The November 2025 Power BI feature update brings several important announcements and enhancements across the platform. Key highlights include the deprecation of R and Python visuals in the Embed for your customers solution, significant updates to Copilot and AI capabilities—such as the standalone Copilot in Power BI mobile apps (Preview) and improvements to Verified Answers—and new options for reporting, modeling, and data connectivity.
Users will also notice advancements in visualizations, with features like automatically expanding matrix columns and a generally available Card visual, as well as expanded support for Spark and Impala connectors and enhancements to image visuals and the OneLake Catalog. This summary provides an overview of these impactful changes to help you leverage the latest innovations in Power BI.
Contents
Events and Announcements
Fabric Data Days is on now!
Take your Power BI skills to the next level with live learning sessions, QuickViz challenges, discount vouchers for exam PL-300 and DP-600, and community connection.
See what’s happening this week.
FabCon is back from March 16-20, 2026, in Atlanta, GA
Join us for the ultimate Power BI, Microsoft Fabric SQL, Real-Time Intelligence, AI, and Databases community-led event. The third annual FabCon Americas will feature sessions from your favorite Microsoft and community speakers, keynotes, more opportunities to Ask the Experts for 1:1 support, an engaging community lounge with opportunities to network and connect with your peers, a dedicated partner pre-day, a packed expo hall, Power Hour, Data Viz World Championship, and a can’t-miss attendee party at the Georgia Aquarium.
Register with code FABCOMM to save $200.
Copilot and AI
Ask anything, anywhere with Standalone Copilot in Power BI mobile apps (Preview)
In the coming app release, we are enabling a new standalone Copilot experience straight from your mobile homepage. A complete chat experience that allows you to ask any question about your data and get instance insights from Copilot, anytime, anywhere.
- This experience will be available in the app stores in the upcoming weeks.
To start chatting with your data, use the new Copilot button on your home page. This will open a chat experience where you can type or dictate (IOS only) your question and Copilot will take it from there.
When you ask about a metric or a KPI, most chances that Copilot will generate a visual for you in addition to answering your question with text. Tap on the visual to open a pane and interact with the generated visual.
Tap on the citation or reference to learn what content Copilot used for grounding its answer. You can also open the report from there as well.
If you want to share insight discovered in the chat with others, select the ‘Share’ button from the visual pane, or the copy from the chat.
The iOS apps (iPhone and iPad) also support dictation – so you can use voice interaction to ask Copilot questions. Use the mic icon in the chat box and Copilot will start listening, waiting for your questions.
With this new standalone Copilot experience, you can now easily get quick answers and stay on top of things by chatting with your data directly from your mobile.
Updates to the standalone Copilot in Power BI
The standalone Copilot in Power BI, also known as ‘chat with your data’, is now even easier to use. Previously, Copilot asked users to choose from a list of possible data sources before answering questions.
Now, it handles that step automatically: if it finds a strong match, it selects it in the background and goes straight to the answer. When more context is needed, Copilot will ask simple clarifying questions to find the right source. Although the additional reasoning may require a few more seconds, obtaining an accurate response from a reliable source justifies the brief wait.
Additionally, in response to search questions like ‘Find reports about sales’, you’ll now see a much simpler text-based list of items.
New entry points right from the home page
By late November, you’ll be able to access Copilot right on your home page, making it easier than ever to find what you’re looking for or ask ad hoc questions about your data! Simply type your question and hit enter.
If you preferred the old home page, no problem. Switch back using the layout drop-down. 
New suggested prompts for recently opened items – Copilot now offers helpful prompt suggestions related to recently opened items to help users get started.
Improved experience attaching items to your question – Want to add a report, or other items, to your question? Items are now sorted by recency and easily filtered by item type in a slick new design that aligns with other Copilot experiences across Microsoft.
Experiment with all the new updates and let us know what you think!
Improvements to the Report Copilot
We’ve upgraded the Report Copilot experience in Power BI, making it easier than ever to create, edit, and refine beautiful, data-rich reports with the help of AI.
With this update, Copilot in Power BI not only helps you create entire report pages in seconds but now also gives you more control, flexibility, and visual intelligence than ever before. The new Report Copilot experience is available now in the Power BI service and Power BI Desktop.
