Treemap Plume: 11 recipes for clear, useful treemaps

Each recipe starts from the data of the getting started guide (Sales table, Revenue measure, Region and Category in Category (groups)). Recipes marked ★ use a premium feature: it works right away, with a "Premium preview" watermark until a key is entered.

How do I show one level at a time, like the Power BI treemap?

With many levels (region, city, category), showing everything at once gives tiny tiles. You may prefer to go down level by level.

1. Drag Region, City and Category into Category (groups).
2. Format › Layout › Tiling › Levels shown at once (0 = all): 1.
3. Double-click a region: its cities fill the visual. Double-click a city: its categories.
4. To go back up: the breadcrumb, the ↑ button, or the Backspace key.

Result: one level at a time, like Power BI's drill down, with a breadcrumb on top. 2 shows two levels at once (regions and cities); 0 the whole hierarchy.

How do I color the tiles by margin rate?

Size says "how much", color says "how profitable".

1. Create the margin rate measure: Margin rate = DIVIDE ( SUM ( Sales[Margin] ), [Revenue] ) (percentage format).
2. Drag it into Color (measure).
3. The Coloring switches to Gradient by a measure by itself as long as you have not changed it; otherwise, choose it in Format › Data colors › Coloring.
4. Optional: Start value (empty = minimum) and End value (empty = maximum) to fix the scale (for example 0.2 and 0.6), so that colors do not change when you filter.
5. The gradient colors come from the style; Format › Style › Custom colors lets you pick the start, middle and end.

Result: a gradient legend at the top of the visual; the most profitable tiles take the end color. The tooltip also gives the rate.

How do I show the variance to a target, above and below ★

1. Create a variance measure, for example Variance to target % = DIVIDE ( [Revenue] - [Target], [Target] ), and drag it into Color (measure).
2. Coloring: Diverging around a midpoint ★; Midpoint value: 0.
3. Tiles above the target take one side of the style's diverging gradient, tiles below the other side, tiles close to 0 the middle color.

How do I sort tiles into three tiers ★

1. Drag the measure to classify into Color (measure) (for example the average basket).
2. Coloring: Thresholds (3 colors) ★.
3. Low threshold: 150; High threshold: 200. Colors: Below the low threshold, Between thresholds, Above the high threshold.

Result: a three-tier legend (below 150, from 150 to 200, above 200), and each tile in the color of its tier.

How do I sort by name, or in month order?

1. Format › Layout › Tiling › Tile order: Name (A → Z) for alphabetical order (natural: "Item 2" before "Item 10").
2. For a business order (months, priorities): sort the column by another one in the model (Column tools › Sort by column), then choose Data order (Power BI sort).

The first tile is always at the top left; with Squarified, the next ones are laid out in rows.

How do I animate the treemap from one year to the next ★

1. Drag a Year column (or a date) into Play axis ★. A play bar appears below the treemap, with the year in large type.
2. Click ▶: tiles grow, shrink and slide from one year to the next.
3. Format › Layout › Stable layout while playing (on by default) keeps each tile in its place: nothing jumps, you can follow a category with your eyes.
4. Format › Playback ★: duration of a frame, loop, play automatically on opening, frame shown on opening (The first one for a report that opens on 2023).

Result: a smooth animation; the Space key starts or stops playback when the bar has the focus, the arrows move from one year to the next. "Reduce motion" (Format › Style › Animations) jumps without transitions.

How do I build a stock map: up in green, down in red ★

1. Drag the current value into Values (for example Revenue 2025) and the comparison value into Comparison (for example Revenue 2024: CALCULATE ( [Revenue], Sales[Year] = "2024" )).
2. Coloring: Stock map: change (Comparison field) ★.
3. The color range sets itself: with Automatic change range (on), the strongest color matches a round change reached by 90% of the tiles. To fix it, turn it off and set Change for the strongest color (%): 3 for stock prices, 15 for annual revenue.
4. If a decrease is good news (costs, delays), turn on A decrease is favorable.

Result: each tile shows "▲ +12%" or "▼ −5%" below its value (Format › Data labels › Change ▲▼ (Comparison field)), the color goes from unfavorable to favorable through gray, and the tooltip gives the comparison value.

How do I color a stock map with another measure ★

The size of the tiles follows one measure (revenue, a market cap) and the color a change you already compute, for example revenue growth.

1. Keep Revenue 2025 in Values and empty the Comparison ★ field.
2. Drop the change measure in Color (measure), for example Growth = DIVIDE ( [Revenue 2025] - [Revenue 2024], [Revenue 2024] ) with a percentage format.
3. Format › Data colors › Coloring: Stock map: change (Comparison field) ★, then Change read from: Color field (change already computed) (the Automatic choice does it too when the Comparison field is empty).

Result: the area follows revenue, the color follows growth, with a ±x% legend. A measure with a percentage format or between -1.5 and 1.5 is read as a fraction (0.034 = 3.4%); a measure in points (3.4) is read as 3.4%.

How do I keep the 10 largest products of each region ★

1. Drag Region then Product into Category (groups).
2. Format › Layout › Top N and "Others": turn on Top N + "Others" ★, Tiles kept per group: 10.
3. Optional: "Others" label ("Other products").

Result: in each region, the 10 largest products and a hatched "Others" tile adding up the rest. Clicking "Others" selects all merged products; the tooltip names them.

How do I draw the treemap inside the map of France ★

1. Format › Layout › Tiling method: Voronoi (cells) ★.
2. Voronoi shape: Metropolitan France (★), or a free shape (Circle, Hexagon, Heart…).
3. With two levels, a legend names the groups (cells of the same group share a color and a thicker border).

Result: polygonal cells whose area stays proportional to the values (within 1%). Above 1,200 cells, the visual falls back to the squarified tiling and says so in edit mode.

How do I compare several stores side by side ★

1. Drag Store (or Channel) into Small multiples ★.
2. Format › Small multiples › Comparable areas across panels (on by default): each panel's area is proportional to its total.
3. Columns (0 = automatic) to force the grid.

How do I put a logo in each tile ★

1. Add a text column holding the image in base64 (data:image/png;base64,…): in Power Query, Binary.ToText ( [Content], BinaryEncoding.Base64 ) on a folder of images, then the prefix.
2. Drag this column into Image ★ (Power BI summarizes it as First).
3. Format › Images ★: Whole (logo) or Fill the tile (photo), size, opacity, round image.

Web addresses (https://…) are never loaded (Microsoft rule for certified visuals): a message explains it in edit mode. Power BI cuts a column text around 32,766 characters: for a heavier image, split it into 30,000-character chunks in Power Query (one row per chunk, with its number), then join them back with a measure dropped in Image ★:

Logo = CONCATENATEX ( Images, Images[Chunk], "", Images[Chunk index], ASC )   -- joins the chunks back in order