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How-to guidesIntermediate6 min read· Published on October 20, 2026

Text Plume: 9 how-to guides (pasted list, wildcards, bookmarks…)

Filter on a list pasted from Excel, use wildcards, exclude values, search every column at once and keep the typed text in a bookmark with Text Plume.

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These recipes start from a Text Plume that is already set up. If that's not the case, begin with getting started: the examples reuse its data (the Orders table, the check table). Features marked ★ are premium: they work without a license, with a watermark.

How do I filter the report on a list of codes pasted from Excel? ★

Someone sends you an Excel workbook with the orders to check, and you want to see only those in the report.

  1. Keep a single column in Fields to search: Order.
  2. In Format › Input, turn on Multiple lines (paste a list) ★. The box becomes a 4-line text area (Visible lines setting).
  3. In Format › Search, set Matching to Is exactly: each line must be a full number.
  4. In Excel, select the cells of the column and copy them (Ctrl + C): for example FR-1042-2026, FR-1052-2026, FR-1061-2026 and FR-9999-2026.
  5. Click in the Text Plume box and paste (Ctrl + V): one value per line.
  6. Press Ctrl + Enter or click the Filter button.

Result: the check table keeps the three existing orders. Under the box, the information line reads "3 value(s) found · 4 terms · 1 not found: FR-9999-2026"; the tooltip of that line gives the full list of terms not found.

Tip: without turning on Multiple lines, you can also paste the column into the one-line box: line breaks become ; . The search then has several terms, which is also a ★ feature.

How do I use the * and ? wildcards? ★

Order numbers follow a pattern (country-number-year) and you want a family of numbers without typing them one by one.

  1. Keep Order in Fields to search, and Matching on Contains or Is exactly.
  2. Check that Format › Search › Wildcards * and ? ★ is on (the default).
  3. Type CH-*: the star stands for any characters. The table keeps the Swiss order CH-3005-2026.
  4. Type FR-10?1-2026: the question mark stands for a single character. The table keeps FR-1051-2026, FR-1061-2026 and FR-1071-2026.

Result: a family of numbers in a single term. To search for an actual star or question mark in the text, put the term in quotes: "5*" searches for "5*" literally.

You want every café except the harbor one, or every city except Paris.

  1. Put Customer in Fields to search.
  2. Check that Format › Search › Exclude with "-" or "!" (-test, !test) ★ is on (the default).
  3. Type cafe; -harbor. The first term keeps the customers that contain "café", the second removes those that contain "harbor".
  4. To exclude without searching for anything else, put City in the well and type only -paris.

Result: in step 3, Café de Lyon remains; in step 4, every order except the two delivered to Paris. A ! at the start of the term works like the - (!paris).

How do I search the customer and the city at once? ★

A user types a word without knowing whether it's in the customer's name or in the city.

  1. Put Customer then City in Fields to search.
  2. Click the All fields chip under the box. To have no chips at all and always search every column, set Format › Fields › With several fields to Search all fields instead.
  3. Type paris. The table keeps Café de Lyon (delivered to Paris) and Parisian Bookshop (Paris in the name and in the city).
  4. To require several words spread over the columns, set Format › Input › Several terms to All of them (AND) and type cafe; paris.

Result: in step 4, only Café de Lyon remains: "café" is found in the customer and "paris" in the city. The visual keeps the rows where at least one column matches each term; this filter works on the loaded rows (up to 100,000).

How do I filter only when the user presses Enter?

On a large model, each letter typed recalculates the page: it's better to filter once the text is finished.

  1. In Format › Input, set Filter to With Enter or the button.
  2. Leave "Filter" button on.
  3. Type peri: nothing is sent, "Press Enter to filter" shows under the box and the Filter button is highlighted.
  4. Press Enter or click Filter.

Result: the report is recalculated only once, when you confirm. If you keep As you type, the Delay after typing (ms) setting (400 by default) sets the wait after the last letter.

How do I keep the typed text in a bookmark?

You want a "Périgueux customers" button that brings back the ready-made search. A bookmark (see the glossary) is a snapshot of the page state, slicer filters included.

  1. Pick the City chip and type peri.
  2. On the ribbon, select View › Bookmarks, then click Add in the Bookmarks pane.
  3. Open the … menu of the new bookmark › Rename, and name it "Périgueux".
  4. In the same menu, check that Data is ticked: that's the option that saves the slicer filters.
  5. Clear the box with the clear (×) button, then click the "Périgueux" bookmark in the Bookmarks pane.

Result: the text peri comes back exactly as typed in the box, on the City chip, and the table keeps the two Périgueux orders. A bookmark created with an empty box clears the box when it's recalled.

Tip: for the search to be already typed when the report opens, with no bookmark or button, drop into the Preselection field a measure Preselected Search = "peri" (★). The visual writes it in the box and applies it; a search recalled by a bookmark takes priority unless Preselection › Force is on.

How do I find a city by typing its postal code?

Your readers know the postal code better than the city's spelling. The Also search in field searches the typed text in another column, but the filter still applies to the city.

  1. With the Orders table selected, Table tools › New column:
Postal Code = SWITCH ( Orders[City], "Périgueux", "24000", "Nantes", "44000", "Strasbourg", "67000", "Lyon", "69001", "Lille", "59000", "Paris", "75001", BLANK () )
  1. Keep only City in Fields to search, and drag Postal Code into Also search in.
  2. Type 24 in the box.

Result: Périgueux is found, the suggestion also shows the code "24000" and the table keeps the two Périgueux orders. This field is free; to hide the code in the suggestions, turn off Format › Fields › "Also search in" value in suggestions.

How do I find values that end with a text?

Order numbers end with a counter and the year, and you're looking for those that end with "1-2026".

  1. Put Order in Fields to search.
  2. In Format › Search, set Matching to Ends with.
  3. Type 1-2026.

Result: the table keeps FR-1051-2026, FR-1061-2026, FR-1071-2026 and BE-2001-2026. Ends with doesn't exist in Power BI filters: the visual sends the list of matching values. Word start is the other useful matching: lyon finds "Café de Lyon" and "Lyonnais Workshop" with it, but not a name where "lyon" sits in the middle of a word.

How do I search with a regular expression? ★

For needs that wildcards don't cover: several prefixes, digits within a range.

  1. Put Order in Fields to search.
  2. In Format › Search, set Matching to Regular expression ★.
  3. Type ^(FR|BE)-10[4-6]: the numbers that start with FR or BE, followed by 104, 105 or 106.

Result: the table keeps FR-1042-2026, FR-1043-2026, FR-1051-2026, FR-1052-2026, FR-1060-2026 and FR-1061-2026. A badly written expression turns the box red and shows "Invalid regular expression": nothing is sent to the report until it's fixed.

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