Display Power BI Matrix Visual in Tabular Format [Stepped Layout Option Missing]

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In this tutorial, I have explained the problem I encountered when trying to turn off the stepped layout option, which displays data in a Power BI matrix visual without any steps similar to Excel.

Quick answer: In current versions of Power BI Desktop, the Stepped layout switch is replaced by a Layout option. Select the matrix, open Format visual, expand Layout and style presets and set Layout to Tabular (Compact is the stepped view). Turn Repeat row headers on or off to get the Excel-style table you want.

The issue I faced:

In the latest version of Power BI Desktop, I have created a matrix visual. I added multiple fields to the rows section and included values in them.

Then, I tried to turn off the stepped layout, so that all row headers would display without steps. However, when I searched in the Format pane, I could only see options like = / – for expanding or collapsing, but I couldn’t find the Stepped layout option.

From the screenshot below, you can see that the Row headers do not contain the Stepped layout option.

Power BI Matrix Stepped Layout option missing

Solution:

Microsoft has removed the [Stepped Layout] option in the Matrix visual. Now, it is referred to as the ‘Outline’ layout. It’s located within the “Layout and style presets” section of the Format pane.

You can achieve this type of requirement by changing the ‘Layout to Tabular‘ from compact, which is the default one.

Display Matrix Visual Data in a Tabular Format in Power BI

Let’s consider that I have a Matrix visual in my Power BI report with the ‘Sales’ data. The image below shows the default matrix format [Compact], where the row headers are in stepped layout.

Power BI Matrix Visual Tabular Format

I wanted to display the data mentioned above in a tabular format similar to an Excel-like appearance. See the image below:

Power BI Matrix in Tabular Format

Check out Display Average Instead of Total in Power BI Matrix Visual

Tabular Format in Matrix

The tabular format presents the data in a continuous series of rows and columns, similar to an Excel spreadsheet, where each row represents an individual record and the columns are fully separated.

See the steps below:

  1. On the Power BI desktop, select the ‘Matrix‘ -> Click on the ‘Format‘ icon on the right side to open the Format pane.
Power BI Format Matrix to Tabular
  1. On the Visual tab, click on the drop-down of Layout and Style presets and set the Layout to Tabular. Toggle on the Repeat Headers button.
Power BI Matrix in Tabular Layout
  1. Then, the data of the matrix will be arranged in a tabular format as shown below.
Change a Power BI Matrix to Tabular Format

If you do not want to repeat the row header, Toggle off the Repeat row headers button.

Display Matrix visual in Tabular Format Power BI
  1. Then, the data in the matrix visual will be displayed in a tabular format without repeating row headers, as shown below.
Power BI show Matrix visual in tabular format

This is how you can display the data present in the matrix visual in a tabular format using Power BI.

I hope you found this tutorial informative. Leave your comments about this in the comments section below.

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