Drill-down / drill-up

Native interaction

Move through Year → Quarter → Month → Day inside a single visual.

Working example

Hierarchy contextCurrent level: Year

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Power BI platform fact

Drill-down changes the level of detail inside one visual. The page, the layout and the filter context stay the same. Use drill-through instead when the detail needs its own page.

What it is

Drill-down navigates a hierarchy inside one visual. The visual stays; the level of detail changes.

When to use it

The question is 'the same measure, one level deeper'.

Native Power BI capability

Yes — hierarchy in the field well plus the drill controls in the visual header.

UX considerations

Show the current hierarchy level; the header icons alone are not enough.
Define the entry level and whether 'Expand all' is allowed.
Drill-down is not drill-through: no page change, no new layout.

BI developer considerations

Define the hierarchy in the model for consistency across visuals.
Decide between drill down, expand to next level and show next level.

QA considerations

Drill-up returns to the entry level.
Filter context is preserved during drilling.

Limitations

Drill state is not persisted between sessions.
Drill controls are hidden if the visual header is turned off.

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