SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is a great way to add a bit of flavor and pizzazz to your boring Power BI reports. I have been using them for a while and really love how easy and fun they are to work with. So today, let me share the technique and provide sample measure code that you can readily use to make your first SVG DAX graphic in Power BI.
What we are going to build – Demo of SVG DAX
We are going to create this rectangle bar chart with SVG. It is a simple graph that shows a KPI (ex: Attendance Percentage).
What you need?
- Any recent version of Power BI Desktop
- A measure or set of measures that you want to visualize with SVG
Creating your first SVG DAX Measure – Step-by-step Instructions
Step 1: Make a measure to visualize
If not already done, create a measure to visualize with SVG. In our example, we want to see attendance percentage as a rectangle. So I have the measure [attendance percentage] in my model.
Attendance Percentage = DIVIDE([Total Attendance], [Total Days]) //Example KPI measureStep 2: Create the SVG Measure
Create a new measure for our SVG. Use below code as starting point and customize it as per your model.
SVG Rectangle =
var att_pct = [Attendance Percentage] // your KPI goes here
var rect_width = 300 * att_pct // scaling the KPI to our SVG rectangle width. 100% = 300pixels
var att_pct_disp = FORMAT(att_pct, "0%") // formatting KPI to display inside the rectangle
return
"data:image/svg+xml;utf8,
<svg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 300 60'>
<rect x='5.522' y='4.682' width='"&rect_width &"' height='50' style='fill:#DE913A; stroke: rgb(0, 0, 0);' rx='5.277' ry='5.277'/>
<text style='fill: #111111; font-family: "Arial", sans-serif; font-size: 28px; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre;' x='14.165' y='40.696'>"&att_pct_disp&"</text>
</svg>"Step 3: Set Measure Category to Image URL
Now that we have the [SVG Rectangle] measure in our model,
- Select the
[SVG Rectangle]measure - Go to Measure Tools > Data Category
- Set it to Image URL
Boom! Now your table or matrix will show SVG bars
Step 4: Use the SVG Measure inside a visual
Set up a table / matrix visual. Add your SVG rectangle measure to the visual and we can instantly see the rectangles drawn. See this quick demo.
Which Visuals can I use to see SVG Images?
Currently (as of May 2025), the below Power BI visuals are supported for SVG based DAX measures.
- Table
- Matrix
- New Card Visual (sometimes buggy)
- New Button Slicer Visual
SVG DAX Measures – Video Tutorial
I made a detailed explanation of SVG measures with few different examples and code explanation. You can watch it below or on my YouTube channel.
Sample File – SVG DAX Measures
Click here to download Sample Power BI Workbook with the SVG DAX measure examples. Customize the measures or create new to learn how to apply this technique. Checkout the SVG Project on my Github for all the other files and additional resources.
When and Why Use SVG?
SVGs let you:
- Build pixel-perfect visuals in Power BI
- Avoid external custom visuals
- Add creative KPIs (think calendar heatmaps, progress bars, mini-charts, and more)
- Control layout and formatting via code
Watch Out For…
- Performance: SVGs add some overhead, especially with large datasets.
- Measure length: Power BI has limits (~32k characters per measure).
- Visual support: Works best in tables and matrix visuals; new card visuals are hit-or-miss.
- Tooltips: Without customization, Power BI may show raw SVG code as tooltip.
Pro Tips
- Use a tool like Boxy SVG Editor to design and export SVGs
- When copying SVG code from elsewhere, Replace all
"with'to simplify embedding in DAX - Explore SVG templates from Kerry Kolosko to fast-track your visuals
What’s Next?
This is part 1 of my SVG + DAX journey. In the next post, we’ll break down a full SVG-powered attendance dashboard—calendar heatmap, employee cards, and all. We are going to build this in the next part:
Until then, experiment and impress your colleagues with a whole new level of custom Power BI visuals.
24 Responses to “10 Supercool UI Improvements in Excel 2010”
The best improvement by far is the Collapse Ribbon ^ button !
Kind of a shame that some of the best improvements are actually returns to old functionality. One thing I don't like is that to get to recent files I need to do an extra click after File - apart from Save As, that's why I'm usually in the File menu. I like the sparkline options, though they are still as not fully featured as some of the free and pay options out there.
The collapse button for the ribbon menu is good news. Can you make the ribbon menus stick too?
