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Drill-through

Native interaction

Right-click a record and open a dedicated detail page filtered to it, with a back button.

Working example
Employee overview
Anna VisserOperations95%
Bram VosOperations81%
Carla JansenOperations78%
Daan MulderOperations93%
Eva DekkerOperations82%
Femke SmitOperations94%
Gijs PetersOperations96%
Hanna BakkerRetail64%
Cross-filtering

Selection filters other visuals. Same page.

Drill-down

Deeper hierarchy level. Same visual.

Drill-through

New page, carrying the selected context.

Page navigation

New page, no context carried.

What it is

Drill-through navigates to another report page that carries the selected context as a filter.

When to use it

The detail view needs its own layout and more space than a panel allows.

Native Power BI capability

Yes — drill-through filter fields on the target page plus the automatic back button.

UX considerations
  • Design the detail page as a page, with its own header stating the carried context.
  • Always keep the back control visible in the same place.
  • Distinguish clearly from drill-down (same visual) and page navigation (no context).
BI developer considerations
  • Add the drill-through field to the target page's drill-through well.
  • Decide whether to keep all filters ('Keep all filters' toggle).
QA considerations
  • Carried context appears on the detail page header.
  • Back returns to the source page in its previous state.
Limitations
  • Drill-through requires a right-click or a configured button; it is not a plain row click.
  • Only one drill-through context per navigation.
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
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