Create a Power BI Slicer Panel – Step By Step

A few days ago, I received a requirement from one of our clients to design a Power BI report that showcases the ‘Product sales data’. So, I used various visualizations to create the report, including pie charts, cards, and column charts.

We also need to filter the Power BI report by Product and Year. To do this, I have added ‘Slicers’ to a Power BI report.

Instead of adding multiple slicers to the Power BI Report, you can create a slicer panel that shows or hides the slicers, freeing up space on the report.

This tutorial will cover how to create a Power BI Slicer panel using Power BI Desktop. Also, you’ll learn about:

• Group Elements in a Power BI Slicer Panel
• Steps to Hide a Slicer Panel using Power BI Slicer
• Create Bookmarks to the Slicer Panel in Power BI
• Linking Buttons to Bookmarks in the Power BI Slicer Panel

Power BI Slicer Panel

When designing a Power BI report, you’ll notice that most of the space is occupied by the slicers. If this happens, only 50% of the space is left to visualize the actual data.

By using the slicer panel, you can show or hide the slicers to free up space inside the Power BI report.

A slicer panel creates a dedicated space where multiple slicers are organized together. Slicer panels help save significant space on your dashboard by consolidating multiple filtering options into one organized area.

Besides saving space, slicer panels “enhance the user experience for the dashboard” by providing a centralized location for all filtering controls.

Create a Slicer Panel in Power BI

Here, let me show you how to create a slicer panel in a Power BI Desktop report.

Suppose you have a Power BI report with sales data that includes various types of visualizations, as shown in the image below.

I now want to filter the data in the report by Product and Year.

So, instead of adding slicers separately, you can add a slicer panel that will have multiple slicers as a group that can be shown/hidden.

Here are the steps to create a slicer panel in Power BI:

1. On the Power BI desktop, click on the Insert tab and select a Shape option from the ribbon. Adjust the shape in the canvas, where you want to display the slicer panel.
2. From the Format pane, I have selected the background color.

3. Next, add a slicer from the visualization. In the field, drag and drop the ‘Product’ column from the Field pane.
4. Then, I added another Slicer visual to filter based on the ‘Year‘ value.
5. Next, adjust the two slicers [Product, Year] inside a rectangular shape.

6. Now, I want to display the ‘Selection’ pane, which allows us to view all visuals in the Power BI report. For this, click on the View tab -> Selection.
7. Then, the selection pane will open, displaying the elements in the Power BI report.

8. Next, go to the Insert tab, click on the Image option, and it will ask you to upload an Image. Here, I added Apply Now & Clear images.
9. Once the image is added, you can see the Format image pane on the right side. Toggle on the Action button.
   • Type: Select type as ‘Apply all slicers’ for the Apply image.
   • Type: Select ‘Clear all slicers’ for the Clear image.

Refer to the GIF below:

This way, you can create a slicer panel in Power BI.

Group Elements in a Power BI Slicer Panel

To group the elements present inside the slicer panel in Power BI, see the quick steps.

We have already created a slicer panel with various elements, including slicers, images, and shapes. Grouping all the components will enable them to behave as a single unit, making them easy to manage.

1. In the Slicer panel, select all the elements present by right-click.
2. From the Selection pane, choose the Group option.

4. By default, it will be grouped as ‘Group 1’. I have renamed it as the Slicer Panel.

This is how to group elements of the slicer panel in Power BI Desktop.

Show/Hide Elements in Power BI Slicer Panel

Here, let me show you how to hide and show elements in the slicer panel in Power BI Desktop.

Below, you can see the slicer panel that has elements, including the Product slicer, the Year slicer, and two images.

From the slicer panel, I wanted to hide the ‘Product slicer’.

See how you can do this:

1. In the selection pane, you can toggle off the eye icon next to the Product slicer.

2. Below, you can see that the Product slicer is hidden and only displays other elements in the slicer panel.

Similarly, when you toggle on the eye icon next to the element, again, it will appear in the Slicer panel of Power BI.

Add Bookmarks to Slicer Panel in Power BI

Next, we will create bookmarks to save the state of the slicer panel.

Bookmarks are like snapshots of the current report, allowing users to toggle between different views of the report.

Here, I will add two types of bookmarks [Views] in Power BI:

1. The first one will show the Power BI report with a slicer panel
2. The second bookmark will show the Power BI report without the slicer panel

Add a Bookmark with the Slicer Panel in Power BI

Now, you can check out the steps below to add:

1. On the Power BI report, I have both a report and a slicer panel. You can see it from the image below.

Now, I wanted to create a bookmark with the slicer panel.

2. Go to the View tab on the ribbon and click on the Bookmarks option.

3. Now, the Bookmarks pane will be added. Under that, click on the Add button.
4. Next, the default bookmark will be created as [Bookmark 1]. Click on three dots […] and unselect the data.
5. Here, I have renamed it as ‘Show Slicer Panel’.

Add a Bookmark without the Slicer Panel in Power BI

I will show you here how you can add a bookmark without the slicer panel in Power BI.

To do that:

1. On the Power BI report page, under the selection, toggle off the eye icon in the Slicer Panel.
2. Then, under the Bookmarks pane, click on the Add icon to add another icon.
3. Click on three dots […] and unselect the data.
4. I have renamed the bookmark added to ‘Visual Panel‘.

Link Image to Bookmark in Power BI Slicer Panel

Let me show you how to link the image to the bookmark that has been added in the previous step.

On the Power BI report, I will add another image with a Filter. I will link a bookmark that will show the slicer panel when clicking on the image.

See the steps mentioned below:

1. Next, go to the Insert tab, click on the Image option, and it will ask you to upload an Image.
2. Once the image is added, you can see the Format image pane on the right side. Toggle on the Action button.
   • Type: Select type as ‘Bookmark‘ for the filter mage.
   • Bookmark: Then, choose the specific bookmark option from the drop-down. I have selected the Slicer Panel bookmark.

3. Next, open the Slicer panel, and I will add another image on top. Here, I will link this image to the bookmark that will show the Power BI report without the slicer panel.

4. Then, select the image, under the Format pane, and Toggle on the Action button.
   • Type: Choose type as ‘Bookmark’ for the close image.
   • Bookmark: Then, choose the specific bookmark option from the drop-down. I have selected the Visual Panel bookmark.

You can follow the GIF placed below to see how it works:

Note:

Press Ctrl+ click on the icons to follow the link.

As there are various ways to filter the data in a Power BI report, you can consider whether you need a slicer panel, a filter pane, or a single slicer visual with hierarchy. Sometimes, having multiple slicers directly on the report is beneficial, as users can easily use them.

I hope you understand and got an idea about the Power BI slicer panel. Feel free to mention your thoughts on this in the comment section below.

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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.