Friday, August 29, 2025

Power BI Report and Semantic Model Naming - Snack 11


While thinking about what would be next for this series, I went to access the report we have been working on and found the proper topic before even opening the report.

If you have been following along and using the same sample dataset, you might have noticed a small inconsistency in naming between the Report and the Semantic Model.  This is captured in the screen shot above.  

Yours may or may not have this issue.  If it doesn't, aren't you lucky!?

I am not entirely certain what happened here, and it is mostly irrelevant.  

Usually, whenever you create/publish to the Power BI service, the name used for the report will be exactly the same as the Semantic Model.  For whatever reason, it did not this time.

This kind of bothers me.  I prefer that both names match so that they remained paired up and intend to rename both of them to "Financial Sample."

This can be done within the service and not impact anything.  They will remain connected.

How do we do that?

Access "My workspace," and ...

For the Report,

    1. Hover over the row with the report name
      1. A ". . ." menu appears next to the report name.
    2. Click the " . . . " menu
    3. Choose settings
      1. Here you can choose to
        1. Name / Rename the Report
        2. Give the Report a Description
        3. Add Contact Information
        4. Choose an Endorsement for the report
        5. Multiple other useful settings
    4. Rename the Report
    5. Save
And for the Semantic Model,
    1. Hover over the name of the Semantic Model
      1. A ". . ." menu appears next to the report name.
    2. Click the " . . . " menu
    3. Choose "Rename"
    4. Rename your Dataset name aka Semantic Model.
    5. Save

That is really all there is to it.  To me, everything looks much cleaner now and my mind immediately recognizes that these two are connected.  I do not have to waste any though on that.  Hopefully, it helps you too.

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Planning for the Yellow Stone - Phase 2

The next phase in planning for the journey across the western plains involved identifying exactly where we were going to stay, as well as  what might be worth investigating along the way.

Most of where to stay had been decided in the previous, based on availability of lodging and reviews of available lodging.  It was time to narrow things though.

Indeed, the stay in Lincoln had been driven by the alternatives.  Anywhere else within 3-5 hours of home along our route proved wholly unacceptable.  The reviews of establishments along I-80 ranged from horrible to down right frightening, leaving one to wonder if the area were being terrorized by desperados.  It was Lincoln who seemed the only safe haven.  We will confirm that in the post mortem.

The interstate hotel terrorists final destination might as well be Casper.  It seemed to host the same issue with much of the establishments.  We were lucky enough to find a basement apartment Air BnB.  A little more luck and we will survive the night long enough to make a break for Yellowstone the following morning.

image borrowed from YellowstoneParkLodges

The middle of Yellowstone seemed to be the best choice all around for those arrangements.  Rates at Canyon Lodge & Cabins seemed reasonable enough for base camp, and we could not think of a better way to become acquainted with the park, especially if we end up snow bound.

Locating a place more specific than the general locale turned out a much easier exercise for the journey homeward.  Our estimates indicated that adequate overnight facilities were very likely facilitated by a lack of proximity to any highly traveled roadway, in particular the interstate system.

In the midst of all of this decision making was going on, I also began scanning the route for various points of interest.  Actually, this had been happening all along, I just focused on it a bit more.

All of the routing had already been plugged into MyMaps.Google.com.  Adding sights to see was a natural evolution for this situation. 

Locating interesting objects along the way is more awkward and time-consuming than it should be these days. I am not sure who to hate for that, excepting maybe mobile device design trends and an inability of software makers to fully understand user needs.

image borrowed from NewEgg

The best trip planning software Microsoft could produce still trumps anything available now.  "Streets and Trips" could do all of this in a flash.  One could plan a route more easily, get relatively accurate estimates of travel time and costs, customizable based on your specifications, as well as easily identify any sort of category within a certain distance of the route.   For the life of me, I will never understand why such useful software is abandoned.  Nothing even comes close these days.

