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Flexa Tables

Features that turn a table into a workspace

Flexa Tables brings the flexibility of a spreadsheet to a published Power BI report. Readers pivot, compare, calculate and format the data themselves — no Power BI Desktop, no DAX, no new report request.

Updated Sep 14, 202617 features across 4 areas New here? Start with Get Started →
Group 1

Build the table

Everything a report consumer needs to shape data without leaving the report page.

Pivot with drag & drop

Reshape the table from the report itself — no Power BI Desktop, no DAX.

Footer › PivotCore

The Pivot panel holds the Field List and four drop zones. Drag a field into a zone and the table rebuilds instantly. Give viewers the Column Configurator and one report can answer many different questions.

What you can do

  • Rows — fields that build the rows; several fields create a hierarchy.
  • Columns — fields that build the columns; several fields create multi-tier headers.
  • Values — the numbers to aggregate; place as many as you need side by side.
  • Filters — narrow the whole table from a chip above the grid.
  • Search the Field List, reorder fields inside a zone, or remove them with one click.
Pivot — Column Configurator Demo
Pivot panel
The Field List and the four drop zones — Filters, Rows, Columns and Values.

Hierarchies, subtotals & grand total

Drill from the big picture down to detail inside a single table.

Automatic

Put more than one field into Rows or Columns and Flexa Tables builds a hierarchy: every branch expands and collapses on its own, each group carries its subtotal, and the grand total closes the table.

What you can do

  • Expand or collapse any branch with the arrow on the row.
  • Subtotals per level, recalculated against the active filters.
  • Multi-tier column headers when Columns holds more than one field.
  • Grand total can be relabelled or switched off in the format pane.
Row hierarchy
Region › City expanded — subtotal per region, grand total at the bottom.
Multi-tier columns
Two fields in Columns produce a two-tier header.

Matrix and Tables modes

One visual covers both the summarised view and the record-level view.

Top-left toggle

Matrix is the pivot view with hierarchies and totals. Tables is a flat, detail view where each selected field becomes a column — tuned to stay smooth across tens of thousands of rows.

What you can do

  • Switch modes from the toggle in the top-left corner; each mode keeps its own setup.
  • In Tables mode, tick several fields and press “Move to values” to add them at once.
  • Reorder columns by dragging the chips in the Values zone.
  • The real row count is always shown in the bottom-left corner.
Tables mode
Tables mode — one column per field, total row at the bottom.

Sorting & inline filtering

Narrow and order the data straight from the column headers.

Column header

Every header carries a sort control and a funnel. Filters apply as you type, several columns can be filtered at once, and both survive a page switch.

What you can do

  • Click a header to sort ascending, click again for descending — the total row stays pinned at the bottom.
  • Text columns: Is, Is not, Contains, Starts with, Does not contain, Does not start with. Separate several values with a comma.
  • Value columns: Equals, Not equal, Less than, Less than and equal, Greater than, Greater than and equal. Separate several values with a semicolon.
  • The funnel of an active column changes colour so readers know the table is filtered.
Sorting
Sorted by a value column — the total row never moves.
Text operators
Operators offered for a text column.
Number operators
The same funnel on a value column offers numeric operators.
Group 2

Analyse

The Analytics panel adds comparison, custom maths and alternative totals — all without touching the data model.

Variance by category

Compare one group against one or many others.

Analytics › Variance

Drag a categorical field — brand, region, product — into “Compared By”. The table gains a Base column, a Measured column and a ΔVar column. Pick several measured groups and each one gets its own difference column.

How to set it up

  1. 1Merge the tables you want to compare into a single table, then build a standard pivot with Rows, Columns and Values.
  2. 2Open Analytics › Variance and drag the comparison field from the Field List onto “Compared By”.
  3. 3Tick the calculations you want under “Select Calculations” — ΔVar is on by default, ΔVar % and Ratio are off until you ask for them.
  4. 4Close the panel and use Base Field / Measured Fields above the grid to change what is compared.

What you can do

  • ΔVar % reads the difference as a share of the base group; Ratio is Measured ÷ Base.
  • Difference columns sort, filter, format and export like any other column.
Category variance Demo
Base vs Measured
Base, Measured, ΔVar and ΔVar % — negative differences stand out in red.

