How to Create Tooltip in Power BI Dashboard

If you have ever hovered over a chart in Power BI and wanted to see more information than the default pop-up shows or wished you could display a completely different visual when a user hovers over a data point — Power BI tooltips are exactly the feature you need.

Tooltips are one of the most powerful ways to add depth and context to your dashboards without cluttering the main report canvas. They appear on hover, disappear when the user moves away, and can show anything from a simple formatted number to a full mini-dashboard with multiple charts and KPIs.

In this guide, we will walk through everything you need to know about creating tooltips in Power BI from the default tooltip to fully custom report page tooltips that transform your dashboards.

What Is a Tooltip in Power BI?

A tooltip is a pop-up panel that appears when a user hovers their mouse over a data point in a visual. It provides additional context or detail about that specific data point without requiring navigation to another page.

Power BI has three types of tooltips:

Default tooltip — Automatically generated by Power BI showing the field values for the hovered data point. No setup required.

Custom field tooltip — You add specific fields to the Tooltips well in the Visualizations pane to control what the default tooltip shows.

Report page tooltip — A dedicated report page designed as a tooltip canvas. When a user hovers over a data point, this entire page appears as the tooltip — giving you full control over what is displayed, including custom visuals, KPIs, and formatted text.

Report page tooltips are by far the most powerful and impressive and we will cover all three types in this guide.

Type 1: Default Tooltip

The default tooltip requires zero setup. When you create any visual in Power BI, hovering over a data point automatically shows a tooltip with the field values for that point.

What the Default Tooltip Shows

For a bar chart showing Revenue by Region:

• Region: North
• Revenue: $245,000

For a scatter chart showing Sales vs Profit by Product:

• Product: Laptop Pro
• Sales: $1,200,000
• Profit: $340,000

Formatting the Default Tooltip

You can control the appearance of the default tooltip through the Format pane.

1. Select the visual
2. Go to the Format pane (paint roller icon)
3. Expand Tooltips
4. Toggle Values on or off
5. Change the background color, font size, and transparency

This improves the look of the default tooltip without changing what it shows.

Type 2: Custom Field Tooltip

The custom field tooltip gives you control over which fields appear in the default tooltip without building a separate page.

How to Add Custom Fields to a Tooltip

1. Select your visual (for example, a bar chart)
2. Look at the Visualizations pane on the right
3. Find the Tooltips field well — it is below the main field wells (Axis, Values, Legend)
4. Drag any field from the Data pane into the Tooltips well

Any field you add here appears in the tooltip when users hover even if that field is not displayed in the visual itself.

Example — Adding Context to a Sales Chart

Your bar chart shows Revenue by Region. You want the tooltip to also show:

• Number of orders
• Average order value
• Top product in that region

Drag these measures into the Tooltips well:

• Order Count
• Average Order Value
• Top Product (a measure using TOPN and CONCATENATEX)

Now hovering over the North bar shows Revenue AND all three additional context metrics without any of them cluttering the chart itself.

Formatting Custom Tooltip Fields

For each measure in the Tooltips well, the tooltip label uses the measure name by default. To customize the label:

Right-click the measure in the Tooltips well → Rename for this visual → type your preferred label.

For example, rename “Average Order Value” to “Avg Order” for a cleaner tooltip display.

Type 3: Report Page Tooltip — The Most Powerful

A report page tooltip is a dedicated report page that Power BI uses as the tooltip content when a user hovers over a data point. The entire page — with all its visuals, cards, and formatting — appears as the tooltip.

This is where tooltips go from useful to genuinely impressive.

Why Report Page Tooltips Are Worth Learning

• Show multiple visuals simultaneously in one tooltip
• Display KPI cards, sparklines, tables, and images
• Full control over layout, colors, and formatting
• Consistent with your report branding
• Automatically filtered to the hovered data point’s context

Step-by-Step: Building a Report Page Tooltip

We will build a Region Detail tooltip — when users hover over any region in a map or bar chart, a mini-dashboard appears showing regional KPIs, monthly trend, and product breakdown.

Step 1: Add a New Report Page

1. Right-click any page tab at the bottom of Power BI Desktop
2. Select Add Page
3. Rename it — for example “Tooltip — Region Detail”

Clear naming is important when you have multiple tooltips. Always prefix tooltip pages with “Tooltip —” so they are easy to identify.