Lacking that most useful tool, the only option is manual review, which consists of zooming down to whatever scale enables a view of about a couple of miles or so of the route, then simply scanning the route for anything nearby. It does give one a sense of the proximity of more serious points of interest, like somewhere to eat.  That is not something that can really be planned.  It is nice to know available options at end points though.

The result of all of this maneuvering appears in the map below.  When the post mortem is conducted, the actual detailed maps will be shared along.


The only thing to plan now is the visit inside Yellowstone itself.  Given the number of layers already present in the little mapping application, a special map will need dedicated to the next phase.

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Simple File Restore in SharePoint or Teams or OneDrive



Ever saved over the top of a file and need to get back to that previous version?

You could "undo," if you still have the file open, but if you made a bunch of changes, you might never get back to that original file state.

Fortunately, it is really simple in SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive.

Access the folder in whichever of those places has the file.
  1. Right-Click on the file you want to restore.
  2. Select "Version History."
  3. On the version you want to restoreClick the " . . . "
  4. Choose "Restore"
  5. Done! That Fast. That Simple.

Friday, August 15, 2025

Power BI Report Table Visual Style - Snack 10



Hopefully, you got things all sorted out in that last session.

Yes. Pun intended.  

For this tenth edition, let's try and make that table visual look a bit easier on the eyes.

I do not care too much about table looks until well into the design.  We have reached a bit of a milestone though. 

Go ahead and jump right into "Edit" mode with your report and select your table visual.

Remember that when the visual is selected, all of the columns chosen for that visual will appear within the Visualizations pane.

Looking at top of that pane, there should be 3 icons.  The first is selected by default.  

Hover over the second icon and it says, "Format your visual."

Click it!

A list of options appears, the first of which is "Style presets"

Click the little ">" appearing next to that and a drop-down appears for "Style." 

Try them all out and see which one brings you the greatest satisfaction.

I tend to lean on "Alternative rows" for everything. 

After you decide on one that makes you happy, notice the choice underneath.

"Reset to default" will restore all changes for "Style presets" back to their original state.

Each of the choices in this arena have that option, which can be very helpful at times, if you just want to start over with one piece of the formatting.

Play with all of the options in this panel, if you like.  We are not going to cover them just now.  In the interest of keeping you as captivated as humanly possible, it will better deal with them, when we actually need them.

That is all we have for this week.  Happy formatting!

Thursday, August 14, 2025

Planning for the Yellow Stone - Phase 1


Planning for the Yellowstone adventure is well underway, having kicked off in early May.  Many would say that is probably not enough time to put anything together.  We have worked with shorter timelines though.  In addition, we are not exactly planning to travel during high season, which offers a few advantages, the most important being population levels.  Crowds are not what we look for in an escape from the grind.  It might have been at one time, but is no longer.  Besides, one needs an unobstructed view of other tourists making poor choices.

Once the decision was made that Yellowstone was undoubtedly on the horizon, I quickly settled into my initial planning phases.  How long will the journey take?  Where are we going to stay?  How long are we going to stay?  These three points decide everything.


A quick exercise in mapping routes uncovered that we were facing an 18-hour trip across the pavement. However, if we find the eastern entrance closed due to snow, it could be as much as 24 hours; ironically, by way of the north entrance.  

Much of the trip up to the site will be along I-80.  It is not ideal or particularly desirable, but necessary to ensure time savings and keeping attention focused on the primary destination.  There would be time to dawdle along and review some of those points of interest on our return.

Two days to get there did not seem too bad, overnighting in Casper before heading into the Park.  Three days to return seemed reasonable, enabling three full days in Yellowstone.  That seemed simple enough, so we booked the Yellowstone portion, as everything advised that the earlier this happened, the better.

We set about reviewing the return route, considering what we might want to have a look at on the way back.  There were a few things that we had not considered initially.  It would be colder in that region.  Many things would be closed.  That left a lot of points of interest along the way that we had already discovered.

