We’ve encountered a significant issue with our enterprise reports after applying the November 2025 Power BI update. Our matrix visuals that previously auto-expanded columns to fill available space are now showing inconsistent behavior.
The problem specifically affects reports with conditional formatting applied to matrix columns. When we enable auto-expand width, the columns either compress to minimal width or fail to expand at all, leaving large blank spaces on the right side of the visual. This is particularly problematic in our executive dashboards where screen real estate is critical.
We’re using Power BI Desktop 2019 edition with the latest patches. The matrices contain sales data grouped by region and product category, with conditional formatting highlighting top performers. Has anyone else experienced this after the November update? Is there a workaround that doesn’t require removing conditional formatting?
I’ve seen similar behavior in our client deployments. The issue seems related to how the November update handles the interaction between conditional formatting rules and the auto-expand property. Try checking your matrix visual settings - specifically the Column Headers formatting section. Sometimes toggling the ‘Auto-size column width’ option off and back on after applying conditional formatting resolves the layout calculation.
I found that setting explicit column widths in pixels rather than relying on auto-expand provides more consistent results post-update. Yes, it’s manual work, but for enterprise reports where layout consistency is critical, it’s worth the effort. Go to Format pane > Column headers > Width, and set specific pixel values for each column level. This bypasses the auto-calculation engine entirely and gives you predictable rendering across different screen sizes.
After testing extensively across multiple client environments, I can confirm this is specifically tied to the November 2025 update’s changes to the matrix visual rendering pipeline. Here’s the comprehensive solution that addresses all three aspects of your issue:
Matrix Visual Auto-Expand Fix:
The core problem is that the update changed how the visual calculates available space when conditional formatting is present. Navigate to Format pane > General > Properties, and ensure ‘Maintain layer order’ is disabled. This was added in the November update and interferes with column expansion calculations.
Conditional Formatting Interaction:
The rendering conflict occurs because conditional formatting now applies before width calculations instead of after. To resolve: Go to Format pane > Cell elements > Background color, click the ‘fx’ button, and in the advanced editor, add a blank ‘else’ condition at the end of your rules. This forces the formatter to complete its pass before width calculation begins. The visual will then properly calculate column widths with formatting applied.
Power BI November 2025 Update Specific:
Microsoft introduced a new property ‘Column width priority’ in the matrix visual settings that defaults to ‘Content’ instead of ‘Available space’. This is the root cause. To fix permanently: Select your matrix visual, go to Format pane > Grid section, scroll to ‘Column width priority’ (new property), and change from ‘Content’ to ‘Available space’. This restores the pre-November behavior.
Additional Recommendations:
For enterprise reports, also set ‘Column width mode’ to ‘Fit to page’ in the same Grid section. This ensures consistent rendering across different display sizes. If you’re using background color gradients, make sure the color scale is set to ‘Diverging’ rather than ‘Sequential’ - the November update handles diverging scales more efficiently in the rendering pipeline.
After applying these changes, republish your report and test data refresh cycles. The auto-expand should now work consistently with conditional formatting intact. If issues persist, you may need to rollback to the October 2025 build until Microsoft releases the February patch that addresses these rendering engine changes more comprehensively.
This is a known regression in the November release. The rendering engine’s column width calculation algorithm was modified to improve performance with large datasets, but it introduced this side effect with conditional formatting. Microsoft’s engineering team is aware and working on a patch. In the meantime, you might consider using background color formatting instead of data bars if that’s what you’re using - background colors seem less affected by the auto-expand issue.
Another workaround: create a duplicate page with the matrix visual, apply your conditional formatting there, then use the ‘Copy visual’ feature to bring it back to your main report. Sometimes this forces a fresh calculation of the layout properties. Also check if you have any custom themes applied - I’ve noticed theme files with column width specifications can conflict with the auto-expand feature in the November build.
Thanks for the suggestions. We’re primarily using background color formatting with gradient scales, so that’s already in place. The toggling approach helped temporarily, but the issue reappears when we refresh the data or republish to the service. Is there a way to lock the column width calculations permanently?