How to Create a Tooltip Page in Power BI

Tired of the generic, tiny black box that appears when you hover over visuals in Power BI? While the default tooltip is helpful, it’s also limited. This article will show you how to create custom report tooltip pages, a feature that lets you replace that small box with a rich, detailed, and fully interactive mini-report that offers deeper context at a glance.

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What Are Power BI Tooltips (And Why Should You Customize Them)?

By default, when you hover over a data point in a Power BI visual - say, a bar on a bar chart - a small tooltip appears showing the specific values for that point (e.g., the category and the exact number). This is great for getting a quick value check, but what if you want to see more?

This is where custom report tooltip pages come in. Instead of just a single value, you can design a small, dedicated report page that appears when a user hovers, filled with any visuals you want. This custom page automatically filters its data based on the item the user hovers over on the original chart.

Imagine hovering over "USA" on a sales map and a tooltip appears showing a line chart of the USA’s sales trend for the past year and a pie chart of its top-selling products. That's the power of custom tooltips.

The key benefits include:

• More Space: You’re no longer limited to a tiny text box. You have an entire (albeit small) canvas to work with.
• Rich Visuals: Add line charts, donut charts, KPI cards, images, or any other visual to provide context.
• Automatic Filtering: The tooltip page intelligently filters its content based on the data point you’re highlighting.
• Better Storytelling: Guide your users to deeper insights without forcing them to navigate to another page or use complex slicers.

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A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating a Tooltip Page

Let’s walk through the process using a common example. Imagine you have a main report page with a bar chart showing Total Sales by Product Category. Our goal is to create a tooltip that, when you hover over a category like "Electronics," shows a breakdown of sub-category sales and the total profit margin for that category.

Step 1: Create a New Report Page

First, you need a dedicated page that will serve as your tooltip's canvas. This keeps your report organized and makes it easy to find and edit your tooltip design later.

1. At the bottom of the Power BI Desktop window, click the plus (+) icon to add a new page.
2. Right-click the new page tab and select Rename.
3. Give it a descriptive name that makes its purpose clear, like "Category Tooltip." Hiding this page from your end-users is also a good practice since it's not meant to be a standalone report. Right-click the page tab again and select Hide Page.

You’ll now have a blank, hidden page ready for configuration.

Step 2: Configure the Page for Tooltip Use

This is the most critical step. You need to tell Power BI that this isn't a standard report page, but one that’s specifically designed to be used as a tooltip.

1. Make sure you have the "Category Tooltip" page open, and don't have any visuals selected. Click anywhere on the blank canvas.
2. In the Visualizations pane on the right, click the "Format your report page" icon (it looks like a paintbrush).
3. Expand the Page information card.
4. Flip the switch next to Allow use as a tooltip to On.

As soon as you do this, you'll see the page canvas shrink dramatically. Power BI has automatically resized it to the default tooltip size.

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Step 3: Adjust the Page Size and View

While the default size is a good starting point, you might need more or less space depending on your design. Power BI gives you full control over this.

1. With the Page information settings still open, click the dropdown under Page size. It will likely be set to "Tooltip."
2. You can leave it as is or select Custom to manually set the height and width in pixels. This allows you to create taller or wider tooltips as needed.
3. For design purposes, it's best to see the tooltip at its actual size. Go to the View tab in the top ribbon, click Page view, and select Actual size. This ensures what you see while designing is exactly what your users will see.

Step 4: Design Your Tooltip by Adding Visuals

Now for the fun part: adding the visuals to your tooltip page. Remember, any visuals you add here will be filtered by the data from the main chart. For our example, we want to show the sub-category breakdown and profit margin.

1. Add a Bar Chart for Sub-Categories: Drag a Clustered bar chart visual onto your small tooltip canvas. Add your "Sub-Category" field to the Y-axis and your "Sales" field to the X-axis.
2. Add a Card for Profit Margin: Add a Card visual onto the canvas. Drag your "Profit Margin" field into the card.
3. Format for Clarity: These visuals will be small, so make sure fonts are legible and colors are clean. Remove any unnecessary axes, labels, or titles that might clutter the view. You want your tooltip to present information clearly and quickly.

The beauty here is that you don't need to add a "Category" filter to this page. Power BI will handle that automatically when you link it to the main chart.

Step 5: Apply the Tooltip to Your Main Visual

With your tooltip page designed, the last step is to tell your main visual to use it.

1. Navigate back to your main report page containing the Total Sales by Product Category chart.
2. Click on that bar chart to select it.
3. In the Visualizations pane, go to the Format your visual section (the paintbrush icon).
4. Select the General tab, then expand the Tooltips card.
5. By default, the Type will be set to "Default." Click the dropdown and change it to Report page.
6. A new dropdown called Page will appear. Click it and select the tooltip page you created: "Category Tooltip."

Step 6: Test It Out!

That's it! Now, hover your mouse over any of the bars on your sales by category chart. Instead of the small black box, you should see your custom-designed tooltip page appear, showing the filtered sub-category sales and profit margin for that specific category. Hover over "Electronics," and it shows data for electronics. Hover over "Furniture," and it instantly updates to show furniture data.

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Pro Tips for Effective Custom Tooltips

Creating report tooltips is easy, but making them effective requires a bit of thought. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Keep It Simple: The purpose of a tooltip is to provide a quick bit of extra information, not another full dashboard. Avoid cramming it with too many visuals or overly dense charts. Focus on one or two key insights.
• Mind Your Performance: An overly complex tooltip page with too many visuals and DAX calculations can be slow to render, leading to a sluggish user experience. If your tooltip feels laggy, try simplifying its design.
• Use Card Visuals for Context: Sometimes, it helps to add a Card visual at the top of your tooltip that displays the name of the item you're hovering over (e.g., the Category name). This provides clear context for the user.
• Design for Readability: Use font sizes, colors, and layouts that are easy to read in a small format. Don't make your users squint! Remember to use the "Actual size" page view during development to get a realistic preview.
• Leverage Other Visuals: Don’t be afraid to use more than just charts and numbers. You could include a slicer, an image (like a product photo), or a simple line chart to show a trend over time for the hovered-over category.

Final Thoughts

Custom tooltip pages are one of Power BI's most powerful native features for enhancing report interactivity and depth. They let you turn a simple visual into a multi-layered analytical tool, providing deeper context exactly when and where your users need it, without cluttering your main report. By following these steps, you can create more intuitive and insightful reports that tell a richer story with your data.

Building reports in tools like Power BI offers incredible control, but it can still mean hours spent on setup, configuration, and manual updates. We created Graphed to simplify this entire process. Instead of building visuals click-by-click, our AI lets you connect your data sources like Google Analytics, Shopify, and Salesforce and then simply ask for what you need in plain English. You can create an entire dashboard or get instant answers to your questions in seconds, letting you focus on insights, not setup.