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Streamline Your Power BI Design: Understanding Theme Impact Across Visuals

Picture of Sam Binnie Sam Binnie : Jan 13, 2025 1:02:57 PM

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Streamline Your Power BI Design: Understanding Theme Impact Across Visuals

Ever spent too much time chasing down the effects of theme changes across multiple visuals in your Power BI reports?

It’s easy to get caught up perfecting one visual, only to have another unexpectedly shift, leaving you wondering which setting caused the change. Whether it’s fonts, colours, or data labels, the cascading effects of theme settings can be tough to track.

To make your life easier, we've created a comprehensive guide that breaks down exactly which settings in Power BI Desktop’s theme impact which elements of different visuals. Plus, we’ve included a visual matrix that gives you a quick overview of which visual types are affected by each setting—so you can spend less time guessing and more time creating beautiful, consistent reports.

Setting up and using a theme in Power BI is a great way to ensure consistency and professionalism in your reports and dashboards. By applying a pre-defined colour scheme, font style, and layout, you align your visualisations with your company's brand guidelines, reinforcing the organisation’s identity and ensuring that reports are easily recognisable. This also enhances user experience by creating a unified look across all reports, making them easier to read and interpret. Additionally, using a theme saves time by reducing the need to manually adjust design elements in each report, allowing for greater efficiency and consistency in presentation.

The following outlines some of the main visuals in Power BI identifying the Power BI Desktop theme settings that determine their formatting.

Styling Matrix

This provides an overview of which theme formatting sections will update across different visual types. It allows you to quickly see which visuals will be affected when you modify a particular setting.

image-20250106-050544

Modify Theme in Power BI Desktop

All Visuals

Formatting found in the General Tab in the Visual Pane are mostly the same across all visuals. Below is formatting that is consistent across the majority of visuals.

Zoom sliders on Graphs and Charts can not be set here. It defaults to dark grey / black

Setting	Formats:
Names and Colours > Names and Colours > Colour 1	Glow Colour Found on some Shapes, Buttons, and Cards.
Names and Colours > Advanced > First Level Elements	Shadow Colour Some visuals have a secondary shadow, such as Shapes. These shadows are outlined in the relevant sections.

Names and Colours > Advanced > Second Level Elements	Subtitle Colour Divider Colour
Text > Title	Title Font Family, Size, and Colour
Visuals > Header	Background Fill Colour Border Colour Icon Colour
Header Icons appear at the top right of a visual when selecting it. These are generally turned off for the user.
Visuals > Background	Visual Background Fill Colour
Visuals > Border	Visual Border Colour Visual Border Rounded Corners Some visuals have a secondary border, such as Table, Matrix, New Card, Shapes, and Buttons. These borders are outlined in the relevant sections.

Report Background

Setting	Formats Page:
Page > Page Background	Background Fill Colour and Transparency

Shapes

Text Font Family and Size can not be set here. It defaults to Segoe UI, size 10.

Shadow for Shapes can not be set here. It defaults to Black.
This is the shadow for just the shape, not the full box of the visual.

Setting	Formats Shape:
Name and Colours > Name and Colours > Colour 1	Fill colour Border colour (Automatically sets to +25% darker of Colour 1)
Name and Colours > Advanced > Background Elements	Text Colour

Setting

Formats Shape:

Name and Colours > Name and Colours > Colour 1

Fill colour

Border colour
(Automatically sets to +25% darker of Colour 1)

Name and Colours > Advanced > Background Elements

Text Colour

Buttons

Setting	Formats Button:
Name and Colours > Advanced > Second Level Elements	Text Colour Icon Line Colour Border Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Third Level Elements	Disabled Fill Colour (when Background Elements setting is FFFFFF) Disabled Border Colour (when Background Elements setting is FFFFFF)
Name and Colours > Advanced > Fourth Level Elements	Disabled Text Colour Disabled Icon Line Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Background Elements	Fill Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Secondary Background Elements	Disabled Fill Colour (when Background Elements setting is not FFFFFF) Disabled Border Colour (when Background Elements setting is not FFFFFF)
Text > General	Font Family and Size (not Colour)