Step 2: Set the Page as a Tooltip Page

This is the critical step — without it, the page appears as a regular report page, not a tooltip.

1. With your tooltip page active, go to View tab → Page view → Page information — actually use this path instead:
2. Click anywhere on the blank canvas to deselect all visuals
3. In the Format pane → Page information
4. Toggle Allow use as tooltip to On

The page is now registered as a tooltip destination.

Step 3: Set the Page Size to Tooltip Size

Tooltip pages need to be much smaller than regular report pages. Use the built-in Tooltip size preset.

1. In the Format pane → Canvas settings (with no visual selected)
2. Under Type → select Tooltip

This sets the canvas to 320 × 240 pixels — the standard tooltip canvas size. All visuals you add should fit within this compact space.

If you want a larger tooltip:

• Set Type to Custom
• Width: 400–600 pixels
• Height: 300–450 pixels

Larger tooltips give more room for visuals but can feel overwhelming. Keep it focused.

Step 4: Design Your Tooltip Visuals

Now design the content that will appear in the tooltip. Keep it focused — three to five small visuals maximum.

Recommended tooltip layout for a Region Detail:

Top area — KPI Cards (horizontal row):

• Total Revenue card
• Order Count card
• Average Order Value card

Middle area — Sparkline or Small Line Chart:

• Monthly revenue trend (minimal axis labels, clean design)

Bottom area — Small Bar Chart:

• Top 5 products by revenue

Step 5: Format Visuals for Small Canvas

Visuals on a tooltip canvas need special formatting — labels that work on a regular page are too large for a 320×240 canvas.

For all visuals on the tooltip page:

• Reduce title font size to 9–10pt
• Remove or minimize axis titles
• Remove gridlines
• Use smaller data label font sizes (8–9pt)
• Remove legends if category is clear from context
• Set background to match your report theme

For card visuals:

• Increase the value font size (20–24pt makes numbers readable)
• Keep the label small (8–9pt)
• Remove borders and shadows for a clean look

For chart visuals:

• Turn off axis labels or keep them minimal
• Remove the visual title if the chart is self-explanatory in context
• Use thin, clean bars or lines

Step 6: Set the Tooltip Filter Context

The tooltip automatically receives the filter context from the hovered data point — meaning your visuals automatically filter to the region, product, or time period being hovered.

You do not need to add any filters manually. When a user hovers over “North” in a region chart, all visuals on your tooltip page automatically show North data.

To verify this is working:

1. Publish your report to Power BI Service
2. Hover over a data point
3. Confirm the tooltip visuals reflect the correct filtered context

Step 7: Connect the Tooltip Page to a Visual

Now you need to tell specific visuals to use your tooltip page instead of the default tooltip.

1. Go back to your main report page
2. Select the visual you want to use the tooltip (for example, a map showing sales by region)
3. In the Format pane → Tooltips
4. Change Type from Default to Report page
5. Under Page → select your tooltip page name (“Tooltip — Region Detail”)

When you hover over the visual in View mode, your custom report page appears as the tooltip.

Advanced Tooltip Techniques

Dynamic Tooltip Title Using DAX

Add a dynamic title to your tooltip that shows exactly what the user is hovering over.

Create a DAX measure:

Tooltip Title =
"Region: " & SELECTEDVALUE(Regions[RegionName], "All Regions")

Add a text box or card visual at the top of your tooltip page referencing this measure. Now the tooltip title dynamically updates to show “Region: North” or “Region: South” based on what is being hovered.

Using Blank() to Hide Irrelevant Tooltip Content

Sometimes a tooltip visual should only show content when relevant context exists. Use ISBLANK() in a DAX measure to conditionally show content:

Conditional Revenue =
IF(
    ISBLANK(SELECTEDVALUE(Regions[RegionName])),
    BLANK(),
    SUM(Sales[Revenue])
)

When no region filter exists, the visual shows nothing — preventing confusing “all data” displays in the tooltip.

Tooltip With Images

Add your company logo or product image to tooltips using the Image visual.

