Simple Power BI descriptions

Adding descriptions to your data model, tables, measures, and columns, often gets pushed to the back burner when developing in Power BI.

And forgoing entering descriptions for performance tuning and UI is valid - I mean priorities, right?

But if you see comments in a model, someone went the extra mile, which is what we're all about at Power BI Playbook.

Thankfully there's an easier way to achieve commenting and describing than going through each step individually.

Read on.

The Solution

This job can either be done manually or with the ever-trusty Tabular Editor. Tabular Editor enables advanced scripting functions to export our current model descriptions to Excel to analyse or edit.

We then save the Excel file to a known destination and reload it into Tabular Editor to be loaded into Power BI. That Excel script can then be used for project documentation or within project meetings. It allows for easier collaboration and comparison.

The Method

1. Open Tabular Editor from within your Power BI Desktop report or download it here.

2. Copy this script, ensuring you update the file path with your local path:

3. Paste into a new "Advanced Scripting" window:

‍4. Execute the script (hit the play button):

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This will create an Excel file named "Descriptions" on your desktop (or whenever you set the path location). When you open the file, you'll see a list of your tables, columns, and measures; in column five, you'll see Descriptions. Here, you can enter exactly what the object does in the scheme of your report. You can mark it as "To-Do" or "Fix-me"; you can reference another developer or write something specifically for yourself.

Once you're happy, save the file with another familiar name (to keep "Descriptions" reserved for future jobs).

I like to use the report name + Descriptions so I can go back to it later. I can also take the file to project meetings and make amendments on a laptop to return and upload later.

5. Copy this script, ensuring you update your file name and path (similar to step 3 above):

• Tip, when you save the updated Descriptions file, find your file in the file explorer, right-click and choose "Copy as Path", then paste the path as your destination, removing the ".xlsx" file type from the string.*

6. Execute the script and click the "Save changes back to the currently connected database" button:

7. Save your Power BI report.

The Result

When hovering over a measure or column in Power BI Desktop, you will now get this window with your descriptions—a great way to explain your thinking and reasoning behind why you chose a course of action.

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Again, not a necessity, but either is documentation, attending meetings, or wearing pants during Teams meetings, but it will set you apart.

So to be the best, you need to comment on your work, create excellent documentation, attend meetings, and, unfortunately, wear pants during Teams meetings.