Variance by date

Put two periods side by side and read the movement.

Analytics › Variance

Drop a date field into “Compared By” and the table switches to a period comparison: Prev and Cur hold the two periods, and ΔVar reports the movement between them. The same two extra calculations a category comparison offers — ΔVar % and Ratio — are available here as well, off until you tick them. Change the two periods from the toolbar above the grid at any time.

How to set it up

  1. 1Build a standard table with Rows, Columns and Values.
  2. 2Drag a date field into the Column Configurator — use the real date field, not the Date Hierarchy.
  3. 3Open Analytics › Variance and drag that date field onto “Compared By”.
  4. 4Tick the calculations you want under “Select Calculations” — ΔVar is on by default, ΔVar % and Ratio are off until you ask for them.

What you can do

  • ΔVar % reads the movement as a share of the previous period; Ratio is Cur ÷ Prev.
  • Prev and Cur stay on the grid whatever you tick — switching every calculation off still leaves the two periods side by side.
Date variance Demo

Simulations — calculated columns & rows

Write your own formula on top of the table: what-if, plan versus actual, derived KPIs.

Analytics › Simulations

Build an expression by dragging field chips into the editor and typing the operators around them — so a field name can never be misspelt. Three scopes decide what the formula produces.

What you can do

  • Values — a new value column next to the existing ones, e.g. Var = Actual PnL − Plan PnL.
  • Columns — a single column that merges columns already on the grid, e.g. Adidas + Apple.
  • Rows — a new row inserted before the total row and counted into the grand total, e.g. Cap + Shirt.
  • Arithmetic +, −, ×, ÷ and parentheses; aggregate helpers SUM(field) and AVERAGE(field).
  • Advanced mode adds a condition: IF <field> <operator> <value> THEN … ELSE …
  • Chain formulas — a formula can consume the result of an earlier one. Edit with the pencil icon in the Field List.
Simulations Demo
One editor, every scope — a value column, a column that merges two brands, a row that lands before the total, then the same editor in Advanced mode with an IF / THEN / ELSE condition.

Quick Calculations

Turn a value column into a share, a running total, a rank or a movement against a baseline — picked per column, with no second measure in the model.

Analytics › Quick Calculations

The tab that Show Values As grew into. Its four percentage modes are still here and still behave exactly as they did — Running Total, Rank and Diff From join them, so one value column can be an amount, a share, a cumulative curve or a ranking without a second measure in the model.

Each value column has its own selector, so one table can show an amount in one column and a contribution percentage in the next. Every calculation reads the table the way you see it: down a group of sibling rows, or along the columns of a row, after the active filters.

A calculation is named for the direction it runs in — ↓ Down works its way down the rows, → Across works along the columns — and only the directions your layout can support are offered.

How to set it up

  1. 1Build a table with Rows, Columns and at least one value.
  2. 2Open Analytics › Quick Calculations — one line per value column and per formula column.
  3. 3Pick the calculation from the selector at the right-hand end of the line.
  4. 4Set the choices that calculation brings with it: Rank adds a method and a direction, Diff From adds a baseline, and a percentage adds whether to print the ratio alone or the amount beside it. They fill in to the left of the mode, so a Rank column ends up with three selectors on its line.

What you can do

  • % of Grand Total, % of Row Total →, % of Column Total ↓ and % of Parent Row ↓ — each cell as a share of the total in that direction. % of Grand Total needs both rows and columns; % of Parent Row ↓ needs a row hierarchy of at least two fields.
  • Running Total ↓ Down / → Across — a cumulative sum. A blank carries the running figure forward rather than breaking the curve, so the last row of each group arrives at that group’s whole total.
  • Rank ↓ Down / → Across — ordered Largest → Smallest by default, or Smallest → Largest. A method decides what a tie does: Competition gives 1, 1, 3, 3 — the way Excel RANK and DAX RANKX do it — while Dense gives 1, 1, 2, 2 and leaves no gap, and Unique gives 1, 2, 3, 4, breaking the tie so no two rows share a place.
  • Diff From ↓ Down / → Across — the movement against a baseline, in four shapes: From Previous, % From Previous, From First and % From First. A gain carries an explicit +, and the sign colours the cell.
  • Value + Percent — every percentage mode, and the % From Previous and % From First shapes of Diff From, can print the amount beside the ratio instead of the ratio alone.
  • Only the calculations that fit the current layout are offered: a ↓ Down calculation needs a field in Rows, a → Across one needs a field in Columns, and a formula row keeps the rows-direction subset.
  • The header filter and the Excel export both read the calculated number rather than the measure underneath it. Filtering keeps the rows whose printed number matches — the survivors are not re-ranked or re-accumulated, so what you filtered on is still what you see.
  • In a Diff From column the first row of each group is its own baseline, so it reports no change ($0) rather than a blank — while a relative change measured against a zero baseline is left blank instead of infinity.
  • Running Total and Diff From follow the displayed sort order, so re-sorting the table re-accumulates them; a Rank does not move when you re-sort.