Buttons - Page / Bookmark Navigator

Setting	Formats Navigation Button:
Name and Colours > Advanced > First Level Elements	Selected Button Fill Colour Non Selected Button Text Colour Non Selected Button Hover Text Colour Border Colour Accent Bar Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Third Level Elements	Non Selected Button On Hover Fill Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Background Elements	Non Selected Button Fill Colour Selected Button Text Colour

Name and Colours > Advanced > Secondary Background Elements	Non Selected Button On Press Fill Colour
Text > General	Values Font Family and Size (not Colour)

Slicer

Checkbox, Expand Icons, and Scroll Bar can not be set here. The default is Grey.

Setting	Formats Slicer:
Text > General	Values Font Family and Size (not Colour)
Names and Colours > Advanced > First level elements	Values Text Colour On Hover Text Colour (Automatically sets to darker version of First Level Element Colour)
Name and Colours > Advanced > Second Level Elements	Title and Individual Values Border Colour Icon Colour Selected Item Text Colour (when set as drop down list)

Setting

Formats Slicer:

Text > General

Values Font Family and Size (not Colour)

Names and Colours > Advanced > First level elements

Values Text Colour

On Hover Text Colour
(Automatically sets to darker version of First Level Element Colour)

Name and Colours > Advanced > Second Level Elements

Title and Individual Values Border Colour

Icon Colour

Selected Item Text Colour (when set as drop down list)

Tile Slicer

Setting	Formats Tile Slicer:
Text > General	Secondary Value Font Family and Size (not Colour)
Text > Title	Value Font Family and Size (not Colour)
Names and Colours > Advanced > First level elements	Non Selected Tiles Text Colour Selected Tiles Fill Colour Accent Bar Colour Selected Tiles Border Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Second Level Elements	Second Value Text Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Third Level Elements	On Hover Fill Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Fourth Level Elements	‘Select All’ Tile Fill Colour (when another tile is selected) Non Selected Tiles Border Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Background Elements	Non Selected Tiles Fill Colour Text Colour on selected tile
Name and Colours > Advanced > Secondary Background Elements	On Press Fill Colour

Text Slicer

Setting	Formats Text Slicer:
Text > General	Search Box Font Family and Size (not Colour)
Names and Colours > Advanced > First level elements	Search Box Text Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Second Level Elements	Icon Colour Accent Bar Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Third Level Elements	Applied Text Background Fill Colour Apply Icon Background Fill Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Background Elements	Search Box Background Fill Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Secondary Background Elements	Applied Text Border Colour Apply Icon Border Colour Search Box Border Colour

List Slicer

Setting	Formats List Slicer:
Names and Colours > Advanced > First level elements	Text Values Colour Selection Box Colour Selected Box Fill Colour Selections Expand Icon Accent Bar
Name and Colours > Advanced > Third Level Elements	On Hover Fill Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Fourth Level Elements	Values Border Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Background Elements	Values Background Fill Colour

image-20250107-035612

Text Boxes

Setting	Formats Text Box:
Text > General	Search Box Font Family, Size, and Colour

Card

Setting	Formats Card:
Name and Col ours > Advanced > Second Level Elements	Card Category Text Colour
Text > Cards & KPIs	Callout Value Font Family, Size, and Colour
Text > General	Category Font Family (not Colour) The size is auto set to slightly larger than the size set here.

Multi Row Card

Setting	Formats Multi Row Card:
Name and Colours > General > Colour 1	First Field Text Colour (Cards Title)
Name and Colours > Advanced > Second Level Elements	Category Label Text Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Fourth Level Elements	Multi Card Accent Bar Colour
Text > General	Category Values Font Family, Size, and Colour (Callout Values) Category Label Font Family (not Colour) The size is auto set to slightly larger than the size set here.
Text > Title	First Field Font Family (not Size or Colour) Size can not be set here. It defaults to Size 8.

