A dropdown slicer that opens over the report, with a hierarchy

In short

• What the visual does. Basic Slicer Plume is a dropdown slicer: closed, it takes up a single line ("All", or the chosen values); open, its list goes over the visuals placed below it. Drag in several columns and the menu becomes a hierarchy: Category › Product, like the folder tree on your computer, where checking a folder checks everything inside it. It can also be displayed as an always-visible list, like the native slicer.
• When to use it.
  • When the page is short on space: one line is enough for a filter.
  • To filter on a tree (Department › Category › Product, Country › Region › City).
  • To replace the native slicer with a slicer whose style matches the other Plume visuals, with search and a count.
• When to use something else. To see the weight of each value with bars, use Bar Slicer Plume. For several independent fields side by side, use Filter Bar Plume.
• By the end of this tutorial, you'll know how to:
  • build a dropdown menu with one or two levels;
  • make the menu open over the visual below it;
  • switch to the list layout;
  • sync the slicer across several pages and save a selection in a bookmark;
  • understand what the slicer filters when you check a parent or a child.
• What you need. A recent version of Power BI Desktop, the Basic Slicer Plume visual installed (see the shared basics), and one or more columns to filter; for a hierarchy, columns that nest inside each other.

What is a slicer?

A slicer is a visual that doesn't show numbers: its job is to filter the other visuals on the page. A filter (see the glossary) limits the data that is taken into account: if you check "Kitchen", every chart on the page only calculates the orders in the Kitchen category. Check nothing and the page shows everything: that's what the "All" text in the box means.

What to remember about how Basic Slicer Plume behaves:

• It filters the columns placed in Field. Checked values add up: "Kitchen" and "Decor" gives the orders from Kitchen or Decor.
• In a hierarchy, the filter follows the level you check. If you only check whole categories, the filter applies to the Category column. If you check a specific product, the filter applies to Category + Product pairs: checking all of "Kitchen" plus "Vase" under Decor filters on (Kitchen, Knives), (Kitchen, Saucepan) and (Decor, Vase). So a product name stored under two categories is only kept under the checked category.
• Other visuals filter it. If another slicer picks the "Brittany" region, the menu only lists values that have orders in Brittany, and the count is recalculated. This is cross-filtering (see the glossary). The visual doesn't do partial highlighting.
• It doesn't filter itself: the count shown next to each value doesn't depend on what you checked in this same menu.
• Bookmarks and slicer sync work: the selection is checked again when you recall a bookmark or switch pages (see the how-to guides).

The data you need

The visual needs one column (see the glossary) for a simple menu, or several nested columns for a hierarchy (see the glossary): each product belongs to a single category, each category to a single department. They must be real table columns, not measures: that's what the filter applies to.

The visual reads one row per existing combination of the columns (Kitchen › Knives, Kitchen › Saucepan…) and builds the tree from these rows. Your table can have one row per order: the visual does the grouping itself.

A measure (see the glossary) is optional: the count, shown to the right of each value. A parent shows the sum of its children, so the measure must be additive (a count or a sum).

Sample dataset: orders for a home goods retailer (fictional data), one row per order.

Department	Category	Product	Region
Kitchen & Dining	Kitchen	Knives	Occitanie
Kitchen & Dining	Kitchen	Knives	Brittany
Kitchen & Dining	Kitchen	Saucepan	Occitanie
Kitchen & Dining	Tableware	Plates	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Kitchen & Dining	Tableware	Glasses	Brittany
Home	Decor	Vase	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Home	Decor	Vase	Occitanie
Home	Decor	Photo frame	Brittany
Home	Lighting	Desk lamp	Occitanie
Home	Lighting	Pendant light	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Outdoor	Garden	Watering can	Brittany
Outdoor	Garden	Planter	Nouvelle-Aquitaine

The same dataset, ready to paste: Modeling › New table, then paste the formula.

Sales =
DATATABLE (
    "Department", STRING,
    "Category", STRING,
    "Product", STRING,
    "Region", STRING,
    {
        { "Kitchen & Dining", "Kitchen", "Knives", "Occitanie" },
        { "Kitchen & Dining", "Kitchen", "Knives", "Brittany" },
        { "Kitchen & Dining", "Kitchen", "Saucepan", "Occitanie" },
        { "Kitchen & Dining", "Tableware", "Plates", "Nouvelle-Aquitaine" },
        { "Kitchen & Dining", "Tableware", "Glasses", "Brittany" },
        { "Home", "Decor", "Vase", "Nouvelle-Aquitaine" },
        { "Home", "Decor", "Vase", "Occitanie" },
        { "Home", "Decor", "Photo frame", "Brittany" },
        { "Home", "Lighting", "Desk lamp", "Occitanie" },
        { "Home", "Lighting", "Pendant light", "Nouvelle-Aquitaine" },
        { "Outdoor", "Garden", "Watering can", "Brittany" },
        { "Outdoor", "Garden", "Planter", "Nouvelle-Aquitaine" }
    }
)

