Power BI: Add Table and Measure Descriptions in the UI, TMDL and VS Code

Descriptions are one of the few pieces of documentation a report builder sees when they connect to your Power BI semantic model. Microsoft’s own documentation makes this clear: when choosing a measure, report authors have its name and description to help them understand what it does. A report builder on a live connection can open Model view and use Add all related tables to see which dimensions reach a fact table, if they know the button is there. A good description puts that context in the tooltip, at the moment they are choosing the field, with no navigating. In this video I show four ways to add descriptions to tables and measures: Power BI Desktop DAX query view TMDL view VS Code What is actually worth putting in them: A description earns its place when it says something the name cannot. For a table, that is usually the grain: One row per invoice line. Then which dimensions filter it, and anything it is deliberately not related to. For a measure, it is the catch: which date it uses, what is excluded, or when the number stops meaning what you think it means. TMDL view is where I do it It works with tables and columns, not just measures. You can set descriptions, hidden properties, format strings and display folders in the same pass. It is also much faster to work with than DAX query view when the model has a lot of measures, and unlike editing in VS Code, it does not require PBIP. Two things worth knowing DAX query view can get slow when you are working through a large number of measures. If you add a description in VS Code, the table can appear empty when you return to Power BI Desktop until you refresh the data. Also shown: the Format measures button in DAX query view. If you are already there, formatting all your measures is one click. Chapters 00:20 Model View 00:48 What a report builder sees 01:13 Creating a separate view for one table with all its connections in few clicks 01:56 Create with Copilot option (measures only) 02:05 DAX query view 02:42 Dax Query View Format all your measures in a few clicks 04:04 TMDL view 05:42 VS Code Model: Wide World Importers. Previous video: Power BI: Make Your Model View Readable in Under 2 Minutes    • Power BI: Make Your Model View Readable in...   #PowerBI #TMDL #DAX #SemanticModel #VSCode