How to Remove K from Number in Power BI

Seeing your carefully prepared numbers suddenly get abbreviated with a "K" for thousands or "M" for millions in Power BI is a common frustration. While Power BI is trying to be helpful, sometimes you need to see the full, exact number for your reports. This article will walk you through the simple ways to remove the "K" and take back control of your number formatting.

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Why Power BI Abbreviates Numbers (And When You'll Want to Stop It)

First, it's important to understand this isn't a bug, it's a feature. In Power BI, this abbreviation is controlled by the Display units setting. By default, it's set to "Auto" to make charts, cards, and tables with large numbers more compact and readable, especially in visuals where space is limited.

Imagine a bar chart showing sales for 10 different countries. Displaying "$1,458,321" for one country and "$2,895,043" for another can make the axis labels look cluttered. Changing them to "$1.5M" and "$2.9M" cleans things up visually.

However, there are many common scenarios where you need precision and want the full number displayed:

• Detailed Data Tables: When you're building a table or matrix, you often need the exact figures, not rounded summaries.
• Critical KPIs: For a key performance indicator (KPI) on a card visual, you may want to show the specific value, like "21,345 Clicks" instead of "21K Clicks."
• Exporting Data: If your report users are going to export the data to Excel, they will almost always want the raw, unabbreviated numbers for their own analysis.
• Client or Stakeholder Requirements: Sometimes, the people you're building the report for simply have a standard of showing full numbers in all contexts.

Fortunately, changing this setting is straightforward. Below are the best methods, from the quickest fix to more advanced options.

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Method 1: The Quickest Fix using the Formatting Pane (For Specific Visuals)

The most common and direct way to remove the "K" or "M" is by adjusting the settings for an individual visual. This gives you precise control, allowing you to have some charts abbreviated and others showing the full number.

Here’s how to do it for different types of visuals.

For Card Visuals

Card visuals are one of the most common places you'll want to display a full, specific number. The "K" abbreviation can hide important details.

1. Select the Card visual on your report canvas that you want to change.
2. Go to the Visualizations pane on the right side of the screen.
3. Click on the Format your visual icon (it looks like a paintbrush).
4. Expand the Callout value section. This controls the main number shown in the card.
5. Find the Display units dropdown menu. It will likely be set to "Auto."
6. Change it from "Auto" to None.

That's it! Your number will instantly update to show the full value without abbreviation. You can also adjust the number of decimal places in this same section under Value decimal places if needed.

For Charts (Bar, Column, Line, etc.)

In charts, numbers on the Y-Axis (for vertical charts) or X-Axis (for horizontal charts) are often the ones that get abbreviated. The process to fix this is very similar.

1. Select the chart visual you want to modify.
2. In the Visualizations pane, click the Format your visual icon (the paintbrush).
3. Depending on your chart, expand the Y-axis or X-axis section. Choose the axis that contains the numbers being abbreviated.
4. Inside that section, expand the Values subsection.
5. You’ll find the same Display units dropdown. Change it from "Auto" to None.

Your axis will immediately update to show the full numerical labels. You might need to resize your visual slightly to make sure all the longer numbers fit comfortably.

For Tables and Matrices

In a table or matrix, Power BI allows you to format each column a specific way.

1. Select the table or matrix visual.
2. In the Visualizations pane, find the field well (where you dragged your columns like 'Values'). You will not use the paintbrush icon for this.
3. Find the specific numeric field that is being abbreviated in the 'Values' section.
4. Click the small downward arrow next to the field name.
5. In the context menu that appears, you will likely see the display units setting here. Simply change it from 'Auto' to 'None.'
6. Alternative Table/Matrix method: You can also use the paintbrush. Select the visual, go to Format your visual -> Specific column. Select the column name from the dropdown, and you'll find the Display units option there as well.

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Method 2: Setting a Default Format for a Column

If you have a key metric like 'Total Sales' that you want to always appear as a whole number across your entire report, you can set its default formatting. While the visual-specific formatting from Method 1 can still override this, setting a strong default can save you time.

This method applies the format at the data model level, not just the visual level.

1. With Power BI Desktop open, go to either Report View or Data View.
2. In the Data pane on the far right, find and click on the column (or measure) you want to format (e.g., 'Revenue').
3. When you select it, a new contextual ribbon will appear at the top called Column tools (or Measure tools).
4. In the Formatting section of this ribbon, you can define how the number should look.

Now, whenever you drag this field into a new visual, it will use this default formatting. Again, you may still need to go into the visual format settings and change 'Display units' to 'None' if Power BI's automatic settings override your default, but it's a good practice for core metrics.

Method 3: Advanced Control with the FORMAT Function in DAX

For complete and total control over your number display, you can use the FORMAT function in a DAX measure. This is a more advanced technique best used for final display values in cards, tables, or multi-row cards.

Heads Up: The FORMAT function converts your number into a text string. This is extremely important. Once a value is text, you can no longer perform mathematical operations on it (like summing it up) or use it effectively as a value on a chart axis. It’s strictly for display purposes.

Let's say you have a measure called [Total Sales].

1. Go to the Data pane, right-click on the table where you want to add the measure, and select New measure.
2. Enter the following DAX formula:

Here's what that formula does:

• [Total Sales] is your existing base measure.
• "#,##0" is the format string. It tells DAX to:

Now, you can drag your new Formatted Sales measure into a card or table, and it will appear exactly as you defined it, with full thousands separators and no "K."

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Example with Two Decimal Places

If your numbers need decimals, you can adjust the format string accordingly:

Formatted Sales with Decimals = FORMAT([Total Sales], "#,##0.00")

This will always show the number with a thousands separator and formatted to two decimal places.

Choosing the Right Method for You

With three methods available, which one should you choose? Here's a simple guide:

• Use Method 1 (Formatting Pane) for most situations. It's the easiest, quickest, and most intuitive way to control formatting on a visual-by-visual basis. 95% of the time, this is the answer.
• Use Method 2 (Column Tools) to set good defaults. For your most important measures, set up the base formatting (like the thousands separator) here so brand-new visuals start closer to your desired state.
• Use Method 3 (DAX FORMAT Function) for specialized labeling. Use this when you need to embed numbers in titles, combine numbers with text, or create highly specific numeric formats for display in tables and cards. Remember, it creates text, not a number!

Final Thoughts

Removing the "K" or "M" in Power BI is all about telling the system you value precision over compactness for a particular scenario. By using the Display units setting in the formatting pane, you can easily switch any visual to show full, unabbreviated numbers for clear and accurate reporting.

Ultimately, the goal of data analysis is to get clear answers, not fight with formatting tools. We built Graphed because we believe creating reports should be about discovering insights, not getting stuck on display units or chart settings. You can simply ask a question in plain English, and Graphed instantly generates a live, professional dashboard, handling all the visualization and formatting details for you so you can focus on making data-driven decisions.