How to Format Table Visual in Power BI?

In my previous tutorial, we saw how to work with table visuals in Power BI. In this tutorial, I will show you how to format a table in Power BI with various examples, including conditional formatting.

You will learn here about the following formatting options.

• Formatting the Table Visual with Gridlines
• Format the Column Headers in a Power BI Table
• Format Individual Headers and Columns in Table Power BI
• Set the Background Color Shading in the Power BI Table
• Format the Numbers as Data bars in Power BI
• Add Visual Cues to the Power BI Table Visual

Apply Formatting to a Power BI Table visual

Let’s explore a few scenarios where we can format the table visual in Power BI.

Below, you can see the Table visual ‘Product Sales’ information with the displayed fields.

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Format Table Gridlines in Power BI

The following steps show how to configure the settings of the Power BI Table visual.

1. Launch the Power BI Desktop and connect a data source to it.
2. On the report page, create a Table visual in Power BI.
3. Select the Table visual, click on the paintbrush icon to open the format section under the Visualizations pane.
4. Expand the Grid option, and you can see the Horizontal gridlines and Vertical gridlines sections. Choose the Color and Width of the lines according to your preference.

Output:

Refer to the screenshot, where the table will be displayed with formatted horizontal and vertical gridlines.

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Format Column Headers in Power BI Table Visual

You can format the column header text, font size, alignment, and background color by following the steps below.

1. On the Power BI report view page, select the Table visual.
2. Navigate to the Format section under the Visualizations pane.
3. Expand Column headers -> Click on Text option
4. Increase the Font size and change font style and color.
5. Change the Background color.
6. Adjust the Header alignment to center.
7. Also, turn on Text wrap to allow long headings to merge and display.

Result:

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Format Individual Columns and Headers in Power BI Table

You can also format the individual columns and headers without formatting the entire table.

From the image shown below, I have added one more field to the Table Visual. I wanted only to format the individual column in the Table, ie, the (Country) column.

Here are the steps to do this:

1. Select the Table visual on the Power BI Desktop report.
2. Under the Format section, expand the Specific column section.

3. In the Apply settings to option, select the specific column that you want to format under the Series drop-down list.
4. Next, expand the Values option, and change the Text color and Background color.
5. You can also apply the changes to all values in the column and to the row that shows the total of the value.
   • Apply to total: Toggle on the button.
   • Apply to values: Toggle on the button.

Result:

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Apply Conditional Formatting to a Table in Power BI Visual

Power BI can apply conditional formatting for Totals and Subtotals in tables, as well as total values to any field in the columns section.

To apply the conditional formatting to a table visual, you need to specify the threshold or ranges for formatting rules.

The table will be formatted with icons, URLs, and cell background color and font colors based on the cell values. Also, apply gradient coloring to show value distribution within the numeric range.

Power BI: Conditional Formatting Table with Background Color Shade

Here, let me show you how to use conditional formatting to change the cell background color based on the numerical data value.

To format the background color, a gradient is available that can range in color from the lowest to the highest value. The color specified in the Minimum value will be applied to the lowest value in the range. The Maximum value color applies to the highest value in the range.

The background color can be applied based on the lowest and highest values in the category.

Have a look at the image below, which displays a Table visual with different columns.

Now, I wanted to apply the background color shade to the ‘Unit Sold’ column.

See the steps below:

1. On the Power BI desktop, select the table visual.
2. On the Visualizations pane, expand the drop-down menu for a field under Columns. Here, I will choose the ‘Units Sold‘ column.
3. A menu will open, hover the mouse over Conditional formatting -> Choose Background color option.

6. Then, the Background color dialog box opens, where you can apply the background color based on the selected column. See the parameters below:
   • Format style: By default, the Gradient option is present.
   • What field should we base this on?: Select the column from the drop-down.
   • Minimum value: You can provide a custom value or leave it blank.
   • Maximum value: Enter a custom value; otherwise, by default, it takes the highest value in the column.
7. Also, check the Add Middle color box to display the different color between the highest and lowest values.

Click on the OK button.

In the screenshot below, you can see formatting a table column with a background color shade gradient in different shades.

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Format the Number as Data Bars in a Power BI Table

Let’s see how to replace numerical values in a table visual with data bars in Power BI.

You can represent negative and positive data values in the table by using different bar colors.

By default, Negative values are shaded red and Positive values are shaded green. The length of a bar represents a numerical amount of data. The higher number value is shown with a longer bar.

The Table visual below has the ‘Profit’ column values. I want to represent the Profit values in the form of data bars.

Go through the steps mentioned below:

1. On the Power BI report view, select the Table.
2. On the Visualizations pane, click on the drop-down menu for the ‘Profit’ field under Columns.
3. Then, select Conditional formatting -> Choose Background color option.

4. On the Data bars window, you can set the Minimum and Maximum values for a bar by selecting the Lowest and Highest values.
   • Positive bar: Select a suitable color from the drop-down menu.
   • Negative bar: Select a color from the drop-down menu.

After that, click on the OK button. Select the ‘Show bar only‘ option to display the data bars without values.

Result:

Check out Power BI Matrix Visual Conditional Formatting

Format Power BI Table with Visual Cues Icons

This is another formatting option, where you can add visual cues to the table with conditional icons. It represents the data more visually and is easier to understand.

Follow the steps to add:

I have a Table visual with ‘Discount Brand‘ that displays the High, Low, and Medium values as shown in the image below.

Now, I wanted to apply formatting as icons based on the values corresponding to the ‘Discount Brand’ value.

• If Discount Brand is High -> Green Arrow icon showing upwards
• If Discount Brand is Low -> Red Arrow icon showing downwards
• If Discount Brand is Medium -> Triangle icon filled with color

Follow the same steps as those given in the previous examples, but change only the conditional formatting style to Icons.

See the steps:

1. When the Icon option in Conditional formatting is selected, the Icon window box opens. Select ‘Format style’ as ‘Rules’. Here, I have selected ‘What field should we base this on?’ to ‘Discount Brand‘.
2. Provide the Rules as shown in the image below and select icon styles. Then, click on OK.

3. The icons will be added based on the value in the ‘Discount Brand’ column. Have a look at the image below.

I hope you now know how to format your table visual by following the conditional formatting styles as mentioned.

Power BI conditional formatting helps to represent the data more visually, enabling more effective analysis.

You may follow other Power BI Tutorials:

• Power BI Column Chart
• Power BI Gauge Chart
• Create a Clustered Bar Chart in Power BI
• Power BI Slicer | Sync Slicers in Power BI
• Display Power BI Matrix Visual in Tabular Format

Bijay Kumar

After working for more than 18 years in Microsoft technologies like SharePoint, Microsoft 365, and Power Platform (Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI), I thought will share my SharePoint expertise knowledge with the world. Our audiences are from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, etc. For my expertise knowledge and SharePoint tutorials, Microsoft has been awarded a Microsoft SharePoint MVP (12 times). I have also worked in companies like HP, TCS, KPIT, etc.