Keyboard shortcuts in Power BI Desktop

Keyboard shortcuts are helpful for moving around in Power BI reports using a keyboard. The tables in this article describe the shortcuts available in a Power BI report.

When using Power BI Desktop, you can press Shift + ? to show keyboard shortcuts, as shown in the following image.

Press Shift + ? in Power BI Desktop to show accessibility keyboard shortcuts

In addition to using these keyboard shortcuts in Power BI Desktop, these shortcuts work in the following experiences as well:

  • Q&A Explorer dialog
  • Getting Started dialog
  • File menu and About dialog
  • Warning bar
  • File Restore dialog
  • Frowns dialog

In our continued effort to improve accessibility, the previous list of experiences also support screen readers and high contrast settings.

Frequently used shortcuts

To do this action Press
Move focus between sections Ctrl + F6
Move focus forward in section Tab
Move focus backward in section Shift + Tab
Select or clear selection of an object Enter or spacebar
Multi-select objects Ctrl + spacebar

On visual

To do this action Press
Move focus to visual menu Alt + Shift + F10
Show data Alt + Shift + F11
Enter a visual Ctrl + Right arrow
Enter a layer Enter
Exit a layer or visual Esc
Select or clear selection of a data point Enter or spacebar
Multi-select Ctrl + Enter or Ctrl + spacebar
Right-click
  • Windows keyboard: Windows context key + F10. The Windows context key is between the Left Alt key and the Left Arrow Key
  • Other keyboard: Shift + F10
Clear selection Ctrl + Shift + C
Show or hide tooltip Ctrl + H
Move a visual on the canvas (small moves)* Arrow keys (up, down, right, left)
Move a visual on the canvas (bigger moves)* Shift + arrow keys
Resize a visual* Arrow keys
Maintain aspect ratio* Shift + drag the resize handles
Group Visuals* Select visuals + Ctrl + G

* Must be in editing mode

Table and matrix navigation

To do this action Press
Move focus up / down one cell (across all cells in all areas) Up arrow key / Down arrow key
Move focus left / right one cell (across all cells in all areas) Left arrow key / Right arrow key

Pane navigation

To do this action Press
Multi-select Ctrl + spacebar
Collapse a single table Left arrow key
Expand a single table Right arrow key
Collapse all tables Alt + Shift + 1
Expand all tables Alt + Shift + 9
Open a context menu
  • Windows keyboard: Windows context key + F10. The Windows context key is between the Left Alt key and the Left Arrow Key
  • Other keyboard: Shift + F10

Slicer

To do this action Press
Interact with a slicer Ctrl + Right arrow key

Selection pane

To do this action Press
Activate selection pane F6
Move an object up in the layering Ctrl + Shift + F
Move an object down in the layering Ctrl + Shift + B
Hide / show (toggle) an object Ctrl + Shift + S

DAX editor

To do this action Press
Go to line number Ctrl + G
Move line up / down Alt + Up arrow key / Down arrow key
Copy line up / down Shift + Alt + Up arrow key / Down arrow key
Insert line below Shift + Enter
Insert line above Ctrl + Shift + Enter
Delete selected word Ctrl + Del
Delete all selected lines Ctrl + Shift + K
Jump to matching bracket Ctrl + Shift + \
Jump to start of a line of code Ctrl + Home
Jump to the end of a line of code Ctrl + End
Indent line / Extend line into the margin Ctrl + ] / [
Insert cursor Alt + Click
Select current line Ctrl + I
Select all occurrences of current selection Ctrl + Shift + L
Select all occurrences of current word Ctrl + F2
Select next occurrences of current selection Ctrl + D
Select the line above Shift + Up arrow key
Select the line below Shift + Down arrow key
Enter multiple lines of code up / down Ctrl + Alt + Up arrow key / Down arrow key
Comment a line Ctrl + / or Ctrl + K + C
Uncomment a line Ctrl + / or Ctrl + K + U
Increase font size Ctrl + + Or Scroll Up
Decrease font size Ctrl + - Or Scroll Down

Enter data

To do this action Press
Exit editable grid Ctrl + Tab

Considerations and limitations

There are a few known issues and limitations with the accessibility features. Descriptions of those issues and limitations are in the following list:

  • When using screen readers with Power BI Desktop, you'll have the best experience if you open your screen reader before opening any files in Power BI Desktop.
  • If you're using Narrator, there are some limitations around navigating Show data as an HTML table.

Next steps

The collection of articles for Power BI accessibility are the following:

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