Nine improvements, not ten. You can also select multiple objects in 2007. Click on the Find & Select item at the far right of the Home tab, and the dropdown looks remarkably like your 2010 screenshot.
@Jon.. Thank you. Dumb me, I somehow thought we couldnt select objects in Excel 2007. Just saw the "select menu" and it is there. I have corrected the post and removed the point. I have added the "you can make your own ribbons" instead. Thanks once again.
@Arti: what do you mean by make ribbons stick?
@Alex: May be it is my installation, but when I go to "File menu" I see "recent files" by default.
For example, if I am working with one of the contextual ribbon menus (Pivot tables, Drawing/Chart etc), as soon as I click away from the selected object, the menu tabs vanish. If I click on the object again immediately, then Excel will remember what I was looking at, but if I wander away and click on a Pivot, then back again on the Chart, the menus will 'appear' but not get activated, thereby causing much annoyance and additional clicking.
I want to "pin" the whole menu (not invididual commands) somehow, so that I can have the menu there for the length of the time I am working with graphics. Excel 2003 used to have the Drawing toolbar you could detach and hover while you were working, but this functionality disappeared in Excel 2007.
My thought was Excel should just allow a 'pin', similar to the Recently Opened files menu, for the Ribbon Menus as well. If I have not selected any Drawing object, the commands can be greyed out, but I want the menu as a whole to 'stick'.
@Arti... I think MS solved this problem differently. When I select a pivot and go to "design" tab Excel 2010 remembers this and automatically takes me to "design" tab when I reselect the pivot.
Apart from this you can also define your own ribbon with all the things you normally do. See the above article (I have added this after Jon's comments)
Nice feature. About time for a upgrade for MS Office
Oh... okay. That might be a start. I'd probably just copy-paste the Drawing tab haha. Thanks. I'll definitely give Excel 2010 a try.
Btw - have you considered getting into / gotten into the world of Excel as it meets SharePoint?
Actually, the replacement new thing is probably better than all the rest. One thing that the designers of the Office 2007 ignored was allowing regular users to customize their own interface. Office 2010's interface was expanded in this way to address the huge uproar.
Is there still a limit on how many things you can add to the QAT bar? (I'm too lazy to look myself.)
@Jeff.. it seems to take quite a few, but only shows one line and gives a little arrow button at the end. (summary: shucks!)
The best thing is you can edit the ribbon directly from excel, so now i can create my own bar with just the things I use regularly!
One of the annoying things in 07 for me is the Add-Ins menu bar - in 03 I could keystroke directly to menu add ins.. In 07 I needed an extra keystroke just to activate the add-in menu, then the keystrokes as normal.. Hope this marek sense..
John -
If you remember the old Excel 2003 Alt-key shortcuts, you can still use them in 2007. To get to the Add-In dialog:
Alt-T-I
Dear Arti & Chandoo
Seen your comments over some issues. Hope you are form India, gone through your comment expecting a pin to command it as a whole, great, hope if someone out of MS have read it, it may be kept in mind while the next R & D of Office Ver. 16
Just incase someone forgot CTRL+F1 will collapse the ribbon.
[...] was pleasantly surprised when I ran Microsoft Excel 2010 for first time. It felt smooth, fast, responsive and looked great on my [...]
I like the sparklines, and the ability to modify the charts
How do you get rid of the advertisment on the right hand side? If you upgrade then will it take off the ads?
Once again Microsoft has re-decorated the Office and we are NOT pleased!
The graphics object selector can be found in the Home ribbon under Find & Select, Select Objects near the bottom of the drop down. You can make it part of the Quick Access toolbar by right click over it and selecting Add to Quick Access toolbar.
The graphics "cursor" will now appear on the mini-toolbar at the top left of the window.
How to get rid of "Add-Ins" button in Backstage (File)" menu by means of XML code, i.e. to hide, to delete or to disable this button?
This button is usually situated in the Backstage menu between "Help" and "Options" buttons.
Vladimir, did you ever get an answer to your question?
I am tying to customize the ribbon UI for a file using XML, and this is precisely the piece I can't figure out. I can hide other tabs, remove items from QAT and backstage - all except the options that are showing up under add-ins in backstage. If there is an XML syntax for referencing this thing and making it invisible, I cannot find it.
Hey, nice tutorial. Please check my video tutorial on similar topic at the below link and provide your comments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeIFc0jYjpA