View tab
The View tab sets the look of the whole table, not of a selection. Four sections: Templates, Spacing, Display and Design.
📷 Screenshot needed:
view-tab.png- the whole View tab.
Templates
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Templates | Opens the Templates panel to switch the whole matrix between built-in looks (fonts, colors, borders, alternating rows, subtotal styling). |
Spacing
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Spacing | Opens the Spacing panel: the space between columns, between groups of columns and between rows, the room around the text of a row, the indent of the row hierarchy and the gap under the header. The button looks pressed while the panel is open. |
Display
Freeze Panes
Keeps the column headers and/or the leftmost row-label column in place while you scroll (Excel's Freeze Panes). The button looks pressed while something is frozen. Menu:
| Entry | Result |
|---|---|
| Freeze Both | Header and first column stay. |
| Top Row | Only the header stays. |
| First Column | Only the row labels stay. |
| Unfreeze | Only shown while something is frozen. |
Each entry sets exactly that combination (Top Row while the first column was frozen releases the first column). The entry that matches the current state is marked. Default: nothing frozen.
Layer Toggles
Shows the numbered button bar above the table and sets its two options. Details in Layer Toggles. Menu: Display (On / Off), Settings > Show Loading Indicators, Show Layer Names, Show Unloaded Layers. Default: Off. Show Layer Names (default On) puts the name of the layer on its button instead of its number. The three settings are greyed out while the bar is off.
Financial Headers
Switches the Financial Header markers on and off and opens their settings. Menu:
| Entry | What it does |
|---|---|
| Display > On / Off | Draw the marker under measure headers (Actual / Plan / Forecast / Previous Year / Deviation). A template can switch it on or off when you pick it; this switch is in charge afterwards. |
| Settings | Opens a dialog: for each of the five headers, its marker as drawn in a header, the color of its line (pick from the color menu) and a Default button that goes back to the standard color. OK applies; Cancel, Esc, the cross and a click beside the dialog close it. |
Collapse / Expand Icons
The look of the buttons that open and close a row, or a group of columns. Two sections, Column and Row, each with the same four looks, shown as the closed and open state. Needs a license - without one the button is locked and the default (Box) is drawn; your choice stays saved. See License.
| Look | Name |
|---|---|
+ and - | Plus / Minus |
| Plus/minus in a square box | Box (default) |
| Plus/minus in a rounded box | Rounded Box |
< / > style arrows | Arrows |
The name appears as the tooltip of a row. Columns and rows can have different looks.
Hidden Content Hint
An eye icon - in the Layer Toggles bar, or floating at the top right where there is none - that shows up while rows or columns are hidden (with Hide Row / Hide Column). A click opens a list of everything hidden - Hidden rows (n) and Hidden columns (n) - and a click on an entry shows it again; Show All Rows / Show All Columns appears when there is more than one. The list stays open for the next click and closes with the last thing you showed.
This button's menu has one section, Display (On / Off). Default: Off, so the eye only appears if you switch it on.
Undo / Redo Buttons
The two buttons at the top right of the visual (in the tab strip in Focus Mode, floating over the table otherwise) that step back and forth over your changes. This menu switches them on and off (Display > On / Off, default On). The history is kept while they are off. See Saving, Undo and Reset.
Reading Mode
What the visual shows and allows while the report is read - in Power BI's reading view, as against the edit view where the report is built. Needs a license. Every entry is a switch (a check mark says it is on) and all of them are On by default. Menu:
| Section | Entry | What a reader gets |
|---|---|---|
| Show | Show Ribbon | The ribbon in Focus Mode, and the settings button that opens it. Off: a reader has no ribbon. |
| Show | Show Layer Toggles | The Layer Toggles bar. It also has to be on in the Layer Toggles menu above. |
| Show | Show Undo / Redo Buttons | The Undo / Redo buttons. They also have to be on in their own menu above. |
| Show | Show Hidden Content Hint | The eye for hidden rows and columns. It also has to be on in the Hidden Content Hint menu above. |
| Allow | Allow Column Right Click | The right-click menu of a column header. Off: Power BI's own menu opens instead. |
| Allow | Allow Row Right Click | The right-click menu of a row label. Off: Power BI's own menu opens instead. |
In the edit view nothing is left out, whatever the switches say. The reading view exists in the Power BI service only; Power BI Desktop is always the edit view. Focus Mode makes no difference to this.
Title
The text in the corner of the table, above the row labels. Needs a license - without one the corner shows the text Rows and the button is locked; your choice stays saved. Menu:
| Entry | What it does |
|---|---|
| Display > On / Off | Show the text or leave the corner empty. Default On. |
| Name > Rename... | Edit the text where it stands, like Rename Column does for a column. Default text: Rows. |
| Name > Reset Name | Back to "Rows". Greyed out while the name is the default. |
Design
Row Banding
Shades every second row. Menu:
| Section | Entries |
|---|---|
| Display | On / Off |
| Background Colors | Even Color, Odd Color |
| Font Colors | Even Color, Odd Color |
The color entries are greyed out while banding is off ("Enable Row Banding first"). Until you choose a color, the template's
color applies (even rows #EEEDED, odd rows white if the template has none).
Horizontal Lines and Vertical Lines
The thin lines above and below the cells (Horizontal) or at their sides (Vertical). Both menus have two sections, Body and Header, each with On / Off and a Color entry. Until you choose, the template's setting and color apply.
Horizontal Lines has a third section, Finance Mode (On / Off). With it on, the line above the header is left out (over "2026", say), while the line under every column header stays (under 2026, Q1, Q2, the measures). The corner cells of the first column (Year, Quarter, Month, Rows) keep only the last line, the one under the header, and lose the lines above and between them. It only changes the header's lines: the body's lines, the Outline and borders you drew yourself stay as they are, and with the header's lines off there is nothing for it to change. Like the lines, it follows the template (on in Finance, off in the others) until you switch it.
Outline
A frame around the matrix - the line under the header and the line right of the first column (the light blue lines of the standard Power BI matrix). Menu: Display (On / Off) and Color. Until you choose, the template decides.
What a template switches on, off or colors (lines, banding, outline, spacing, Financial Headers) is set when you pick the template. After that the View tab's own switches take over, so you can adjust any of it.