Power BI continues to evolve as the industry-standard analytics platform for organizations seeking visually rich, interactive decision-making experiences. However, even experienced users encounter situations where Power BI’s default behavior doesn’t perfectly match business requirements. One such scenario is controlling totals in the Table or Matrix visuals—particularly when you want to disable totals only for specific columns.
In enterprise dashboards, column totals can sometimes be misleading, irrelevant, or mathematically incorrect (e.g., total of averages, total of ratios, total of brand counts). In such cases, business users often need to hide or disable the total for some columns while keeping totals for others.
In this blog, we are going to learn a quick and easy way to disable the totals in Power BI for the desired columns.
Scenario: Blow is the table visual with 4 Columns with totals in yellow font.
Objective: We want to disable the total for any One column here ( Let’s take No. of Brands for now)
Step1. Select your table visual and click on the Format ribbon.
Step2. Go to Formatting Filed under the Format ribbon and select the desired column for which you want to turn off the total, We have a BrandName column here
Step 3: Observe the font color in general
White color is applied to values and not to the total for all the columns in the table visual.
Step4. Change the font col to the background color of the visual so that it will hide the total value when you apply it for totals and not for values.
And here we have our desired result.
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Why Would You Want to Turn Off Totals for Specific Columns in Power BI?
Power BI automatically calculates totals for numeric columns in a table or matrix. However, these totals are not always meaningful.
Here are frequent real-world scenarios where disabling totals is essential:
1. When the Total of a Count Does Not Make Sense
For example:
- Number of Brands
- Number of Categories
- Number of SKUs
Summing these results in inflated totals that mislead stakeholders.
2. When the Measure Represents an AVERAGE or RATIO
Totals for averages look mathematically incorrect because:
- Power BI sums the averages instead of recalculating them.
- Business users often misinterpret these totals.
3. When You Display Text-Based or Categorical Expressions
Totals for:
- Rank labels
- Flags
- KPIs
- Descriptions
don’t add any analytical value.
4. When Totals Cause Visual Clutter
Minimalist dashboards intentionally hide totals to enhance readability.
As a Power BI partner working with enterprise clients, Addend Analytics often sees CFOs, BI managers, and operations teams request this refinement to avoid reporting inconsistencies.
Power BI’s Limitation: You Cannot Directly Turn Off Totals for a Single Column
The challenge is that Power BI doesn’t provide a direct toggle to disable totals at a column level in a table visual.
You can turn off:
- Grand Total
- Subtotals
…but this applies to all columns.
Because of this limitation, users must apply creative formatting workarounds like the one described in your original content.
Why the Formatting Trick Works (Expert Explanation)
Power BI treats the total row as a separate formatting layer.
Each column has:
- Value formatting
- Total formatting
By observing that the total row uses a different font color, you can manipulate that setting.
Changing the total’s font color to match the background color effectively hides it, making it invisible to end users — a clever UI hack that enterprise report developers use often.
This approach is:
- Fast
- No DAX required
- Works for most table visuals
- User-friendly
Transform your dashboards into AI-ready, enterprise-grade intelligence systems with Addend Analytics.
A More Advanced Approach Using DAX (For Complex Models)
For cases when hiding totals is not enough, you can also use DAX measures to conditionally remove totals:
Example:
NoOfBrands_Display =
IF(
HASONEVALUE(Products[BrandName]),
[NoOfBrands],
BLANK()
)
When to Use the DAX Method Instead of Formatting
Choose DAX when:
- The total is mathematically incorrect
- You need to calculate a different total (e.g., weighted average)
- You want to display BLANK() instead of hiding visually
- You’re building enterprise-grade financial or operational reports
Addend Analytics regularly implements such logic in Power BI dashboards across industries like:
- Manufacturing
- FMCG
- Retail
- BFSI
- Healthcare
Best Practices for Power BI Table Totals
To elevate your report quality:
- Always validate totals before publishing: Totals often misrepresent underlying metrics.
- Use DAX to create custom totals when needed: Especially for financial metrics such as margins, profitability ratios, and KPIs.
- Make visuals intuitive for end users: Hiding totals reduces confusion for non-technical business stakeholders.
- Apply consistent formatting across all visuals: This improves dashboard readability and trustworthiness.
- Document total logic in a tooltip or info icon: Enterprise BI teams appreciate transparency.
Strategic Business Impact
While hiding totals may seem like a minor formatting task, it has a significant impact on decision accuracy.
Incorrect totals can lead to:
- Misreported financial summaries
- Inaccurate operational decisions
- Confusion during executive review meetings
- Lack of trust in the BI system
By applying proper formatting and DAX techniques, organizations ensure that Power BI remains a trusted source of truth, directly influencing revenue decisions, forecasting accuracy, production planning, and supply chain visibility.
This is exactly what leading companies achieve when they partner with Addend Analytics.
Controlling totals for specific columns in Power BI is more than a formatting trick — it’s a critical capability for building accurate, intuitive, and trustworthy dashboards. By combining Power BI’s built-in formatting options with advanced DAX techniques, organizations can create clean visuals that align with business logic and eliminate confusion.
Whether you’re building operational dashboards, executive scorecards, or financial analytics, knowing how to manage totals is key to delivering high-quality insights.
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