Power BI Custom Visuals and Themes
Power BI ships with dozens of built-in visuals and a handful of color schemes. Custom visuals extend the chart library, and themes give every page a consistent brand look. Both features raise the quality of a report with little effort.
Custom Visuals
A custom visual is a chart type built by Microsoft partners or community developers. Examples include Gantt charts, bullet charts, word clouds, and chord diagrams. Microsoft hosts them in a marketplace called AppSource.
The Toolbox Analogy
Built-in visuals form a standard toolbox with a hammer, screwdriver, and wrench. Custom visuals add specialty tools from the hardware store. Pick the specialty tool only when the standard tool cannot do the job.
Adding a Custom Visual
- Click the three dots at the bottom of the Visualizations pane and choose Get more visuals.
- Browse or search the marketplace.
- Read the description and the preview image.
- Select Add. The visual icon appears in the Visualizations pane.
Visuals load from a .pbiviz file saved on your computer. Choose Import a visual from a file in the same menu.
Certified Visuals
Microsoft tests some visuals for code safety and marks them as certified. Certified visuals can export to PowerPoint and appear in email subscriptions. Prefer certified visuals in business reports. Treat uncertified visuals with care and check the publisher before use.
| Check | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Publisher name | Trusted companies maintain updates |
| Certification badge | Passed Microsoft code review |
| Update date | Recent updates signal active support |
| Organization policy | Admins may restrict uncertified visuals |
Themes
A theme defines the colors, fonts, and default styling for every visual in a report. Switching a theme restyles all pages in one step. Open View, then choose Themes to see the gallery.
Built-In Themes
Power BI includes themes with varied color palettes and accessibility-friendly options. Pick one, and every chart picks up the new palette instantly. Use Customize current theme to adjust colors, text sizes, and visual defaults by hand.
Custom Theme Files
A theme file is a small text file in JSON format. A company can save its brand colors in one file and share it with every report author.
{
"name": "Ocean Theme",
"dataColors": ["#1F77B4", "#2CA02C", "#FF7F0E", "#9467BD", "#8C564B"],
"background": "#FFFFFF",
"foreground": "#1B2A3A",
"tableAccent": "#1F77B4"
}Save the text as OceanTheme.json. Open View, Themes, Browse for themes, and select the file. The report restyles at once.
Before theme: default blue bars, mixed fonts After theme: brand colors on every visual, same font on every page
Worked Example: A Brand Rollout
A training company owns twelve reports with different looks. A designer builds one JSON file with the company palette and fonts. Authors import the file into each report. Within an afternoon, every report shares the same colors, which gives clients a polished and recognizable experience. A future rebrand needs a single file change and a quick re-import.
Design Guidelines
- Limit a palette to five or six colors.
- Pick colors with strong contrast against the background.
- Keep one font family across the report.
- Test themes in dark and light settings if readers use both.
Key Points
- Custom visuals come from AppSource and extend the chart library.
- Certified visuals offer stronger safety checks.
- Themes apply colors and fonts to every visual at once.
- A JSON theme file shares a brand look across reports.
- Consistent styling builds reader trust.