Smarter, More Capable Visual Creation
The new Copilot understands your data and intent more deeply than ever. Just tell it what you want to create, and watch your ideas come to life instantly.
- Better visual recommendations: Copilot now selects the most appropriate visuals for your data automatically.
- Expanded Visual Library: Copilot supports a wider range of visuals, giving you more options to present insights into exactly how you envision them.
- Improved context awareness: When you describe what you want to see, Copilot now understands more nuanced instructions, producing more accurate and insightful results.
To learn more about creating and modifying reports with Copilot, refer to the Create reports in the Power BI service with Copilot documentation.
Improvements to Verified Answers
This update enhances how verified answers inherit the state of your visual, expands filtering flexibility, and delivers more reliable results.
What’s New?
Verified answers now inherit and reflect the entire visual state: Previously, verified answers only captured filter states active at the time of creation. With this update, they now inherit the entire visual state, including slicers. This change directly addresses one of the most common pieces of feedback we received.
Report slicers impacting the visual are being inherited and shown in the verified answer.
In addition to slicers, we will support additional visual states:
- Slicer selections
- Field parameter choices
- Cross filters and cross highlights
- Drill-through filters
Expanded Filtering Capabilities for Authors: There is now more flexibility when configuring verified answers. The limit for predefined filter permutations has increased from 3 to 10, enabling more complex and nuanced configurations.
From a consumption perspective, we see that most prompt requests naturally use between one and three filters.
- ‘Show total sales for the region 1 in Q1’.
- ‘What is the usage of Product 1 in Country 1 during Month 1’.
- ‘Show average satisfaction scores by City 1 and segment 1’.
Still, some business questions require deeper combinations of filters, and this expanded limit ensures verified answers can handle even the most detailed reporting scenarios.
Improved Filtering Reliability: What are more filters, if they aren’t applied consistently? We’ve made substantial improvements under the hood to how we match user prompts in Copilot to verified answers and the appropriate filters. Verified Answers now interpret and apply filters more accurately, reducing mismatches between what users ask and what’s displayed, and ensuring filters are included when they should be.
New card visual support: We have enabled the highly requested new card visual that you can now set as verified answers, the new card visual and Azure maps will be supported in Verified Answers creation and consumption.
Why it Matters: These updates make verified answers feel native to your Copilot consumption experiences, seamlessly adapting to slicers, filters, interactions, and drill-through actions that users have come to expect from their visuals. Consumers will get answers that truly reflect the context of their analysis.
The result, faster, more accurate insights, and a smoother path from question to confidence, and better grounding for the rest of your Copilot experience to learn from.
For more info on how these updates work, refer to the Prepare Your Data for AI – Verified Answers documentation.
Remote Power BI Model Context Protocol Server for chat with your Data (Preview)
Available soon, the remote Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Power BI provides agents and MCP clients with tools to enable you to chat with your data, remotely, all authenticated with Microsoft Entra ID. This means you’ll be able to create powerful, custom agents on top of data that lives in your semantic models.
The server has three tools that give your agents the ability to reason over your data, and respond to a user’s prompts:
- Get Semantic Model Schema: This tool provides the agent with the structure of the semantic model.
- Generate Query: This tool uses Copilot in Power BI to generate a DAX query based on the user’s input and best practices. The agent can then iterate on this query if it chooses or simply proceeds with the provided query.
- Execute Query: This tool gives the agent a powerful mechanism to query the semantic model to respond to any question a user asks.
These tools can be implemented by any application that hosts an MCP client, such as Visual Studio Code. Other, non-Microsoft MCP clients can be supported with Service Principal authentication, backed by Azure Entra ID.
The remote MCP Server for Power BI enables you to easily build the next generation of agents on top of the data your organization has already invested so heavily in. For more information on the remote MCP server for Power BI, for more information, refer to the documentation.
Reporting
Automatically expand matrix columns to fill available space
Last month, tables got the Grow to fit option expanding columns to fill the available space. This month, we are enabling the same option on the matrix visual. As a reminder: with the Grow to fit option, any extra space in the visual is evenly distributed across existing columns when the total column width is smaller than the visual container, which eliminates the need to do manual resizing to fill the gaps.
