Loading...

🔍 What is Cross-Filter Direction in Power BI?

🔍 What is Cross-Filter Direction in Power BI?

🔍 What is Cross-Filter Direction in Power BI?

📌 Simple Explanation

Cross-filter direction in Power BI controls how filters flow between related tables. It defines whether one table can filter another, or if filtering can happen in both directions.

Think of it like traffic flow:
🚦 One-way street → Filter moves in one direction (Single).
🚦 Two-way street → Filter moves in both directions (Both).

📌 Types of Cross-Filter Direction with Examples

1️⃣ Single Direction (One-Way Filtering)

✅ Filters data only in one direction (from one table to another).
✅ Most commonly used in star schema models where a dimension table filters a fact table.

🔹 Example: Sales and Products Table

Products Table (Dimension Table) Sales Table (Fact Table)
Product ID Product ID
Product Name Sales Amount
  • If we filter "Product Name", it filters the "Sales Table" (e.g., "Laptop" will show only Laptop sales).
  • But filtering Sales Table does not filter the Products Table.

🔹 When to Use?

✅ When you want to keep data integrity and avoid circular filtering issues.
✅ Works well in hierarchical models like Date → Sales (Date table filters Sales but not vice versa).


2️⃣ Both Direction (Two-Way Filtering)

✅ Filters in both directions (A filters B, and B filters A).
✅ Used when multiple tables need to filter each other dynamically.

🔹 Example: Sales, Customers & Orders

Customers Table Orders Table
Customer ID Customer ID
Customer Name Order Amount
  • If you filter "Customer Name", it filters "Orders".
  • If you filter "Orders", it filters "Customers" to show only those who placed orders.

🔹 When to Use?

✅ When working with many-to-many relationships.
✅ When you need dynamic filtering in both directions (e.g., filtering Orders should also filter Customers).


📌 How to Change Cross-Filter Direction in Power BI?

1️⃣ Go to Model View (Manage Relationships).
2️⃣ Click on a relationship line between tables.
3️⃣ Set Cross Filter Direction to Single or Both.
4️⃣ Click OK and refresh the report.


📌 Best Practices

✅ Use Single Direction for performance efficiency in large datasets.
✅ Use Both Direction only if necessary, as it can slow down reports.
✅ In Many-to-Many relationships, "Both" is often required for correct filtering.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to change the Cross-Filter Direction in Power BI :

📌 Step 1: Open Power BI and Go to Model View

1️⃣ Open your Power BI Desktop.
2️⃣ Click on the Model View (🧩 icon) in the left sidebar.
3️⃣ You will see all the tables and relationships connected by lines.

📌 Step 2: Identify the Relationship

1️⃣ Find the relationship line between the two tables.
2️⃣ Click on the line to open the "Edit Relationship" window.

📌 Step 3: Change the Cross-Filter Direction

1️⃣ In the Edit Relationship window, look for Cross filter direction.
2️⃣ Choose one of the options:

  • Single (Default) → Filters in one direction.
  • Both → Filters in both directions.
    3️⃣ Click OK and refresh the report.

📌 Example Scenarios in Power BI

1️⃣ Single Cross-Filter Direction (One-Way)

  • Example:
    • Product Table filters Sales Table (Sales is affected, but Products remain unchanged).
    • Works well for fact-dimension relationships like Date → Sales.

2️⃣ Both Cross-Filter Direction (Two-Way)

  • Example:
    • Customers Table and Orders Table (both can filter each other).
    • Needed for many-to-many relationships (e.g., Customers ↔ Orders).

📌 Best Practices

Use Single direction for better performance (especially with large datasets).
Use Both direction only when necessary (e.g., many-to-many relationships).
Test your filtering logic in reports after changing cross-filter settings.


Published on:

Learn more
Power Platform , D365 CE & Cloud
Power Platform , D365 CE & Cloud

Dynamics 365 CE, Power Apps, Powerapps, Azure, Dataverse, D365,Power Platforms (Power Apps, Power Automate, Virtual Agent and AI Builder), Book Review

Share post:

Related posts

Data Validation In Power BI Copilot AI Instructions

Here’s yet another post in my series on things I think you should be doing in Power BI Copilot AI Instructions. Today: validating values...

1 day ago

Building Translytical Flows in Power BI Reports

Microsoft has introduced Translytical Task Flows (Preview) in Power BI — a groundbreaking capability that brings transactional actions directl...

4 days ago

What Fields to Hide in Your Power BI Solution?

To tidy up your Power BI solution, there are some options, and one of them is hiding fields from the report view. This option, although simple...

5 days ago

Celebrate with us as Power BI Turns 10!

Power BI is turning 10, and we’re celebrating a decade of turning data into insight and impact. From 500,000 early adopters to over 375,000 or...

8 days ago

Power BI Copilot AI Instructions: Helping Users Understand The Scope Of The Data

Continuing my series of posts on Power BI Copilot and the type of things you should be including in AI Instructions, today I want to talk abou...

8 days ago

Limit on number of users or groups that can be added to workspace roles in Fabric and Power BI

Microsoft Fabric will limit workspace roles to 1,000 users or groups from August 1 to August 31, 2025. Overlimit workspaces can’t add more use...

11 days ago
Stay up to date with latest Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform news!
* Yes, I agree to the privacy policy