In the meantime, somewhere along the way, my dear comrade concluded that Devil's Tower would be something we must see on the return trip.  There had not been time for it on our previous visit to the Black Hills and we would be in the area after all.

While it is in the same state, and only inches away on the printed map, I sincerely struggled with the perception of being "in the area."  Some things are not worth arguing though, particularly if it means riding home with that disappointment lingering in the vehicle like a plague.

Mapping times and distances over and over again, the return route was as awkward as it could be, felt a little more rushed than it should be, and included much more interstate time than either of us cared to consider either interesting or exciting.


Yellowstone to Rapid City is about 7.5 hours, leaving just enough time to wave at Devil's Tower as we went by.  Heading to Sioux Falls from there offered up the great expanse of prairie across South Dakota, with very little to interest the eye, excepting the Badlands.  

This was about the time I began to truly recognize the scope of this return trip.  It would take much more specific and upfront planning than the rest of the journey did.

We talked around and around on how best to configure this return trip, while continuing to ignore destinations already encountered during previous expeditions.  There was almost no way around it, until we began to consider our timing.

Long ago, we learned that 5 hours is just about the perfect amount of time to travel on the road.  It leaves space to do a few things, as well as stumble upon an array of other odds and ends.  Additionally, it enables time for a decent breakfast on the morning of departure and arrival at a destination early enough to revel in a hearty celebratory meal and perhaps stroll around town, followed by a solid eight hours of sleep, prior to rinsing and repeating the next day.

Placing all of that into the equation related to a strong desire for a more leisurely return to the homestead by abandoning and ignoring the interstate system, we concluded that we would need a fourth day and it was highly probable that Nebraska would likely be involved.

Routing remained difficult, though only momentarily.  New interesting destinations suddenly unfolded.


In the end, we decided that we would treat the departure from Yellowstone, much as we treated the arrival.  Buffalo would be the first overnight.  We would depart there for Devil's Tower and a night in Custer in South Dakota.  Turning south, we intended to cross the Great Sand Hills of Nebraska to arrive in the bustling metropolis of Broken Bow for one last night.  Home will greet us the next day.

With that settled, further consideration of the journey out to Yellowstone led to deciding upon leaving Friday afternoon and overnighting in Lincoln, NE.  That would shave 3 hours off the first day on the road. enabling a slightly more relaxed trip.

In the next phase, we will get a handle on where we stay in the spots and what we are going to do along the way.

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

artificial intelligence fail


This pretty much says it all.  I saw this little story last year, I think.  The only thing that came to mind was "No Joke!  That's it!"

We do not want AI to do the stuff we actually like doing.  We want AI to take over all the mundane nonsense.  Build us a useful robot.

Even then, I think I would rather just do it myself.

Friday, August 8, 2025

Power BI Report Sorting - Snack 9

Welcome back to snack time!  This one will be a little lighter than the past several.   Today, we are just going to do a little sorting.

Let's get back to our report.  Remember that you have it stored in "My Workspace."

Looking at our table, we probably want that sorted differently, or maybe we don't.

Sometimes we have the data just as we want it and prefer to leave it to the user to do the sorting.

Hovering the column names in the Table visualization, a little black arrow appears beneath the column name.  It points in the direction that data is currently sorted.

  • Click on a column to sort that column.
  • Click it again to sort the other way.
  • Shift-Click to include another column in the sorting. 
    • This sort the first column chosen, then the second column.
  • Shift-Click the second column again to sort that second column in the other direction.
  • Shift-Click to include a third, fourth, or fifth column.

None of this will remain this way.  The default view dictates otherwise.

In order to establish the default sort on this visualization, you will need to access "Edit" mode, sort the visualization as you would prefer it to display using the methods above, then "Save."  Your chosen sort will be the default display.

Another option, if you only one column sort is required, choose the ". . ." menu at the top right of the visual, then choose "Sort by," then the field you want to sort on.

Notice that above "Sort by" is "Sort Ascending" and "Sort Descending."

