How to Visualize Data in a Matrix in Power BI (Easy Guide)

The matrix visual is Power BI’s version of the pivot table.

The ordinary table in Power BI is only two-dimensional. The data shown are flat and duplicate values are displayed, not aggregated.

A matrix table supports multiple dimensions, a stepped layout, aggregates data, and has a drill-down functionality.

Like the ordinary table, creating a matrix table in Power BI is super easy.

In fact, there are only 3 buckets you have to fill in:

• Rows
• Columns
• Values

For this tutorial, we’ll be using the free retail analysis sample.

Let’s say that we’re creating a matrix table with the following elements:

• This year sales
• Store chain
• Store territory
• Item category

Now, we would like to place:

• Store chains and territories as rows
• Item categories as columns
• Value of this year’s sales

First, click the matrix table icon on the visualizations pane.

Then, drag the appropriate fields to the right buckets.

Congratulations! You just made your first functional matrix table! Easy. 😊

Here’s how it looks on expanded view:

Power BI’s matrix visual also has a nice drill-down functionality.

You can drill down using rows, columns, individual sections, and even on cells.

In a way, this creates a hierarchy or grouping which allows you to drill down on that hierarchy.

For example, in the matrix table we made, we put two fields on the row bucket:

• Chain
• Category

You would know if the matrix table has hierarchy since you will see drill down/up icons on the upper-left corner.

In addition, you could right-click on the elements of the row or column with hierarchy and see if you can expand or collapse the hierarchy of that element.

If you would like to go deeper, you could also select ‘Show Next Level’ to see the values under the lower-level row.

For example, right-clicking on the ‘Fashions Direct’ chain and choosing ‘Show Next Level’ would show the sales this year according to category (column) and territory (row).

Cool! 😊

Power BI has a lot of formatting options for the matrix visual.

To view them, click ‘Format’ on the visualizations pane while the visual is selected.

Some of them that are unique to this visual include:

• Grid
• Column headers
• Row headers
• Values
• Subtotals
• Grand total
• Field formatting
• Conditional formatting

Some of them have interesting effects on the table.

Like in conditional formatting, you could show data bars on the table that corresponds according to the value of that cell.

Here’s how it looks:

A matrix is a great way to show your data in different dimensions. As you can see, it has everything that a normal table visual can do plus the advanced functionalities it brings like drill-downs and conditional formatting.