Re: Power BI September 2026 Feature Summary

Hi MS team, thanks for another huge update, 

I especially appreciate this limitation finally being fixed:

I've been requesting that since the 'Narrative visual' function was first added to PBI! >_<

On another note, I've noticed some anomalies/inconsistencies between PBI desktop and service with this update, so hoping someone can clarify what the expectation is going forward (I also think one of these might be a bug, but appreciate any insight either way):

• Items not yet available in PBI service (for our tenant at least):
  

  • New Report Ribbon on the web (Preview), currently not present (no toggle):

     

  • Set and reset column widths in table and matrix (Generally Available)

    No reset or pixel spec shown

  •  

    I assume this is on a staggered rollout, but please advise if I should be seeing these in PBI service already?

• Inconsistencies between PBI service (edit mode) and PBI desktop:
  
  • Style preset 'Default' renamed to 'Base': See screenshots below, where the latest desktop release still refers to the default formatting/preset as 'Default', but uses 'Base' in PBI service, which is a bit strange. Is this expected to also rollout to desktop in the future?
    
    PBI servicePBI desktop

     

  • Missing custom style presets: For some reason I can't determine, when I add a custom theme file in PBI service for the first time, for some items/visuals the first preset isn't shown? I've tested this across several different files and see the same discrepancy. All presets still appear in PBI desktop as expected when applied for the first time as expected.
    
    More specifically, I'm testing for scenarios where users want to add a new theme file with additional style presets for the first time within PBI service. If the style preset/theme file is already present in PBI desktop, it works as expected, but in scenarios where users are adding a new theme file with a new preset for the first time, the discrepancy appears.
    
    Example screenshots below:
    PBI desktop (older theme file without extra style preset)PBI desktop (new theme applied, with new style preset in place as expected)
    PBI service (older theme in place)PBI service (new theme in place, but new style preset missing)

    The concern is that there might be other anomalies when applying a theme file in PBI service vs. PBI desktop, but for now it appears when applying a theme file for the first time the safest option is to do so in PBI desktop until this is resolved.

On a separate note, I also noticed that a new 'Markdown visual' has been announced for next year, as well as an upcoming 'Vega visual'.

With this and the increasing emphasis on AI and agentic functions, is it planned that there will be a core visual that facilitates AI generated data visuals directly in PBI at some point? Just wondering as there's such a heavy emphasis on these things right now, and with the sophistication of SVG visuals now possible in PBI using the image/card/button slicer visuals, it seemed a logical next step beyond using the current AI functions to create custom visuals for PBI, to have a core visual that facilitates the same function within PBI itself using Copilot etc.
Just an idea/question, but it seemed a good time to ask. 🧐

Thanks again for all the updates though. Now we just need to get 'someone' to include all of the possible states for buttons/slicers etc. in the theme file schema, especially the 'mixed' state... I already have the code taken from PBI itself, just need the schema to recognize/accept it.👍