Cross-filtering & cross-highlighting

Native interaction

Selecting a data point filters or highlights the other visuals on the page.

Working example

Native interaction: visual interactions / cross-filteringSelect an employee row to filter the chart and KPI.

Employees (source visual)

Employee	Department	Performance
Anna Meijer	IT	96%
Gijs Peters	Operations	96%
Ruben Smit	Finance	95%
Mees Visser	Retail	95%
Lotte Hendriks	Retail	95%
Anna Visser	Operations	95%
Femke Smit	Operations	94%
Daan Mulder	Operations	93%

Performance by departmentAll data

Operations88%
Retail80%
Finance81%
IT78%

Employees in scope

All departments

Avg performance

82%

Unfiltered

Charts can highlight the selected subset; a Table target filters instead. Cross-filtering never navigates — the page and its layout stay exactly as they are.

What it is

Default interaction between visuals on a page. Per visual pair, the behaviour can be Filter, Highlight or None.

When to use it

When users compare a selected record or category against the rest of the page context.

Native Power BI capability

Yes — Format ▸ Edit interactions, per source/target visual pair.

UX considerations

State per visual whether selection should filter, highlight or do nothing.
Keep a visible way to clear the selection.
Do not conflate cross-filtering with drill-through: nothing navigates.

BI developer considerations

Set Edit interactions explicitly rather than accepting defaults.
Charts support highlight; tables and cards only filter.

QA considerations

Deselecting restores the unfiltered page.
Each target visual behaves as specified.

Limitations

Table visuals cannot show a highlighted subset — they filter.
Interaction settings are per page and must be repeated.

HTML prototype note

This interactive HTML example simulates the native Power BI behaviour. It is not Power BI itself and should not be interpreted as an implementation of the Power BI rendering engine.

Designer ↔ BI developer handoff

UX designer defines

Information hierarchy and column order
Required fields and measures
Default state (sort, filters, selection)
Interaction intent and what it should affect
Responsive priority and what may be dropped
Accessibility expectations and focus order
Empty, loading and error states

BI developer implements

Dataset fields, measures and relationships
Visual configuration in the format pane
Filters, sort order and interaction wiring
Drill-through / drill-down configuration
Conditional formatting rules
Row-level security and permissions
Query performance optimisation

QA validates

Data correctness against the source
Correct default state on first load
Sorting and filtering behaviour
Drill and selection behaviour
Permissions and row-level security
Empty states and responsive layout
Performance and export behaviour