Card (new)

Setting	Formats New Card:
Name and Colours > Advanced > First Level Elements	Full border colour Gridline colour for each card grouping Category Values Colour Accent Bar colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Second Level Elements	Category Labels Text Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Fourth Level Elements	Category Box Border Colour
Name and Colours > Advanced > Background Elements	Category Box Fill Colour (Layout) Both Boxes Fill Colour (Small Multiples Layout) This colour sits on top of the Values Box Fill Colour so will hide the colour above. Best to use when both colours are to match. Title Box Fill Colour (Small Multiples Header) This colour sits on top of the small multiples layout so will hide the colour above. Best to use when both colours are to be different.
Text > General	Category Label Text Font Family and Size (not Colour)
Text > Tab Headers	Title Section Box Font Family, Size, and Colour
Text > Cards & KPIs	Category Values Font Family and Size (not Colour)
Additional Borders and Gridlines Info Black - Border Green - Gridlines Yellow - Category Box Border (Card Border) Purple - Accent Bar Accent bar colour can not be set here. It defaults to Black.

Bar / Column / Line / Area / Ribbon Charts

For Line and Column Combo Charts, the line colour can not be set here. It defaults to a Dark Blue.

Setting	Formats Chart:
Name and Colours > Name and Colours > Theme Colours	Value Colours 1-8
Name and Colours > Advanced > Second Level Elements	Legend Text Colour Axis Label Values Text Colour Data Labels Text Colour Vertical Line on Hover Colour (Line and Area Charts only) Bar / Column Border Colour (Bar / Column / Ribbon Charts)
Name and Colours > Advanced > Secondary Background	Axis Gridline Colour Ribbon Fill Colour (When Match Series is Off) (Ribbon Charts only)
Text > General	Legend Font Family and Size (not Colour) Axis Label Values Font Family and Size (not Colour) Data Label Font size is auto set to slightly smaller than the size set here.
Text > Title	Axis Title Font Family, Size, and Colour

Pie / Donut Chart

Setting	Formats Pie / Donut:
Name and Colours > Name and Colours > Theme Colours	Value Colours 1-8
Names and Colours > Advanced > Second Level Elements	Legend Title Text Colour Legend Values Text Colour Segment Call Out Labels Text Colour (Details)
Names and Colours > Advanced > Background Elements	Divider Lines Between each Segment
Text > General	Legend Title Font Family and Size (not Colour) Legend Values Font Family and Size (not Colour) Segment Call Out Labels Font Family (Details) (not Colour) The size is auto set to slightly smaller than the size set here.

Table / Matrix

Values and Headers Text Colour is set by First Level Elements (excluding totals section)

Font Family and Size is set in Text

Totals Text Colour is set in Text - note below

Totals section text colour difference between Table and Matrix
Table - The colour for both the word ‘Total’ and the values are set in Text.
Matrix - The colour of the word ‘Total’ is set by First Level Elements, the total values colour is set in Text.

image-20241215-214719

Setting	Formats Table / Matrix:
Name and Colours > Advanced > First Level Elements	Values Text Colour Values Alternate Text Colour Column Header Text Colour Row Header Text Colour (Matrix only)
Name and Colours > Advanced > Background Elements	Values Background Fill Colour Column Header Background Fill Colour Row Header Background Fill Colour
Text > General	Values Font and Size (not Colour) Column Headers Values Font and Size (not Colour) Row Headers Values Font and Size (not Colour) Column Subtotals Font, Size, and Colour Row Subtotals Font, Size, and Colour Column Grand totals Font, Size, and Colour Row Grand totals Font, Size, and Colour Visual Border Shadow Colour
First Level Elements / Background Elements The two below automatically set as a mix between the lighter colour of First Level Elements and a darker colour of Background Elements. Values Alternate Background Colour Gridlines There is a gap between each row through which the background shows. This can look like gridlines if the background colour is darker than the alternate background colour.




