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Getting Started with DAX Studio

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DAX Studio is a part of our Power BI DAX training across Australia because DAX studio is an excellent tool to author DAX queries and analyze the performance of Power BI or Power Pivot Data models. DAX studio can support PowerPivot in Excel, Power BI Desktop / SSDT Integrated Workspaces, Analysis Services Tabular and Azure Analysis Services. This blog is aimed at getting started with the DAX studio tool.

What is DAX Studio:

DAX Studio is an incredible free, open-source tool that allows you to directly query your Power BI / Power Pivot data models. It not only helps you to author DAX queries and analyze performance but also to learn the DAX language. DAX studio includes an editor that allows you to write and execute a query. Queries run inside the DAX studio and the results are returned as a table. Darren Gosbell, an Australian MVP, created the first version of DAX studio, and then he opened it to the public domain. Since then, several developers have added features to it. DAX Studio can be connected to:
  • Power BI Desktop
  • Power Pivot for Excel
  • Tabular Servers
  • Visual Studio

Useful Features of DAX Studio:

  • Optimize your model performance with the VertiPaq Analyzer integrated with DAX Studio.
  • Visualize the result of DAX formulas that contain ‘tables’ including ‘table expressions’. You can’t see the result of such measures while working it in Power BI Desktop, whereas in DAX studio you can explore what are the results being produced.
  • Authoring DAX measures
  • A support for learning DAX language.
  • Query Building.

An important thing to note is that query run in DAX Studio ALWAYS returns a table, unlike a measure created in Power BI, which returns a scalar value.

Downloading and Installing DAX Studio

The latest version of DAX studio is available at: https://daxstudio.org/ It’s a free tool and you can trust its source.
DAX Studio

Operating system requirements

Following are the operating system requirements for running DAX Studio.

  • Windows 10 (Recommended)/Windows 8 / Windows 8.1/Windows 7)
  • 32 bit or 64-bit operating system
  • Operating system supports the .Net Framework 4.7.1 or later.

Installation Options:

 

All Users

Current User

Requires Admin rights           

Yes

No

Available for all users on the current machine           

Yes

No

Excel Add-in available          

Yes

Yes

Power BI External Tools integration 

Yes

No

To install DAX Studio:

  1. Open https://daxstudio.org/
  2. Click on DAX Studio (Installer)
  3. Run exe

A pop-up menu appears.

  1. Click on Install for all users (Recommended).
Install Mode
A pop-up verification box appears.
5. Click on Allow access. Please note to review the agreement.
6. Select “I accept the agreement”
7. Click Ok.
License Agreement
  1. 8. Select Destination location.
  2. 9. Click Next.
destination-location

10.      Select Excel Add on.

11.      Click Next.

components

12. Click on Next.

 

Menu-folder

13. Select “Create a desktop shortcut”.
14. Click Next.

additional-tasks

15.      Click Finish.

 

DAX-wizard-finish-screen
DAX studio has now been installed on your local

Power BI Advanced DAX Scenarios with DAX Studio

Here’s a list of some business problems which are easier to solve using DAX studio then a regular DAX environment:

  • Analysing top ‘N’ products and customers by sales revenue
  • To get the top three products by each subcategory by sales revenue
  • To find high value sales by product or customers by month

 

For s step by step guide on solving these problems: Advanced Scenarios with DAX Studio | Power BI Advanced DAX Scenarios with DAX Studio | Power BI Training Australia

Conclusion:

DAX Studio is considered as the ultimate tool for analyzing DAX queries. DAX Studio will scan the local machine for any running instances of Power BI Desktop or SSDT Integrated Workspaces. This makes it easy to write and analyze queries in DAX studio. This blog post enlists the procedure to download an install DAX studio for running queries in Power BI desktop.

Learning Power BI from Scratch? Get a complete, in-depth training on Microsoft Power BI by attending our training courses.

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