If your matrix isn’t using the full visual width, you can manually resize columns or use the new ‘Grow to fit’ option. For example, this matrix doesn’t fully utilize the available space:
Navigate to the format pane under Column headers > Options, toggle Auto-size width to ‘On’, and set ‘Resize behavior’ to ‘Grow to fit’. Instantly, your matrix expands to make full use of the available space.
The additional available space will be distributed across the columns:
In last month’s release we also had an overenthusiastic horizontal scrollbar when using this option. This has now been corrected. The horizontal scrollbar should not show unless there isn’t enough space to fit the content.
Learn more about Grow to fit in the table and matrix documentation.
Card visual (Generally Available)
The new Card visual brings a modern and visually engaging way to highlight key metrics in your reports, now with full support for hero images and a consistent formatting control experience across visuals for an intuitive experience. Whether you’re highlighting a product, showcasing a team, or featuring a brand logo, the new hero image feature empowers you to create visually rich reports going far beyond simple data points. The Card visual also introduces a dynamic collage layout, letting you highlight one section while the other two share the remaining space.
Try adding the new Card visual to your next report and experience the difference for yourself. For more details and step-by-step instructions, check out the official documentation at Create a (new) card visual in Power BI documentation.
Enhancing Image visuals with styling, states, and more
We’re excited to introduce enhancements to the Image visual, bringing it closer to the level of interactivity and design flexibility you’ve come to expect.
- Create more engaging experiences by customizing image visuals based on user interaction states such as default, hover, and pressed states of images.
- Alongside state customization, we’ve added formatting options to give you full control over the look and feel of your image visuals. Such as background, border, and shape. These enhancements make it easier than ever to integrate images seamlessly into your report layout.
- We’ve also expanded the sources, fit and effects section, with more options for image source, including upload, URL, or from a data field.
- You no longer need to delete the visual to update its image. With the latest update, you can easily change the image source or swap the image itself, making edits faster and more flexible.
We hope these updates to the Image visual inspire you to get creative with your report designs. Whether adding a splash of branding, building intuitive navigation, or simply making your reports more engaging, the new features give you the flexibility to do it all. To learn more about the image visual, visit our documentation: Create an Image Visual in Power BI.
OneLake Catalog now supports user data functions for Translytical task flows (Preview)
The Fabric user data function selection experience for Translytical task flows has been improved. You can now use the OneLake catalog to discover and select the user data function that you want your action button to invoke.
With the OneLake Catalog you can:
- Browse all available User data functions in one place.
- Search by keyword for quick access.
- View details like owner, location and sensitivity label
- Filter by My Functions or Endorsed in your org for confidence and governance.
This new experience is available when selecting the function for Data function actions.
Select a button, open the format pane, enable Action, and under Data function select the fx button.
Learn more about Translytical task flows in Power BI and how Fabric user data functions can take your report beyond just showing data at Understand translytical task flows.
App Copilot (Preview)
Your app users now can chat with your curated data within the context of an app. An app-scoped Copilot means users can search for reports within an app, ask questions, and receive answers based on the reports in that app. App Copilot is a separate complement to report-scoped Copilot already available on each report viewed in an app.
To learn more, refer to the Power BI app Copilot: AI scoped to the curated content in an app (Preview) blog post.
Modeling
Power BI Modeling MCP Server (Preview)
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that enables AI agents to securely connect with tools and services. The Power BI Modeling MCP Server brings Power BI semantic modeling capabilities to your AI agents through a local MCP server. This allows developers and AI applications to interact with Power BI models in entirely new ways, from using natural language to execute modeling changes to autonomous AI agentic development workflows.
Capabilities
- Build and modify semantic models with natural language: Create or update tables, columns, measures, relationships and much more simply by describing what you need.
- Perform bulk modeling operations at scale: Rename, refactor, translate, or document hundreds of model objects in seconds.
- Apply modeling best practices: Easily evaluate and implement modeling best practices.
- Leverage agentic workflows: Work with Power BI Project files and TMDL code, enabling AI agents to autonomously plan and execute complex modeling tasks.
- Query and validate DAX expressions: Run DAX queries or validate measures directly through AI-driven workflows.
Start by installing the Power BI Modeling MCP Server Visual Studio Code extension to enable Power BI semantic modeling capabilities in GitHub Copilot.