Additional Info Grid Border can not be set here. It defaults to a light blue. In the below image, the orange is the gridlines while the teal is the grid border.

Q&A

Setting	Formats Q&A:
Names and Colours > Names and Colours > Colour 1	Question Suggestion Background Fill Colour Submit Arrow Background Fill Colour
Names and Colours > Advanced > Background Elements	Search Area Background Fill Colour
Names and Colours > Advanced > Secondary Background Elements	Search Area Auto Suggestions on Hover Background Fill Colour
Text > General	All Text Font Family and Size Question Text Entry Colour ‘Try one of these to get started’ Colour Icon Colour

Tooltips

Setting	Formats Tooltip:
Visuals > Tooltip > Label Text Colour	Title Text Colour (Left side of Tooltip)
Visuals > Tooltip > Value Text Colour	Values Text Colour (Right side of Tooltip)
Visuals > Tooltip > Drill Text and Icon	Drill through Options Text Colour
Visuals > Tooltip > Background Colour	Tooltip Background Fill Colour
Names and Colours > Advanced > Secondary Background Elements	Drill Through Divider Line Colour Drill Through Options on Hover Colour

Save & Access theme to use in other reports

Once you've configured your Power BI theme to match your desired look and feel, it's important to save it so you can easily apply it to future reports. By saving your theme, you ensure consistency across all your projects and can quickly access it whenever needed.

Save

View > Themes > Save current theme

Save as a JSON file in a location easily accessible by relevant people

Import into a Power BI report

View > Themes > Browse for themes

Navigate to JSON file and select it. Power BI will import it into the report and update all visuals.

Advanced Modify Theme in JSON file

After setting up the base theme in Power BI Desktop, you can further customise the appearance of your reports by modifying that theme’s JSON file. If there are certain visuals or components you want to have different default formatting, you can configure this in the JSON file.

The JSON file allows you to

configure aspects that cannot be adjusted directly through the Power BI Desktop theme options
configure some visuals or components to have a different default formatting

Formatting configured in the JSON file will override any settings in Power BI desktop.

For instance, you can fine-tune individual visual components, set specific colours for chart elements, or adjust properties like axis styles or title fonts that go beyond the basic settings available in the interface. You can also add extra settings, such as controlling decimal places or defining the min/max values for graph axes.

The JSON file is especially useful when you want to apply a consistent style across most visuals but make exceptions for specific visual types. Even if these changes seem quick to apply manually in a single report, it's beneficial to define them in the JSON file. Doing so ensures that the customisations are reusable in future reports, which is especially helpful when collaborating with others or when new reports need to follow the same visual guidelines. By modifying the JSON file, you eliminate the need for documentation on manual adjustments, making your reporting process more efficient and consistent across your organisation.

Open and Modify JSON

Open the JSON file in a tool like Visual Studio.

In Visual Studio it will often originally open with no line formatting. Shift + Alt + F will set the line formatting.

It will only display the components that were modified in the Power BI Desktop theme, highlighting the differences from the default settings of the original inbuilt theme.

Information on how to configure settings in JSON can be found across many online sources. Some places to start are:

Checking Settings Issues

If you configure a setting in the Desktop theme which doesn’t appear to work, there are two likely reasons. First check if it has been manually set in the Visualizations pane. In Power Bi desktop, go to the relevant section and click 'Reset to Default.'
Alternatively that setting may be configure in the JSON file. Open the JSON file and find the relevant visual.

Wrap Up

Mastering the use of Power BI themes is a game-changer when it comes to creating visually consistent and professional reports. By understanding how different theme settings affect various visuals, you can save valuable time and avoid the frustrations of unexpected formatting changes. With the help of this guide, you’ll be able to streamline your design process, ensuring that every report aligns with your brand identity while maintaining clarity and ease of use for your audience. Now, you can focus more on the insights your data provides, with less worry about formatting.