Good to know — Only the percentage modes fill in the grand-total row. Running Total, Rank and Diff From leave it empty: a running total has already reached the full figure in the last row of the table, and a rank or a difference has nothing to rank or compare the total against.

Quick Calculations Demo
One value column, every calculation in turn — share of the grand total as value + percent, a running total, then a rank across two tied brands answered three ways by Dense, Unique and Competition, and finally the change against the previous row.
Calculation selector
One line per value column. The list opens on every calculation the current layout supports.
Value + Percent
% of Grand Total, printed as Value + Percent — the amount keeps its place beside the share.
Running Total
Running Total ↓ Down — each city adds the ones above it, and Tampa arrives at the column total.
Rank
Rank ↓ Down — every column ranked on its own, largest to smallest.
Rank method
A Rank line carries three selectors — method, direction, and the calculation itself — filling in to the left.
Diff From
Diff From ↓ Down / From Previous — the first row is its own baseline at $0, and the sign colours everything after it.

Summary Type

Decide how the total row is calculated, column by column.

Analytics › Summary Type

The total row defaults to a sum. Change it per column to Average, Min or Max — so revenue can keep adding up while unit price shows an average on the same row.

Good to know — Only the grand total changes. Group subtotals keep summing, so the structure of the table stays consistent.

Summary Type
One selector per value column.
Group 3

Visualise

Bring the reader’s eye to the number that matters and keep the table on brand.

Conditional formatting

Four styles — thresholds, colour scale, icons and automatic anomaly detection.

Footer › ConditionalNeeds a value

Click Conditional to open the panel. The first selector picks the style, the second picks the column the rule is measured against. Use the “+” button to add a tab and format each value column separately.

What you can do

  • Rules — a lower and an upper bound per rule with your own colour. Leave one end blank for “no limit”, and stack several rules to paint high and low bands differently.
  • Gradient — a colour scale by magnitude; anchor the ends automatically or to fixed numbers so reports stay comparable between periods.
  • Icon Set — 3 Arrows, 3 Traffic Lights, 3 Flags, 3 Symbols or 3 Diamonds across three tiers; hide the number to leave only the signal.
  • Anomaly — flags outliers for you, using either Z-Score (multiples of the standard deviation, default 2) or IQR (multiples of the interquartile range, default 1.5).

Good to know — The total row is never painted, and on a hierarchy only leaf rows are coloured — subtotals stay clean.

Conditional formatting Demo
Icon Set
3 Arrows — green, amber and red by tier.
Anomaly detection
Anomaly detection marks the outliers without you setting a threshold.

Sparkline & in-cell chart

Trend and magnitude next to the numbers, not on a second visual.

Footer › Sparkline / Chart

Turn Sparkline on and every row — and every value column header — gets an icon that opens a trend chart. Hovering a point shows exactly the figure printed in the grid, and on a hierarchy you can step from group level down to detail.

When variance is active the button becomes Chart: bars are drawn straight inside the difference column, positive and negative on opposite sides, with the value still readable.

What you can do

  • Six sparkline styles, line by default; switch style inside the chart window.
  • Column sparklines skip the total row so the scale stays meaningful.
  • In-cell variance chart offers Bar, Pin and Size Dot — one style for the whole grid, or a style set on the difference column on its own.
In-cell chart Demo
Sparkline
The row trend — values match the grid exactly.

