Rules / Performance

Reduce the number of visible visuals on the page

warning REDUCE_VISUALS_ON_PAGE · ported · report layer · scope: Page

What it checks

Pages with more visuals than the threshold, 20 by default, counting every visual except shapes, slicers, buttons, text boxes, and a visual hidden by isHidden in its own visual.json.

Each finding names the page, as Page "Overview", and its detail gives the count, as 23 visuals, more than 20.

Example

The example lowers the threshold to 2 so that it stays short; the default is 20.

pbiplint.config.json

{
  "rules": {
    "REDUCE_VISUALS_ON_PAGE": { "max": 2 }
  }
}

Fires the rule

{
  "definition/pages/p1/visuals/3d9c80144abca427957c/visual.json": {
    "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/fabric/item/report/definition/visualContainer/2.8.0/schema.json",
    "name": "3d9c80144abca427957c",
    "position": { "x": 40, "y": 40, "z": 1000, "height": 105, "width": 150, "tabOrder": 1000 },
    "visual": {
      "visualType": "cardVisual",
      "query": {
        "queryState": {
          "Data": {
            "projections": [
              {
                "field": { "Measure": { "Expression": { "SourceRef": { "Entity": "Sales" } }, "Property": "Total Sales" } },
                "queryRef": "Sales.Total Sales"
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "definition/pages/p1/visuals/81e55f42a5a0e75a0007/visual.json": {
    "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/fabric/item/report/definition/visualContainer/2.8.0/schema.json",
    "name": "81e55f42a5a0e75a0007",
    "position": { "x": 210, "y": 40, "z": 2000, "height": 105, "width": 150, "tabOrder": 2000 },
    "visual": {
      "visualType": "cardVisual",
      "query": {
        "queryState": {
          "Data": {
            "projections": [
              {
                "field": { "Measure": { "Expression": { "SourceRef": { "Entity": "Sales" } }, "Property": "Total Quantity" } },
                "queryRef": "Sales.Total Quantity"
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "definition/pages/p1/visuals/21c6fe685817de69aa28/visual.json": {
    "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/fabric/item/report/definition/visualContainer/2.8.0/schema.json",
    "name": "21c6fe685817de69aa28",
    "position": { "x": 380, "y": 40, "z": 3000, "height": 105, "width": 150, "tabOrder": 3000 },
    "visual": {
      "visualType": "cardVisual",
      "query": {
        "queryState": {
          "Data": {
            "projections": [
              {
                "field": { "Measure": { "Expression": { "SourceRef": { "Entity": "Sales" } }, "Property": "Total Margin" } },
                "queryRef": "Sales.Total Margin"
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

After the fix

{
  "definition/pages/p1/visuals/3d9c80144abca427957c/visual.json": {
    "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/fabric/item/report/definition/visualContainer/2.8.0/schema.json",
    "name": "3d9c80144abca427957c",
    "position": { "x": 40, "y": 40, "z": 1000, "height": 105, "width": 320, "tabOrder": 1000 },
    "visual": {
      "visualType": "cardVisual",
      "query": {
        "queryState": {
          "Data": {
            "projections": [
              {
                "field": { "Measure": { "Expression": { "SourceRef": { "Entity": "Sales" } }, "Property": "Total Sales" } },
                "queryRef": "Sales.Total Sales"
              },
              {
                "field": { "Measure": { "Expression": { "SourceRef": { "Entity": "Sales" } }, "Property": "Total Quantity" } },
                "queryRef": "Sales.Total Quantity"
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "definition/pages/p1/visuals/21c6fe685817de69aa28/visual.json": {
    "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/fabric/item/report/definition/visualContainer/2.8.0/schema.json",
    "name": "21c6fe685817de69aa28",
    "position": { "x": 380, "y": 40, "z": 3000, "height": 105, "width": 150, "tabOrder": 3000 },
    "visual": {
      "visualType": "cardVisual",
      "query": {
        "queryState": {
          "Data": {
            "projections": [
              {
                "field": { "Measure": { "Expression": { "SourceRef": { "Entity": "Sales" } }, "Property": "Total Margin" } },
                "queryRef": "Sales.Total Margin"
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The fix moves Total Quantity into the first card, which now shows two values, and deletes the card that held it.

Why it matters

Every visual that shows data sends its own query when the page opens, and again whenever a reader changes a slicer, a filter, or a selection that cross-filters it. Only so many of those queries run at once, so on a crowded page they wait their turn, the page fills in piece by piece, and the slowest visual decides when the reader can start. A crowded page is also harder to read: with twenty or more visuals competing for attention, the one the page was built around is easy to miss.

How to fix it

Decide what the page is for and move the rest somewhere a reader goes on purpose. Detail about one item belongs on a drillthrough page, and context for a single data point on a report page tooltip; neither runs a query until a reader asks for it. Cards that each show one measure can become one card visual that shows them all: in Power BI Desktop, drag the other measures into the first card's Values well in the Visualizations pane and delete the cards they came from. Delete visuals that repeat what another visual on the page already shows. In the files, each visual is its own folder under the page's visuals folder, and deleting a visual in Desktop removes that folder.

When to ignore it

A page of light visuals can carry more than the default without keeping anyone waiting: on an Import model, a grid of cards that each read one measure can open faster than a page with four large matrices. Open the page with Performance Analyzer in Power BI Desktop (on the Optimize ribbon, then Start recording and Refresh visuals). If every visual comes back quickly and readers still find what the page is about, the count is not the problem on that page.

To ignore this rule on one page, add { "name": "pbiplint.ignore", "value": "REDUCE_VISUALS_ON_PAGE" } to the annotations array of its page.json. Power BI Desktop keeps the annotation. To turn the rule off for a whole project, set "REDUCE_VISUALS_ON_PAGE": "off" under rules in pbiplint.config.json.

Quirks

A visual with isHidden of its own is not counted, and neither are shapes, slicers, buttons, and text boxes, which is how the source counts. A visual hidden only through its group is counted, as the source counts it. A slicer runs a query of its own, so a page crowded with slicers can be slow without being reported.
The exclusions go by visual type, so only a slicer of the type slicer is left out. The newer list slicer and button slicer are written as listSlicer and advancedSlicerVisual, and they are counted.
A visual group counts as one visual, and each visual inside it counts as well. Each is judged by its own isHidden, so a hidden group is not counted, while the visuals in it are unless they carry isHidden themselves.
Every page is checked, hidden tooltip and drillthrough pages included.

REDUCE_OBJECTS_WITHIN_VISUALS is the same budget one level down: folding several visuals into one clears this finding and can push the visual that remains over that rule's limit.
REDUCE_PAGES pulls the other way: moving visuals onto a new page clears this finding and adds to that rule's count.

Links

Ported from PBI Inspector's base rules by Nat Van Gulck.

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