Level 4 · Report, Table and Model view, and the three panes

Power BI Desktop has a lot on screen. Most of it lives in three places: the views on the left, the panes on the right, and the ribbon at the top.

The views on the left rail

View	What it shows	Use it to
Report view	The report pages and their visuals	Build and format the report
Table view	The rows of one table, like a spreadsheet	Check types, spot blanks, add calculated columns
Model view	The tables as boxes, joined by relationship lines	Create and edit relationships, set properties

Table view is called Data view in older versions, and many courses and articles still use that name. Current versions also show DAX query view (to run DAX queries) and may show TMDL view (the model as code); you’ll come back to those later.

Table view is read-only for the data itself: you can look, sort a column on screen and add columns with DAX, but you can’t type over a value or delete a row. Changes to the data belong in Power Query (Home → Transform data).

The panes on the right (Report view)

• Data pane (called Fields in older versions): every table, with its columns and measures. Icons tell them apart: a calculator for a measure, Σ for a numeric column that sums by default, a calendar for a date hierarchy. Drag a field onto the canvas or into a visual.
• Visualizations pane: the gallery of visual types, then three tabs. Build visual holds the field wells (X-axis, Y-axis, Legend, Values, Tooltips); Format visual holds colours, titles and labels; Analytics adds reference lines, averages and forecasts.
• Filters pane: filters at three levels, Filters on this visual, Filters on this page and Filters on all pages.

If a pane is missing, the View tab of the ribbon switches each one on and off.

The ribbon

Home holds Get data, Transform data, Refresh, New visual, New measure and Publish. Insert adds visuals, text boxes, shapes and buttons. Modeling holds relationships, measures, new parameters and security roles. View holds themes, gridlines, the mobile layout and the panes. Contextual tabs appear when something is selected: Format and Data / Drill for a visual, Table tools, Column tools and Measure tools for model items.

Filter levels in practice

Jordan’s rule, “2025 only, everywhere, forever”, is a report-level filter: drag 'Date'[Year] into Filters on all pages and tick 2025. Then use the two icons on the filter card: the lock keeps readers from changing it, the eye hides it from them. A page-level filter would do the same for one page; a visual-level filter for one chart.

About this level

Power BI Desktop runs on Windows only, so this quiz describes the screens rather than showing them. The practice levels in this track work like Report view: a visual, the model’s tables, and a box for your DAX.

Common mistakes

• Fixing data in Table view. It can’t be done there; go to Power Query.
• Slicers for rules. Readers can change them.
• Forgetting a page filter. Two pages, same measure, different totals: check the Filters pane before the DAX.