Whether you’re using GitHub Copilot or another AI-powered assistant, the Power BI Modeling MCP Server unlocks a new era of intelligent, automated, and high-efficiency semantic model development.
For additional information and to provide feedback, refer to Power BI Modeling MCP on GitHub.
Semantic Model Version History (Generally Available)
With version history, you can confidently make changes to your semantic models—whether you’re editing in the web or live editing Direct Lake semantic models in Desktop—knowing you can restore earlier versions and recover from critical mistakes. Versions are automatically captured in an Office-like history pane for your live edited semantic models, making it easy to select and restore any previous version.
Power BI captures up to five versions for each semantic model that supports version history. Versions are saved automatically when you:
- Open a semantic model in Editing mode on the web or open a Direct Lake model for live editing in Desktop.
- Publish or upload a .pbix file.
- Restore a previous version.
You can also manually save a version (with an optional description) from the File menu while editing on the web.
Learn more about this capability including limitations in the Use semantic model version history (preview) documentation.
TMDL Visual Studio Code Extension (Generally Available)
This update brings DAX semantic highlighting support within TMDL documents alongside other enhanced authoring features like Power Query semantic highlighting, breadcrumb navigation, code actions, code formatting, localization, and numerous bug fixes. You can find more details about this latest release in the changelog.
The TMDL extension is essential for anyone working with TMDL documents in Power BI Projects (PBIP). It brings modern code experiences to semantic modeling, enabling scalable development of semantic models with the efficiency, flexibility, and AI-powered workflows that today’s data teams expect.
Get the TMDL Extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace to enhance your semantic modeling-as-code experience and accelerate your semantic model development today!
Screenshot of VSCode Marketplace
Feature Highlights
- DAX support: Improved readability of DAX code within TMDL documents including semantic highlighting, real-time diagnostics, and autocomplete.
- Power Query support: Autocomplete, diagnostics, syntax highlighting, hover and formatting.
- Localization: Hover descriptions and code action messages are now displayed in the user’s preferred language, aligning with Visual Studio Code language settings.
- Code actions: Quick fix and refactoring TMDL code such as duplicated lineage tag or misspelled property.
- Code navigation: Easily navigate TMDL document objects in a hierarchical view.
- Code format: Automatically organize TMDL code for enhanced readability and consistency.
We value your input and encourage you to share it using vscode-tmdl GitHub repository.
Data connectivity
Spark and Impala Connectors (Generally Available)
We’re thrilled to announce that Implementation 2.0 for the Spark and Impala Connectors is now generally available, powered by the open-source Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC) driver.
This update delivers faster, more secure connectivity for Power BI Desktop, making it easier to analyze and visualize large datasets.
How does this improve your Power BI experience?
- Performance boost: Reduced overhead with no serialization or copying.
- Security improvements: Memory safety and garbage collection aligned with SDL standards.
- Seamless integration: Works across Fabric experiences and Power BI Desktop for unified data access.
Beginning November 2025, specify [Implementation=”2.0″] in your connection settings to utilize these improvements:
Spark: ApacheSpark.Tables(“http://server.cloudapp.azure.com:10001/cliservice”, 2, [BatchSize=null, HierarchicalNavigation=true, Implementation=”2.0″])
Impala: Impala.Database(“server.cloudapp.azure.com”, [Implementation=”2.0″])
For further details, please refer to the Spark Connector and Impala Connector documentation.
Visualizations
Activity Gauge by Powerviz
The Activity Gauge is an advanced visual used to measure the progress against a set target or Goal for multiple categories. It is typically presented in the form of a radial bar chart/Gauge, displaying a range of values or percentages. This visual is commonly used for project management, performance tracking, and monitoring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Key Features:
- Gauge Customization: Shape, style, and add icons for a unique design.
- Targets: Choose from options or use a custom field to set a target.
- Data Colors: Offers 7 schemes and 30+ color palettes.
- Smart Labels: Add data and leaf labels that auto-adjust inside or outside the shape for better readability.
- Center Circle: Customize center circle with text, icons, measures, and images.
- Interactive Mouseover: Hover for Interactive Info Display.
- Fill Patterns: Highlight gauges with patterns or upload your own.
- Conditional Formatting – Create rules based on measure or category rules.