1. Insert → Image on the tooltip canvas
2. Browse to your image file
3. Size it appropriately for the compact canvas

Product images in a tooltip for a product performance visual are particularly effective — users immediately see the product alongside its metrics.

Multiple Tooltips for Different Visuals

You can have different tooltip pages for different visuals on the same report page.

• Map visual → “Tooltip — Region Detail”
• Product bar chart → “Tooltip — Product Detail”
• Customer scatter chart → “Tooltip — Customer Profile”

Each visual independently references its own tooltip page.

Formatting Best Practices for Tooltips

Colors and Backgrounds

Match your tooltip background to your report theme or use a slightly different shade to visually distinguish the tooltip as a pop-up element.

Light theme reports → white or very light gray tooltip background
Dark theme reports → dark gray tooltip background matching the theme

Set background opacity carefully. Semi-transparent tooltips can look modern but make text harder to read on complex backgrounds.

Typography

Tooltip title: 11–12pt, bold
KPI values: 20–24pt, bold
KPI labels: 8–9pt, regular
Chart axis labels: 8pt
Chart data labels: 8–9pt

Hierarchy is important even in a small space. The most important number should be the largest element.

Spacing and Alignment

Use Power BI’s alignment tools (Format → Align) to ensure visuals are neatly aligned even at tooltip scale. Misaligned visuals look sloppy on a small canvas.

Leave a small margin around the edges of the canvas (about 5–8 pixels) so visuals do not touch the tooltip border.

Real-World Use Cases

Sales Dashboard — Regional Tooltip

A regional sales map shows revenue by territory. Hovering over any region reveals a tooltip with the regional manager name, quarterly trend sparkline, top three products, and year-over-year growth — all filtered to that specific territory automatically.

HR Dashboard — Employee Count Tooltip

A department headcount bar chart uses a tooltip showing average tenure, salary distribution histogram, recent hire count, and attrition rate for the hovered department — turning a simple headcount bar into a rich HR insight tool.

Financial Dashboard — Account Tooltip

A P&L summary table uses tooltips on each account line showing a monthly trend chart, budget vs actual variance, and the account manager responsible — giving finance users deep context without navigating away from the summary view.

Retail Dashboard — Product Performance Tooltip

A product category bubble chart uses tooltips showing the product image, top five SKUs by revenue, margin percentage, and inventory level for the hovered category — all visible without a single click.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Not setting Allow use as tooltip to On — This is the most common mistake. Without this toggle, the page appears as a regular page in your report, not as a tooltip. Always verify this is enabled on your tooltip page
• Forgetting to set the page size to Tooltip — If the page size is the standard 1280×720, the tooltip will appear as a tiny, unreadable preview of a large page. Always set the canvas to Tooltip or Custom small size
• Overloading the tooltip with too many visuals — A tooltip should provide quick context, not replace the full report page. Three to five focused visuals are ideal. More than that becomes overwhelming and defeats the purpose
• Not testing in View mode or published report — Tooltip behavior in the Power BI Desktop editing view can be different from the published report. Always test by publishing to Power BI Service and hovering in the browser
• Forgetting to connect the tooltip page to the visual — Creating the tooltip page is only half the job. You must also go to the main visual’s Format pane → Tooltips → Type → Report page and select your page. Skipping this means the default tooltip still appears
• Using large font sizes on the small canvas — Fonts that look good on a regular page are too large for a 320×240 tooltip canvas. Scale everything down and preview frequently as you build

Tooltips transform Power BI dashboards from static displays into genuinely interactive analytical tools — giving users rich context exactly when and where they need it, without adding clutter to the main canvas.

Here is a quick recap of everything we covered:

• Default tooltips require no setup and show basic field values automatically
• Custom field tooltips add specific measures to the Tooltips well for richer default behavior
• Report page tooltips are dedicated pages that appear as full mini-dashboards on hover
• Set Allow use as tooltip On and page size to Tooltip when building tooltip pages
• Connect tooltip pages to visuals through Format pane → Tooltips → Type → Report page
• Keep tooltip content focused — three to five visuals maximum
• Use DAX measures for dynamic titles that show the current hover context

Start with a custom field tooltip to get comfortable with the concept, then invest time in building your first report page tooltip. Once you see how much context you can deliver on hover without any clicks — you will add tooltips to every important visual in your dashboards.

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