Edit Interactions between Power BI visualizations

Data source used for this post is the ‘Internet Sales’ data mart of the ‘AdventureWorksDW2017´ SQL server database.

To demonstrate on how to control the interactions between two visualizations, I have created one bar chart which displays Sales Amount by Product Category and the other visualization is a pie chart, which is distributed according to the Sales Amount per Calendar Year.

To check the current interaction on how the pie chart area is filtered when a bar chart area is selected, I clicked on the Accessories bar on the bar chart, Pie chart values are filtered. However, Pie chart area highlights the area that is for “Accessories”. In this case, pie chart area doesn’t show a clear distinction of Sales Amount for each Year just for “Accessories” data.

To control this behavior and modify the interaction, select the bar chart, click on the “Format” ribbon and then click on “Edit Interactions”. Now, you will see three options on the pie chart, which are Filter, Highlight and None.

Let’s look at each option available on the pie chart:

• Highlight – It is the default behavior of the pie chart when a value on bar chart is selected – which highlights the area filtered
• Filter – Clicking on it will filter the pie chart areas according to the bar chart area selected. This option is more optimal option in this regard.

• None – Will remove the bar chart interaction with the Pie chart

Note: If you have to control the Pie chart interactions with the bar chart, you have to select the Pie chart and then modify the interaction options on the bar chart. Also, please note, not all visualizations have the same options to control interactions.

Hope this helps.