In-cell charts for every difference column

The variance bar stops being a ΔVar privilege — ΔVar % and Ratio draw one too, each switched on its own.

Footer › ChartNeeds variance

The Chart panel described above only ever drew its bar in the ΔVar column. Every difference column can draw one — ΔVar, ΔVar % and Ratio — and the panel gains a row of chips, one per calculation, that decide which of them is drawn.

A Ratio bar diverges around parity instead of zero: 1.00 is the neutral point, so a ratio of 0.90 leans to the same side as a negative ΔVar rather than reading as a gain. Each column is scaled on its own numbers, so a percentage column is not flattened by the amounts sitting next to it.

What you can do

  • Switch Show Chart on, then use one chip per calculation — a chip only appears for a calculation that actually has a column on the grid.
  • All columns applies one style to everything; Only column picks Bar, Pin or Size Dot per difference column.
  • Turning a chip off removes those bars and takes that column out of the Only column list — the numbers themselves never change.
  • Every chip starts on. A report that already showed ΔVar % or Ratio columns therefore gains a bar on them; one left at the default ΔVar alone looks exactly as it did, and has only the one chip to show for it.
Chart per calculation Demo
Bars on all three difference columns, each calculation switched from its own chip, then a chart style chosen column by column.

Custom Color

Match the table to your reporting standards.

Format visual

Personalise the colours of the grid: header background and text, a distinct treatment for the total row, horizontal and vertical grid lines, and alternating row shading that makes long tables easier to scan.

Custom Color Demo

Custom Value

Number formatting that fits the audience.

Format visual

Set the display unit (None, Thousand, Million, Billion, Trillion), decimal places from 0 to 4, the thousands separator, a currency format by locale, and how positive and negative numbers are written.

Custom Value Demo
Group 4

Operate

Day-to-day conveniences that keep a report tidy and get the numbers out again.

Manage columns & rows

Show, hide and reorder without touching the data setup.

Footer › Manage

The Manage panel has two tabs. Columns lists every column on the grid with an eye icon to hide or show it and a handle to drag it into place — hidden columns keep their data, so the row count never changes. Rows lets you reorder groups and expand a parent to arrange its children.

What you can do

  • The row-label column is locked so the table never loses its reading axis.
  • On Columns, a multi-tier parent expands to reveal its members, and hiding the parent hides the whole group with it.
  • On Rows, a parent expands the same way but carries no eye — rows are reordered, never hidden. Reordering a child label applies to that label under every parent, keeping groups consistent.
  • Formula columns and rows appear here too — and hidden columns are left out of the Excel export.
Manage Demo
Both tabs: the eye hides a column and the handle reorders it, then Rows moves a whole group and opens it to reach its members.

Layouts

Up to five saved report setups inside a single visual.

Top-left › Layouts

A Layout is a complete snapshot: pivot structure, formulas, conditional formatting, variance, percentage display, total type, hidden columns, filters, sort order, sparkline settings and even the Matrix / Tables mode.

What you can do

  • Create a layout from the current state, duplicate it to experiment, rename or delete it.
  • Up to five layouts per visual, with at least one always kept.
  • Every change is saved automatically — there is no Save button to forget.
  • Switching applies the snapshot almost instantly, even across display modes.

Good to know — Instead of stacking four or five tables on one page, ship a single table with a layout switcher — the page stays light and the reader stays oriented.

Layouts menu
Saved layouts with rename, duplicate and delete actions.

Export to Excel

What you see is what you paste.

Footer › Export data

Copy to excel puts the table on the clipboard for a direct paste into Excel or Google Sheets, multi-tier headers included. Download .xlsx produces a file that also carries the conditional formatting colours.

What you can do

  • Hidden columns stay out; active filters, sort order and formula columns are respected.
  • Percentage display, total type and number formatting come across exactly as shown.
  • Collapsed groups still export their detail rows, and large tables export in full — not just the part scrolled into view.
  • Select rows first to copy only that selection; oversized copies are reported rather than silently truncated.
Export data
Two ways out: clipboard copy, or a formatted .xlsx file.

Need more help?

Have a question about a feature or a report you are building? Our team answers documentation and product questions directly.

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