like within the app, you can search and use filters to find what you need. Click on any visual to learn more about its features, developer, and pricing.
Download the Visual: Instead of an "Add" button, you'll see a "Get it now" button. This will download a .pbiviz file to your computer.
Import into Power BI: Go back to Power BI Desktop. Click the ellipsis (...) in the Visualizations pane again, but this time select "Import a visual from a file." Locate the .pbiviz file you downloaded and open it. The custom visual will appear in your pane.
This method is also useful for sharing specific visual files with team members or for using them in environments where direct access to AppSource from the desktop is restricted.
Key Categories of Visuals You'll Find
AppSource is organized into categories to help you find the right tool for the job. Here are some of the most popular types of visuals you can expect to find:
Advanced Charts & Graphs
This is where you'll find creative and powerful alternatives to the standard charts. Examples include:
Word Cloud: Instantly visualizes text data, with more frequent words appearing larger. Great for analyzing survey responses or social media comments.
Gantt Chart: Essential for project managers, this visual displays project schedules, task dependencies, and progress over time.
Sunburst Chart: A multi-level donut chart perfect for visualizing hierarchical data, like a company's organizational structure or product categories.
Violin Plot: A combination of a box plot and a density plot, this is great for showing the distribution of your data across different categories.
KPIs, Gauges, and Cards
These visuals are designed for at-a-glance performance monitoring. They excel at showing a single number or progress toward a goal.
Dial Gauge: A familiar speedometer-style visual that shows a value within a range or against a target.
Power KPI: An enhanced Key Performance Indicator that can show trends, status, and history all in one compact visual.
Linear Gauge: Displays progress along a horizontal or vertical bar, similar to a thermometer.
Maps and Geospatial Visuals
While Power BI's built-in map is good, AppSource offers more powerful and interactive geospatial tools.
ArcGIS Maps: An enterprise-grade mapping visual from Esri that allows for advanced demographic layering, heat maps, and drive-time analysis.
Globe Map: Plots data on a 3D, interactive globe, which provides a stunning way to visualize international data.
Icon Map: Allows you to use custom icons or images as data points on a map, which is great for branding or representing specific locations like stores or facilities.
Filters, Slicers, and Navigation
These visuals are all about improving the user experience of your report. They make it easier for viewers to explore and find insights.
Chiclet Slicer: Replaces the plain list slicer with clickable buttons (chiclets) that can even contain images.
Play Axis (Dynamic Slicer): Adds an animated play button to your report, allowing users to watch how data changes over a time period (e.g., sales per month) without manually clicking.
Understanding Certification and Pricing
As you browse AppSource, you'll notice labels for certification and various pricing models. These are important factors to consider.
What "Power BI Certified" Means
A "Power BI Certified" checkmark is a seal of approval from Microsoft. To earn it, a custom visual must meet a rigorous set of standards for code quality, security, and performance. Certified visuals are your safest bet because:
They're secure: Microsoft has reviewed the code and confirmed it doesn't access external services or resources.
They perform well: They are tested to ensure they don't slow down your reports.
They support more features: Crucially, certified visuals work with additional Power BI features like exporting to PowerPoint and displaying within email subscriptions of a report page. Many uncertified visuals will not appear when exported or shared this way.
When in doubt, especially in a corporate environment, prioritize certified visuals.
Pricing Models on AppSource
Not everything on AppSource is free. You'll find a few different models:
Free: Many powerful and popular visuals are available at no cost.
In-app purchase available: This is a common "freemium" model. The core features of the visual are free, but you can pay to unlock advanced functionality, remove a watermark, or get dedicated support.
Free trial: Some premium visuals offer a trial period to let you test all the features before committing to a purchase.
Pricing is set by the third-party developer, so it can vary widely. Always review the pricing details before adding a visual to an important business report.
Final Thoughts
The standard visuals in Power BI are just the beginning. Microsoft AppSource opens up a world of possibilities, enabling you to build highly customized, interactive, and insightful reports that tell a clear and compelling data story. By exploring the various categories and understanding the difference between certified and uncertified visuals, you can elevate your dashboards from simple charts to strategic business tools.
While custom visuals offer incredible flexibility, building a sophisticated dashboard from scratch can still be a significant investment of time, especially getting all the data connections and filters right. For those moments when you need insights quickly, we've focused on turning the entire process into a simple conversation with Graphed. Instead of hunting through menus and configuring charts manually, you can just ask a question in plain English, like "Compare my ad spend versus revenue for my top 3 campaigns last month," and get a live, interactive dashboard built for you instantly. We help you connect your accounts and go straight to the answers you need.