Power BI Weekly
Issue #342 - 27th January 2026
This week we've been given the first Power BI January 2026 Feature Summary, though it's quite thin on the ground. The two main updates regard the new Markers in Azure Maps for Power BI (allowing you to use arbitrary icons/images for your mapped-out categories), and the GA of Modern Visual Tooltips in Power BI. There's also been the Power BI Report Server January 2026 Feature Summary introducing a bunch of visualisation and reporting enhancements based off recently released Power BI Desktop functionality, and also the On-premises data gateway January 2026 release.
As for external articles this week, I'd like to highlight a great article by Paul Turley, who's written about Power BI Fabric Patterns: Guidance for the Visual [Design] Impaired, discussing the various elements that need to be considered when designing an impactful, comprehensible and accessible report. Finally, Chris Webb is back making us aware of another gotcha, in his blog: Calculate(), DAX Fusion And Filters On 0 In Power BI, highlighting the importance of using strict equalities if you're filtering by integer values in your DAX measures.
🛠️ Data Prep
- On the Power BI community blog, Jennifer Ratten writes about Rethinking Data Prep: Power BI Narrative Visual as a Clever Ally
- Parul Sagar (@parulsagar) writes that Power BI Is Not just a Dashboard Tool; It’s a Behavioral Analytics Engine
🧩 Data Modeling
- Chris Webb (@cwebb_bi) writes about Calculate(), DAX Fusion And Filters On 0 In Power BI
- Chandeep Chhabra (@chandeep2786) describes Power BI’s Smartest Feature - Field Parameters
- On the Power BI community blog, Rajendra Ongole (@MSPowerBI) writes about Turning Data Chaos into Clarity with Scalable Semantic Models
- Bas Dohmen (@HowToPowerBI) talks about Power BI MCP AI-Powered Report Development Without Data Leaks
📊 Report Authoring and Interactivity
- On the Power BI blog, Harleen Kaur (@MSPowerBI) announces Introducing Markers in Azure Maps for Power BI
- On the Power BI blog, Jacinda Eng (@MSPowerBI) highlights Modern Visual Tooltips in Power BI (Generally Available)
- Paul Turley (@paul_turley) covers Power BI Fabric Patterns: Guidance for the Visual [Design] Impaired
- On the SQLBI blog, Marco Russo (@marcorus) covers Fixing the “Black Icons” issue in Power BI Desktop: understanding the problem and a temporary workaround and walks through Optimizing supermarket product placement with Synoptic Panel in Power BI
- On the Purple Frog Systems blog, Matt Mair-Durrant (@PurpleFrogSys) describes Using Synoptic Panel to Create Data-Driven Diagrams in Power BI
- On the Learning Science YouTube channel, Learning Science (@learn_scitech) covers Power BI Reporting Features Update - January 2026 (Demo) and talks about Timeline (Dual) Date Slicer in Power BI | How to Filter Two Columns with a Single Slicer in Power BI
- Dane Belarmino describes how to Power BI: Auto-Select the Latest Date in a Date Slicer
- Kim Leblanc (@lecfomasque) covers Les listes de découpage dans Power BI multiplient les options des segments [French]
🚀 Deployment, Security and Operations
- On the Purple Frog Systems blog, Tom Owen (@PurpleFrogSys) writes about Incremental Refresh in Power BI
- On the Fabric blog, Leo Li shares the On-premises data gateway January 2026 release
- Dániel Gábor Patkós shares a Power BI Desktop tenant switching guide
🌐 General
- On the Power BI blog, Katie Murray (@MSPowerBI) announces Power BI January 2026 Feature Summary
- Also on the Power BI blog, Denyse Niwenshuti announces Power BI Report Server January 2026 Feature Summary
- On the Select Distinct blog, Elle Harrison writes about From API to Dashboard: Create a Live Weather Report in Power BI