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Quick Start
Calendar Events Heatmap overlays your KPI heatmap with event badges (promotions, campaigns, holidays) in a single calendar surface. Three steps to get started:
- Add the visual to your report canvas.
- Drag a Date column to the Date field well and a measure to Main Measure. The calendar heatmap appears immediately.
- Drag event name and event category columns to see colored event badges on each day.
Field Wells
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Date column | Yes | One row per day. All other fields (events, holidays) use this same date column via your data model. |
| Main Measure | Measure | Yes | Drives the heatmap color intensity. Aggregated per day. |
| Tooltip Measures | Measure(s) | No | Additional measures shown in the tooltip only. Multiple fields accepted. |
| Event Name | Text column | No | Name displayed in the event badge on each calendar day. |
| Event Category | Text column | No | Category of the event (e.g. "Promotion", "Campaign"). Used for color coding. PRO per-category colors configurable. |
| Holiday Name | Text column | No | Name of the holiday. The date is taken from the Date field — no separate date column needed. |
Format Pane Reference
Calendar
| Setting | Tier | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Default View | FREE | Month or Week. The view persists across resizes; only the first load uses this default. |
| Months to Display | PRO | Show 1–12 months side by side. Free tier always shows 1 month. |
| Week Starts On | FREE | Monday or Sunday. |
| Fiscal Calendar | FREE | Enable fiscal year offset. |
Heatmap Colors
| Setting | Tier | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Min Color | FREE | Color for the lowest measure value. |
| Max Color | FREE | Color for the highest measure value. |
| No Data Color | FREE | Color for days with no measure data. |
| Day Color | FREE | Overrides the gradient. Click the fx button to color days by a rule based on the Main Measure — for example red below target, green above. A constant value colors every day the same. Precedence: rule, then constant, then gradient. |
Day Number
| Setting | Tier | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Font Size / Family / Color | FREE | Style for regular day numbers. |
| Weekend Color | FREE | Color for Saturday and Sunday numbers. |
| Holiday Color | FREE | Color for days marked as holidays. |
Events
| Setting | Tier | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Show Events | FREE | Toggle event badge visibility. |
| Max Events per Day | PRO | Max badges per cell in month view. Free tier shows 1 event per day. |
| Single color for all events | PRO | When ON, overrides per-category colors with a single badge color. |
| Event Text Color / Font Size | PRO | Badge label styling. |
Event Category Colors PRO
One color picker per event category (up to 8). Categories appear in order of first occurrence in the data. The visual shows a color legend below the Month/Week buttons mapping each color to its category name.
Measure Labels / View Buttons PRO
Font and color settings for measure labels and navigation buttons. Available in Pro.
Report Integration
Tooltips
Hovering a day shows the date, the Main Measure value, the holiday name and the events on that day, plus every measure you place in the Tooltip Measures field well. Tooltips also open when a day receives keyboard focus.
You can replace the default tooltip with your own tooltip page: create a page, set Page information → Allow use as tooltip, then select it under Format → General → Tooltips on the calendar. The page receives the hovered day as its filter context.
Number formatting
Values are formatted with the measure's own format string, re-read on every refresh so dynamic format strings written in DAX are respected. Percentages, currencies and decimal precision all carry through. Inside a day cell the value is abbreviated using display units to fit the space; tooltips show full precision. Each Tooltip Measure uses its own column's format.
Selection and bookmarks
Clicking a day filters the rest of the page; Ctrl+click adds to the selection. Selected days are outlined and the rest are dimmed. Bookmarks are supported: the calendar restores its selection when a bookmark is applied, and follows selections cleared elsewhere in the report.
Free vs Pro
| Feature | Free | Pro ($9.99/mo) |
|---|---|---|
| Month view | ✅ 1 month | ✅ 1–12 months |
| Week view | 🔒 | ✅ |
| KPI heatmap | ✅ | ✅ |
| Event badges | ✅ 1/day | ✅ configurable |
| Event category colors | Auto palette | ✅ fully configurable |
| Holiday overlay | ✅ | ✅ |
| Tooltip measures | ✅ | ✅ |
| Report tooltip pages | ✅ | ✅ |
| Conditional formatting (Day Color) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Bookmarks | ✅ | ✅ |
| Keyboard navigation & high contrast | ✅ | ✅ |
| Cross-page filtering | ✅ | ✅ |
| Full format pane | Basic | ✅ full |
| 30-day full trial | ✅ All Pro features during trial | |
Accessibility
The calendar grid is fully operable from the keyboard and adapts to Windows high-contrast themes. Available in Free and Pro alike.
Keyboard navigation
Tab into the visual once to reach the day grid, then move within it:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| ← → | Move one day |
| ↑ ↓ | Move one week (month view) or one day (week view) |
| Home / End | First / last day of the week |
| Page Up / Page Down | Previous / next month (month view) or week (week view) |
| Enter or Space | Filter the report on the focused day |
| Ctrl + Enter | Add the focused day to the current selection |
| Esc | Clear the selection and restore slicers |
| Shift + F10 | Open the Power BI context menu on the focused day |
Moving past the edge of the visible range navigates to the adjacent month or week and keeps focus on the day you moved to. Tooltips open on keyboard focus, so the measures in the Tooltip Measures field well are reachable without a mouse.
Screen readers
The calendar is exposed as a grid. Each day announces its full date, the measure value, the holiday name when present, and the names of any events on that day. Selected days are announced as selected, and the month or week label is announced when you navigate.
High contrast
When Windows high-contrast mode is on, the visual stops using fill color to carry meaning. Day cells take the theme background and the heatmap intensity is re-encoded as border weight — the heavier the border, the higher the value. Today and the active view button are marked by a thicker border in the theme's selected-foreground color, event badges and legend swatches switch to an outlined style, and all text uses the theme foreground. Your configured colors are left untouched and return as soon as high contrast is turned off.
FAQ
My dates show as "1900" or the wrong year
Power BI's Auto Date/Time hierarchy sends year numbers instead of full dates. Click the ▼ next to your date field in the field well and select Date (not Date Hierarchy). Alternatively disable Auto Date/Time in File → Options → Current file → Data Load.
Slicers stop working after clicking a day
Click on any empty area of the calendar to deselect the current day and restore cross-filtering.
How do I connect holidays?
Add a Holiday Name column to your main table via Power Query (merge with your holidays table on the Date key). Connect that column to the Holiday Name field well. The visual uses the Date field for the holiday date — no separate date column is needed.
Events appear on wrong days
Make sure your events table is expanded per day (one row per event-day combination) before connecting to the visual. The visual does not expand date ranges internally.
Colors reset after saving the report
Event category colors are stored per report. If they reset, check that the Event Category field is still connected and that category names haven't changed in your data source.
Keyboard focus is stuck on one day
The grid uses a single tab stop by design: Tab enters the calendar and the arrow keys move within it, which is how Power BI expects a grid visual to behave. Press Tab again to leave the calendar and continue to the next visual.
My heatmap colors disappeared
Check whether Windows high-contrast mode is on. In that mode the visual deliberately replaces the color ramp with border weight, because high contrast themes forbid encoding meaning in fill color. Your color settings are preserved and return when you turn high contrast off.
How does the trial work?
The 30-day trial gives full Pro access. No credit card required to start. After the trial, the visual switches to the Free tier automatically.