February was a big month for Microsoft. Not only did the countdown to the licence price increase cause a hike in demand – but some of their top products were updated with a range of new features. Microsoft typically updates its core apps monthly, continually improving the customer and partner experience. From the return of dark mode to new Teams integrations, we have our take on what the new PBI updates for February means for partners and customers alike.

Microsoft Teams Integration

The new Teams integration means collaboration from multiple locations has never been easier.

Users can now stay up to date about the goals they’re responsible for without having to leave teams to view the scorecard.

From February, you’ll also be notified when someone assigns a goal to you or mentions you in a note or when the status of a plan you own gets updated by an automated status rule.

New Format Pane

The new format pane means users now can toggle axis titles without moving the axis, a feature that was previously missing.

The ability to shade areas to combo charts has been re-added, also previously missing.

The ability to custom make a shape using a series of scatter charts have been added, which was also previously missing.

Multi-Row card Selection

Rows can now be selected in the multi-row card visual to highlight and filter other visuals within a report. Unselected rows will dim slightly to show what’s been selected, as well as control or shift-click, which allows multiple selections.

Multi-row cards have been behind the curve until recent months. We’re looking forward to these enhanced visual options improving the Power BI user experience.

Sensitivity Labels

In the February update, default label policies were made more widely available, meaning businesses can apply sensitivity labels to top-level reports, and it will trickle through to subsequent content.

Overall we’re excited to get into the updates from February. Whenever I use the Power BI desktop, I find previously available options have been missed or disabled. I’m happy to see several of these critical features slowly returning and enhancing my team and clients’ experience with Power BI.

-Craig D, in-house PBI expert