Other features included are ranking, annotation, grid view, show condition, and accessibility support.
Business Use Cases:
- Project Management: Track task progress for efficient project oversight.
- Financial Dashboard: Gain instant insights into key financial metrics.
- Try Activity Gauge for FREE from AppSource
- Check out all features of the visual: Demo file
- Step-by-step instructions: Documentation
- YouTube Video: Video Link
- Learn more about visuals: https://powerviz.ai/
- Follow Powerviz: https://lnkd.in/gN_9Sa6U
Decomposition Tree – All Expanding
Decomposition tree All Expanding Visual now allows you to add a legend field. This creates additional column chart beside each node showing breakdown from another dimension.
This is depicted in image below. The visual below analyzes the revenue of two largest consumer good companies Unilever and P&G by products. We add region field in the legends section to show additional breakdown of Revenue by Region. The data used is fictitious and used for analysis purposes only. The visual also allows you to add images to nodes.
Check out the video on Decomposition Tree All Expanding – Power BI custom visual, demonstrating all the features of this custom visual.
Download this visual from APPSOURCE
Download demo file from APPSOURCE
For more information visit https://www.excelnaccess.com/decomposition-tree/
or contact zubair@excelnaccess.com
Dynamic chart legends in Zebra BI Charts
Which version of the plan am I looking at? – Finance teams ask this daily when switching between budgets, forecasts, and plans. Static chart labels in Power BI waste hours every week and lead to confusion, misinterpretation, and reporting errors.
The new dynamic chart legends in Zebra BI Charts for Power BI remove that guesswork by automatically adapting chart legends to the selected filter or scenario, so you can always trust what you see. See the full update
How it helps – In FP&A, Actuals are often compared against multiple baselines. Waterfall charts are ideal for this, but static legends stay fixed even when scenarios change.
Real-world use cases
- Comparing forecast versions: Before, every scenario looked the same: ‘Plan’. Now, legends show AC 2024 vs Revised Forecast Q3, eliminating ambiguity.
- Year-over-year analysis: Previously, reports displayed AC [Year] regardless of selection. Now, legends update from AC 2024 vs PY 2023 to AC 2025 vs PY 2024.
- Regional reporting: Legends now reflect the active region: AC vs EMEA Budget or AC vs Americas Budget, without manual checks.
Together with dynamic titles and dynamic column headers, Zebra BI delivers a fully responsive, accurate, and effortless reporting experience in Power BI.
Drill Down Bubble PRO by ZoomCharts
Say hello to the latest visual by ZoomCharts! With Bubble PRO, you can create visually impressive and user-friendly bubble charts that make complex data simple to explore.
What sets Bubble PRO apart from other visuals is the user experience. UI interactions are made as intuitive as possible: freely pan the chart, pinch or scroll to zoom in, click on a marker to drill down, and quickly make single or bulk selections. Coupled with smooth UI animations, seamless cross-filtering and full touch support, you can design more interactive and insightful reports.
Main features
- Drill Down: Create a multi-level hierarchy; and click to drill down.
- Data-driven Formatting: Apply custom marker colors, shapes, or images directly from data.
- Trendlines: Show a linear or polynomial regression line that dynamically recalculates whenever the chart changes.
- Thresholds: Display up to 4 reference lines or areas on each axis.
- Area Shading: Highlight up to 8 custom areas with rectangles or ellipses.
We also have other news: you can now sign up to the free Developer License and use Bubble and 20+ other ZoomCharts visuals in Power BI Desktop for a year!
Power BI Theme Generator
In September 2023, our BIBB Report Theme Generator for Power BI was spotlighted on the Power BI blog. Since then, we’ve rebuilt and expanded it to help teams standardize look-and-feel, meet accessibility baselines, and export production-ready JSON themes in seconds. The generator streamlines brand color, typography, and visual style setup—making it easy for BI teams to deliver consistent, on-brand reports while reducing manual rework.
What’s new: a smarter color engine with contrast checks, gradients creation, AI powered themes creation, preset brand colors, apply theme through Fabric, select font, live preview on your own report, and advanced BI.ST mode for power users, while keeping the simplicity of one-click JSON export. Common use cases include (1) rolling out or updating corporate brand themes across workspaces, (2) accelerating new report builds with vetted defaults, and (3) improving report readability and accessibility with contrast-safe palettes. Learn more and see all features on our product page below.
