How to Show Pics in Power BI

If you’re working with data that’s closely tied to visual content, using images to convey insights can be an incredibly powerful tool. Power BI has several features for showing images in your reports and dashboards, and in this article, we’ll walk through the different ways you can add pictures to your dashboards and reports.

Why Visualizing Data is Important in Power BI

Before we dive into the different ways of incorporating images in Power BI, let’s briefly talk about the importance of visualizing data. The human brain processes visual information faster than textual data, which makes data visualization a compelling way to understand complex insights in a very natural and efficient way. With Power BI, you can use pictures, custom visuals, and other graphical elements to tell a story, contextualize your data, and draw attention to key patterns or trends.

Moreover, data visualization in Power BI can help you identify outliers, anomalies, and correlations that might not be immediately apparent in a table or spreadsheet. By creating interactive dashboards and reports, you can explore your data from different angles, filter out noise, and gain new insights that can inform your business decisions. In addition, visualizing data in Power BI can help you communicate your findings to stakeholders, clients, or colleagues in a more engaging and persuasive way, which can lead to better buy-in and adoption of your recommendations.

Different Ways to Show Pictures in Power BI

There are multiple ways to show pictures in Power BI, and each method offers its own set of advantages and disadvantages. You can use an image visualization, a background image, or even a custom visual that’s designed to display images. Let’s take a look at each of these approaches:

The image visualization is a standard Power BI visual that allows you to add images to your dashboard or report. You can use this visualization to show static images such as logos, icons, or product images. To use this visualization, simply drag and drop the visual onto your report canvas, choose the image you want to display, and set any additional formatting options such as border, shadow, or transparency.

You can also use a background image to create a more immersive and visually rich dashboard or report. A background image can set the tone for the entire report and create a context for the data you’re displaying. To add a background image, you simply need to select the page or visual you want to add the background to, go to “Page Background” or “Visual Background,” and choose “Image.” You can then browse to the image file you want to use and set any formatting options such as opacity or positioning.

Custom visuals are third-party visualizations that can be downloaded and imported into Power BI. These visuals offer more functionalities, more options for customization, and allow you to display images in more dynamic ways. For example, you can use a custom visual to show images in a carousel, use images as clickable buttons that trigger an action, or use images to show real-time data in a more engaging way.

Another way to show pictures in Power BI is by using the “Image URL” option. This option allows you to display images that are hosted on a website or a cloud storage service such as OneDrive or Dropbox. To use this option, you need to have the URL of the image you want to display. Simply select the visual or page where you want to add the image, go to the “Image URL” option, paste the URL, and set any additional formatting options such as size or alignment.

Finally, you can also use the “Image Viewer” custom visual to display images in a more interactive way. This visual allows you to create a gallery of images that users can click on to view in full-screen mode. You can also add captions, descriptions, and other metadata to each image. This visual is particularly useful if you want to showcase a collection of images such as product photos, team member headshots, or project screenshots.

Step-by-Step Guide to Adding Images to Power BI Reports

Now that we’ve covered the different ways to show pictures in Power BI, let’s walk through a step-by-step guide to adding images to your reports:

1. Open the Power BI report you want to add images to.
2. Go to “Visualizations” on the right-hand side of the screen.
3. Choose the type of visual you want to use to display your image (e.g., image visualization, background image, custom visual).
4. Drag and drop the visual onto the report canvas.
5. Select the image you want to display by either browsing to the file or entering the URL.
6. Set any formatting options for the visual, such as border, shadow, or transparency.
7. Save your changes and preview the report to ensure the image is displaying correctly.

It’s important to note that the size and resolution of your images can impact the performance of your Power BI report. Large images can slow down the loading time and cause the report to become unresponsive. To avoid this, consider resizing your images before adding them to your report or using a tool like Image Optimizer to compress the file size.

Another tip is to use images that are relevant to the data being displayed in your report. For example, if you’re creating a sales report, consider using product images to make the data more visually appealing and easier to understand. You can also use icons or logos to represent different categories or metrics in your report.

How to Import and Use Images in Power BI Desktop

If you’re using Power BI Desktop, you can import images directly into your report from a local file or from the web. To import images from a local file, you can add them as part of the report assets. Simply navigate to the “Home” tab on the ribbon, click on “Image” and then browse to the image file you want to use and add it to your report canvas.

If you want to display images from the web, you can use the “Enter Data” option to create a table with image URLs. Click on “Enter Data” from the “Home” tab, then input the URLs of the images you want to display in the table. Once the table is created, you can use the image URL field in your visualizations to display the images.

It’s important to note that when importing images from the web, you should ensure that you have the necessary permissions to use the image. Some images may be protected by copyright laws, and using them without permission could result in legal issues. Additionally, it’s a good practice to optimize your images for web use to ensure that they load quickly and don’t slow down your report’s performance.

Tips for Optimizing Image Quality in Power BI

When displaying images in Power BI, it’s important to ensure that the image quality is optimized for both viewing experience and performance. Here are some tips for optimizing image quality in Power BI:

• Use high-quality images with a resolution of at least 72dpi.
• Choose the appropriate file format for the type of image you’re displaying (e.g., JPEG for photographs, PNG for icons or logos).
• Compress images to reduce file size and improve loading times.
• Avoid using images that are too large in size as they can cause the report to run slowly.

Using Custom Visuals to Enhance Image Display in Power BI

Custom visuals offer a lot of flexibility in terms of how images are displayed in Power BI. Here are some ways you can use custom visuals to enhance the image display:

• Use a “carousel” visual to show a series of images that change automatically or can be navigated by the user.
• Use a “button” visual to create a clickable image that triggers an action, such as filtering or navigating to another page.
• Use a “waterfall” visual to show the progress of an image over time (e.g., the stages of a product’s design or the development of a landscape).

Best Practices for Organizing Images in Power BI Reports

Organizing images in a Power BI report can help make them more accessible, easier to find, and aids report readability. Here are some best practices for organizing images in your report:

• Use the “Page Background” and “Visual Background” options to create consistency across your report
• Use custom visuals to create image categories
• Resize images accordingly to reduce clutter and improve appearance
• Avoid having too many images per page that can confuse the user

How to Create Dynamic Image Filters in Power BI

You can use Power BI to create dynamic image filters that allow your users to interact with visuals and the data they display. To create a dynamic image filter:

1. Add the image visual you want to use and connect it to a dataset
2. Select the image visual and go to the “Filters” pane
3. Select “Visual Level Filters” to access the image filter options
4. Choose the filter type you want to apply (e.g., basic filter or relative date filter)
5. Select the field you want to filter by (e.g., product, date, location)
6. Choose the either the values or parameters you want to use for that specific image filter
7. Save your changes and preview your report to see the new dynamic image filter in action

Sharing and Exporting Reports with Images in Power BI Service

Finally, sharing and exporting Power BI reports with images is easy using the Power BI service. You can share your reports with colleagues or clients and export them as PDFs or web pages. When exporting reports with images to PDFs or web pages, the images used in the report are automatically included and optimized for viewing.

To share and export reports with images in Power BI Service, simply go to the “File” tab of the ribbon, select either “Publish” to share the report on the web or “Export” to export the report. You can then choose the format and options you want for the report and preview it before finalizing.

Conclusion

In conclusion, adding images to Power BI reports can help make your data more approachable, memorable, and easier to interpret. In this article, we’ve explored different methods of adding images to your reports, including using image visualization, background images, and custom visuals. We’ve also talked about best practices for image quality, organization, and sharing. Power BI continues to enhance its image visualization features, so stay tuned for more developments in this area.