Power BI Tooltips: End User Confusion

Key insights

• Sentence format
  Power BI’s built-in tooltip option lets authors write sentence templates that mix plain text with field placeholders (for example {Sales} or {Month}).
  Use the visual Format → General → Tooltips → Options panel to add a template or enable the "Sentence format only" choice to replace the default field list.
• DAX measures
  Create dynamic tooltip text with DAX measures that build full sentences instead of single values.
  These measures let tooltips explain what a number means, for example by calculating revenue or percent change and inserting results into a sentence.
• SELECTEDVALUE
  Use functions like SELECTEDVALUE inside tooltip measures to capture the specific category, month, or other selection the user is hovering over.
  This makes sentences adapt to the exact data point and avoids vague or generic messages.
• Filter context
  Design tooltip logic to detect cross-highlighting and filter context so messages change when users interact with visuals.
  When context is missing or fields aren’t included in the tooltip, placeholders may not resolve and the sentence can be incomplete.
• Limitations
  Sentence tooltips improve clarity but do not remove all confusion: they rely on well-chosen fields, correct context, and good wording.
  Also test for a known conflict where "Sentence format only" can overwrite visual-header help text in some visuals.
• Best practices
  Keep templates short and plain‑language, include only fields present in the visual’s tooltip context, and test common interaction scenarios (filters, cross-highlights, and empty selections).
  Use sentence tooltips for quick context and choose report-page tooltips when you need richer or multi-line explanations.

Keywords

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