Understand visual calculations

• 4 minutes

Visual calculations are a simple way to add calculations to your Power BI report. They're DAX calculations defined on a visual and are defined visually. Compared to measures, the DAX required is easier to write, understand, and maintain.

Visual calculations are defined on a visual, such as a table, bar chart, or a matrix. They provide easy to use functions for calculations that are commonly used in organizations.

While creating a visual calculation, you don’t have to worry about the complexity of the model. You just work with what is on the visual, making it easier to understand and check your work.

A visual calculation can refer to any data in the visual including columns, measures, or other visual calculations. This ability removes the complexity of the semantic model and simplifies the process of adding calculations to your report. You can use visual calculations to complete common business calculations, such as running sums or moving averages.

Benefits of using a visual calculation

DAX in visual calculations works differently from other calculation options. The formula isn't stored in the model, but on the visual itself. This means they can only refer to what's on the visual. If you need to use something from the model, you must add it to the visual first. This approach simplifies things by avoiding the complexity of filter context and the model.

Visual calculations combine the straightforward context of calculated columns with the flexibility of on-demand calculations from measures. They work on aggregated data instead of detailed data, which often improves performance. When you can choose between a new measure or a visual calculation, the visual calculation usually performs better.

Since visual calculations are part of the visual, they can refer to the visual structure, offering more flexibility.