Bookmark Like a Pro – Enhance Storytelling in Power BI Dashboards

Bookmarks in Power BI let you save the current state of a report page. This includes filters, slicers, visual settings, and drill positions. With bookmarks, you can quickly return to that exact view with a single click. They are especially useful for creating custom navigation, switching between views, telling stories, or resetting visuals, all without writing any code.

Why Use Bookmarks?

Bookmarks are a great way to enhance user experience. They let you create interactive reports without writing code. This helps users navigate, compare views, toggle visuals or return to a clean state. They are especially effective for storytelling, dashboards and guided analytics.

Types of Bookmarks

For instance:

• Static: You bookmark a “Q1 Sales” in April. Through August, it still reflects Q1 sales through April.
• Dynamic: You store a “Current Month” bookmark in April. In August, it now displays August figures without having to resave.
• Report Bookmark: The author of the report adds a “Sales Dashboard” bookmark for all. All who view it can access and view the same saved view.
• Personal Bookmark: You make your own “My Region View” in the Power BI Service. Only you can view it, and it retains your filters every time you launch the report.Bookmark States Captured-
  When you create a bookmark, Power BI stores several elements:

Captured state – What it includes

• Data – Filters & slicers; Drill; Sort; Cross-highlights
• Display – Show/Hide visuals (Selection pane); Spotlight
• Current page – Remembers which page to navigate to
• Scope (option) – All visuals / Selected visuals (not a saved state)

How to Create a Bookmark?

Step-by-step process with screenshots to create a bookmark:

• Go to the View tab and open the Bookmarks Pane

• Set up your report view as desiredClick Add to save a bookmark
  You can rename, update, or delete bookmarks from this pane as needed.

Bookmark Pane Overview

• Features in the bookmark pane (View, Update, Rename, Delete).The Bookmark Pane lists all saved bookmarks in your report. From here, you can:
  • Add, Rename, Update, or Delete bookmarks.
  • Group bookmarks for better organization.
  • Set options like Data, Display, and Current Page to control what the bookmark remembers

1. Update

• Saves the page exactly as it looks now into the same bookmark.
  Example: Set the page to Canada, then right-click the Canada bookmark and choose Update. Next time it shows Canada

2. Rename

• Change the bookmark’s name.
  Example: Right-click “United states of America” and rename it to “United States of America”.

3. Delete

• Remove the bookmark.
  Example: Remove a test bookmark you no longer use, such as an extra “Static”.

4. Data (on/off)

• Controls whether the bookmark captures filter, slicer, sort, drill and cross-highlight states.
  Example: Country bookmarks (All Countries, Canada, United States of America) should have Data on so they store the country filter. The “Dynamic” bookmark should have Data off so it does not reset the current country.

5. Display (on/off)

• Controls the visibility of visuals (Selection pane) and Spotlight.
  Example: For your Show and Hide bookmarks that toggle the left panel (logo and back icon), turn Display on and Data off.

6. Current page (on/off)

• If on, the bookmark jumps to this page when used.If off, it stays on whatever page the user is on.
  Example: Keep it on for your country bookmarks. Turn it off only if you build a “Reset filters” bookmark that should work on any page.

7. All visuals vs Selected visuals

• Scope of what the bookmark touches. All visuals impacts the entire page. Selected visuals affects only visuals you had picked when you created/updated the bookmark.
  Example: Use All visuals for country bookmarks so the whole page reflects the saved state. Use Selected visuals for Show and Hide so only the side panel changes.

Quick defaults for most cases:

• Data = on, Display = on, Current page = on, All visuals. For show/hide tricks, switch to Selected visuals; for navigation that shouldn’t change filters, turn Data off

Using Buttons and Shapes to Trigger Bookmarks

• You can assign bookmarks to buttons, shapes, or images:
  • Insert a button or shape

• Turn on Button Actions:
  • Click the “Canada” button, then expand the Action section in Format Pane.
  • Select On for Action.

• Set Action Type to Bookmark:
  • Set Type to Bookmark from the Action settings.
  • Select the ‘Canada Bookmark’ option for this button.

• Note: We need to assign the ‘United states of America Bookmark’ to the action type and follow the same procedures for the ‘United states of America Bookmark’ button.

• Test the Buttons: Finally, click on each button using (Left Mouse Button [LMB] + ctrl key) to ensure it shows the correct chart while hiding others.

• To operate buttons in Power Desktop ,we must press LMB + ctrl to operate buttons but  in the Power bi Service, it can be done simply with the LMB.

Typical Use Cases for Bookmarks

• Switch Between Visuals (such as bar chart and pie charts)
• Reset Filters to initial values
• Personalized page or section navigation
• Guided Storytelling: Lead users through the steps of a data story
• Before vs After View: Illustrate the effects of filters or computations

Bookmarks vs Selections Pane-How they work together for interactivity?

• Bookmarks store the state of the report. The Selection Pane controls the visibility of visuals. Together, they allow you to show or hide visuals as part of a bookmark action.This is useful for toggling visuals or creating custom interactions without using slicers or filters.

Tips for Managing Multiple Bookmarks

• Use action-oriented names (e.g., Reset page, Show details, Panel open/closed).
• Group related bookmarks and add simple numeric prefixes to keep them organized(e.g., 10_, 11_).
• Be clear about scope: All visualsvs Selected visuals. Note selective ones in the name.
• Before you hit Update, check the three toggles (Data, Display, Current page) to avoid capturing the wrong thing.
• After any change to visuals, slicers, or fields, re-test the affected bookmarks-especially your Reset and Toggle pairs.

Limitations

• Not dynamic unless used with other features like the selection pane.
• Bookmarks won’t automatically unless manually refreshed.
• Visuals hidden via the selection pane must stay on the page.
• Bookmarks do not capture tooltip visuals or dynamic slicer values based on DAX.

Conclusion

One click, calm reports-save the view, guide the story, wow the user. With bookmarks, you can change chaos to clarity in a single click, making every page feel effortless. Set the scene once and replay it whenever you need.
Save time, not steps.Bookmarks turn busy dashboards into smooth journeys.