That is all for today!  Happy Sorting!

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Google Photos tries to Cheat Users



Google is playing tricks with their app, very likely in an effort to force users to buy more storage. 

When Google reversed their decision to offer unlimited storage back in June of 2021 ,many users left the platform.  They migrated to destinations they were already using, or to other platforms that simply continued to offer unlimited storage.

Google did offer users the ability to save storage space, using a setting within the app called "Storage Saver," which compressed photos and videos slightly.  Many kept using Google Photos leveraging this option and it worked great.

An update to the app on May 25, 2025 changed that setting.  This was confirmed with several users.  Of course, everyone had a slightly different date.  That was the date that everything began to backup at "Original Quality," using more storage than it should have been.

This sure feels like "as designed."  Folks are finding different solutions and backing away from the "The Cloud."  What better way to force people to make a choice than to tamper with their settings?

If you have fallen victim to this scam, you will need to adjust the settings within the App on your device.

Be aware that you will need to do this for every app on every device that you backup photos from.  If you use Desktop on your computer, you will need to do it there (and in every browser you use to backup).

Saturday, August 2, 2025

Tao Verse 8

 


One who lives in accordance with nature does not go against the way of things.

Friday, August 1, 2025

Power BI Report Theme Change - Snack 8


Last time we visited, we addressed the formatting of the Date column.  

It got a little ugly, but hopefully everything worked out for you.

Getting back to My Workspace in Power BI, let's see what else we need to do.

Go ahead an open your report; again, mine is called "FinancialSample."

There are multiple things that stand out about the data.  However, the table visual itself does not seem to stand out too well.  It is difficult to discern where that visual begins and where it ends.  

Let's fix that!

The more that you use Power BI, the more you will find that it is extremely helpful to know exactly where those visualization boundaries are.

Viewing your report in My Workspace in Power BI, 

  1. Choose "Edit" from the top menu
  2. In Edit mode,
    1. Choose View
    2. Choose Theme
      1. A window should appear with some rather colorful themes.
      2. I know you really want to choose your own, but for these demo purposes, 
    3. Find the one with the blue background.
      1. If you hover over that one, it should say "Tidal"
        1. I use this one (Tidal) exclusively, because it matches organizational colors almost perfectly.
      2. Click "Tidal"
        1. The table appears over a blue background now.
        2. Also, the boundaries for your table, as well as the handles that enable resizing it should also be more apparent.
          1. This just makes everything a lot simpler.
  3. In the top left of the screen,
    1. Choose File
    2. Choose Save
That is all we have for today.

Still hungry? 

If you really want to change the Theme to colors that better match your personality, repeat steps 1-3.

Should you choose one with a white background, I highly recommend adjusting the background color, so you see visual boundaries better.  You can always change it back to white later.
  1. To change your background ...
    1. Click on the background of your report so that you have NO visualization selected
      1. How do I know that I have NO visualization selected?
        1. The Visualizations pane will only have 2 icons at the top
    2. At the top of the Visualizations pane,
      1. Click the "Format your report page" icon (looks like a paper and paintbrush)
      2. Select "Wallpaper"
        1. Ensure the box for "Image" says "Browse"
          1. If it does not, click the "X"
      3. Choose a color from the color pallet
    3. File > Save
Yes, you can use a picture for a background instead, if you really want to.

You probably noticed that there are two similar choices in there for backgrounds.

"Canvas Background" is the area within the report page. The boundaries of that are the dashed line going around the report screen.  You cannot move your visuals past that line.  That is the "Canvas."  You may have to adjust the transparency on this to see it happen.

"Wallpaper" refers to the area outside the report canvas.

Looking at how I have been doing this for the last bunch of years, it seems that I only use the Wallpaper with the Canvas background Transparency set to 100%.

Why?

I don't know.  The dashed line surrounding the Canvas is good enough for me to know where my layout space ends.

Until next time, play around with it and see what works best for you.

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