Power BI Online - Display dates as months on graphs

[KeepCalm007]

Hi, a confused beginner user here:

I could build a graph that automatically displays my data into months on Desktop version, but when I tried to do the same thing through the online version, it gives days, and I couldn't find the option to display in months.

While I was looking for answers, I found this, which is the opposite of what I am experiencing:

http://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Month-Columns-in-PBI-Desktop/td-p/2691

Can someone from the community please enlighten me?

[v-yulgu-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @KeepCalm007,

What do you mean "automatically displays my data into months"? Are you saying about date hierarchy? In my test, the date column added to a chart visual will be displayed in date hierarchy format in both Desktop and Service.

Could you provide some screenshots(chart in desktop and chart in service) to help us better understand your scenario? By the way, if you directly publish the report created in desktop, is the chart displayed as expected?

Regards,
Yuliana Gu

[KeepCalm007]

Thank you, I had another look since your message, and found that I didn't have the date hierarchy option checked in Service

- I didn't realise I had to manually do that myself, and didn't know how before .. since on desktop it just does it automatically.

[GilbertQ]

Hi @KeepCalm007

If I understand your question what happens is when you bring data in using Power BI Desktop (due to Power BI Desktop being an application), what it does is it automatically adds in the "Auto Date/Time" when you put in any columns that have a Data Type set to Date or DateTime.

Whilst when you do the same thing in the Power BI Service (Online Version) it does not have this functionality built in, so it just displays the data as date.

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Power+BI/141037/

So I would suggest building your data model using Power BI Desktop and then upload it to the Power BI Service (Online Version)

[KeepCalm007]

Hi @GilbertQThat is what I have been doing (i.e. making reports on desktop first, then putting it on online dashboard), but I was surprised to come across the link (see my original message), where it described the opposite of what I'm experiencing regarding the dates...

which led me to believe that the dates should be able to be displayed in  months and years automatically in power BI online as well as desktop.