The measure to create (Modeling › New measure, with the Sales table selected):

// Order Count: the count shown to the right of each value.
// COUNTROWS counts the rows of the table: here, one row = one order.
// It's a count, so an additive measure:
// the Kitchen category shows 3 = Knives (2) + Saucepan (1).
Order Count = COUNTROWS ( Sales )

Data preparation pitfalls:

• Column order: the first column in the Field (or hierarchy levels) well is the top level. Drag Category before Product.
• Non-additive count (average, DISTINCTCOUNT): the number shown on parents is wrong, since it adds up the children's numbers. Prefer COUNTROWS or SUM.
• Columns that don't nest: if the same product exists under two categories, it appears twice, once under each parent. That's normal, and the filter tells the two apart.
• Values without data: they're only received if Show items with no data is on for the field (right-click the field in the well), and they're only detected with a measure in Count (optional).
• Volume: the visual loads up to 100,000 combinations; long menus stay smooth because only the visible rows are drawn.

Step by step: your first Basic Slicer Plume in 10 minutes

1. In the ribbon, select Modeling › New table: paste the Sales = DATATABLE(...) formula from the "The data you need" section and confirm. The Sales table appears in the Data pane.

2. Select the Sales table, then Modeling › New measure: paste Order Count = COUNTROWS ( Sales ) and confirm.

3. In the Visualizations pane, insert a native Card and drag Order Count into it. It shows 12. Place it near the top of the page: this is the visual the menu will cover.

4. Click an empty area of the page, then the Basic Slicer Plume icon. A frame appears, with a welcome screen asking you to add a field.

5. Drag Category into the Field (or hierarchy levels) well. The visual shows the title "Category" and an "All" box.

6. Drag Product into the same well, below Category. The title becomes "Category › Product": the menu is a two-level hierarchy (free).

7. Drag Order Count into the Count (optional) well.

8. Place the slicer just above the card, then drag the bottom of its frame down to about 250 px high, so that it covers the card.

9. With the slicer still selected, select Format › Arrange › Bring to front in the ribbon. The slicer moves in front of the card.

10. In the Format pane (the paintbrush icon in the Visualizations pane), General tab, open Effects and turn off Background. With the menu closed, you now only see the one-line box; the card is visible under the transparent frame.

11. Click the "All" box. The menu opens over the card, with the categories and their count (Kitchen 3, Decor 3…).

12. Click the chevron next to Decor, then check Vase. The Decor checkbox is half filled (partial selection); the card shows 2.

13. Press Esc. The menu closes; the box shows "Vase".

Result: a one-line slicer that opens over the report and filters by category or by product. To clear the selection, click the clear (×) button in the box.

Troubleshooting

What you see	Likely cause	Solution
A white box around the slicer	The Power BI container background is on.	Format › General › Effects › Background: turn it off.
The menu opens in a small panel instead of going over the visual below	The frame isn't tall enough (in Auto, less than 120 px available below the box) or the slicer is behind the other visual.	Make the frame taller and select Format › Arrange › Bring to front.
In edit mode, a message asks you to enlarge the visual to show the list	The frame is less than 110 px high.	Make the frame larger.
The chart below the slicer no longer responds in one area	That area is covered by the slicer frame, which captures the mouse even when transparent.	Shrink the frame or place it over a title or KPI cards.
The parents' count looks wrong	The count measure isn't additive.	Use COUNTROWS or SUM.
No search box	Search is off by default.	Format › Search › Show.
No Hierarchy card in the Format pane	Only one column in Field (or hierarchy levels).	Add a second column.
Values without data aren't dimmed	No measure in Count (optional), or Show items with no data isn't on for the field.	Add the measure and turn on the option (right-click the field).
The "Premium preview" watermark appears	3 or more levels in the field, or a ★ style / Theme JSON ★, without a valid key.	Paste a key in Plume Studio License › License key, or go back to 2 levels.

Key takeaways

• A slicer filters the other visuals on the page; Basic Slicer Plume does it from a one-line box, or as an always-visible list.
• Several columns in Field (or hierarchy levels) form a tree; the filter applies to the most detailed level checked.
• To go over the visual below: make the frame taller, Bring to front, and turn off the container background.
• Bookmarks and slicer sync restore the selection, sub-levels included.
• The count must be an additive measure: a parent shows the sum of its children.

Learn more

• Basic Slicer Plume: 8 how-to guides (list, bookmarks, hierarchy…): recipes for common needs.
• Basic Slicer Plume: every field and setting explained: every field well and every setting.
• Getting started with Plume visuals: installation, license, styles and settings shared by all visuals.
• The visual's page: Basic Slicer Plume. Have a question? Support.