Links
- Find the simplest yet most powerful Power BI Theme Generator
- All features & documentation
Power Gantt Chart by Nova Silva
- We’re thrilled to introduce one of the most requested features in Power Gantt: task dependencies! With our latest release, you can now add Finish-to-Start (FS) dependencies between tasks—visually represented as arrows connecting one task’s finish to another’s start.
- This powerful enhancement brings true project scheduling capability to Power BI. By visualizing dependencies, teams can better understand task sequences, identify bottlenecks, and manage timelines more effectively.
- Adding dependencies is simple—just define them in your dataset, and Power Gantt does the rest. Arrows will automatically appear on your Gantt chart, making relationships between tasks clear and actionable.
Whether you’re managing product launches, construction schedules, or complex workflows, FS dependencies make your Power Gantt chart smarter, more dynamic, and easier to interpret.
Start using dependencies today and take your project tracking to the next level!
Try the Power Gantt Chart for FREE now on your own project data by downloading it from the AppSource.
Questions or remarks? Visit us at: Power Gantt Chart for Power BI.
Turn any image into data insights with Synoptic Panel by OKVIZ
With Synoptic Panel, you can transform any SVG image into an interactive visual directly in your report. Perfect for floor plans, organizational charts, technical layouts, or geographical maps, it lets you integrate your data with images your audience already knows. A dynamic dashboard, where users can naturally explore insights by clicking on shapes and areas. This makes complex information easier to understand and more engaging to navigate.
Key features include:
- Flexible image loading: use local files embedded in reports, remote URLs, or My Storage, our secure hosting service.
- Multi-level navigation: drill down into building floors or geographical regions, with automatic hierarchy creation when using remote configurations.
- Dynamic switching: change maps through slicers or bookmarks.
- Map Editor and Label Designer: fine-tune data binding, arrange and customize labels directly in the visual.
- Advanced coloring: apply conditional formatting and color rules to build heatmaps or highlight key areas.
- Map search: quickly locate maps or areas for faster access.
- Integrated security: safely host and distribute maps while keeping control of access.
- Full customization: adapt interactions, appearance, and data binding to your reporting needs.
Explore real-world use cases and try Synoptic Panel for free!
General
Announcing deprecation of R and Python visuals in Embed for your customers solution
We are announcing an important change for Power BI customers who use Embed for your customers with R or Python visuals. As part of our ongoing commitment to provide a secure, scalable, and robust analytics platform, we continually evaluate our feature set to ensure alignment with industry standards, customer needs, and platform performance.
What’s Changing?
Starting May 2026, Power BI will end support for the ability to embed reports and dashboards containing R or Python visuals using Power BI’s Embed for your customers solution (also known as app owns data) and Publish to web scenarios. Embed for your customers typically involves a custom app which manages authentication directly, and for which app users do not need Power BI licenses.
This change does not impact customers leveraging secure embeddings to SharePoint, Website or Portal. Embed for your organization (also known as user owns data) scenarios are also not impacted.
Timeline for Deprecation
- Announcement & Guidance: Effective immediately, customers are notified of the upcoming deprecation.
- Deprecation Date: Official support for embedding R and Python visuals in PaaS scenarios will end on 05/01/2026.
- Post-Deprecation: After this date, any embedded Power BI reports or dashboards containing R or Python visuals will still load, but the R or Python charts will display as blank. Reports without these visuals will continue to function as expected.
Recommended Actions for Customers
- Review all embedded Power BI reports and dashboards to identify usage of R or Python visuals.
- Plan to update or redesign any affected reports using alternative Power BI visuals or DAX-based analytics. Consider leveraging Fabric Notebooks for more sophisticated or technical visualizations.
- Consult the Power BI & Fabric documentation for guidance on using alternative visuals effectively.
Support and Resources
We understand that this change may require updates to your existing solutions. Please reach out via the Power BI community forums or through your Microsoft account representative for personalized guidance.
Closing
This concludes this month’s update.
We hope the information provided in this update is useful. If you installed Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft Store, please leave us a review.
As always, keep voting on Ideas to help us determine what to build next. We are looking forward to hearing from you!