Fetches the value of the preceding element along an axis of the visual matrix. This DAX function works only in visual calculations and is equivalent to OFFSET with -1.
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In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains PREVIOUS in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- Visual matrix
Visual calculations operate over this layout, which shows up in their edit mode as rows and columns, plus row pages if small multiples are used. Anything outside the visual, such as other model tables, can't be referenced.
- DAX
Short for Data Analysis Expressions, the formula language you write measures, calculated columns and row-level security rules in, within tabular semantic models in Power BI, Excel Power Pivot or Analysis Services.
- OFFSET
A DAX window function that moves a given number of rows back (negative values) or forward (positive) from the current row in a sorted table, optionally split into partitions. It is commonly used to fetch the prior or next period's value.
Related terms
- Analyze feature
Right-click a point on a line or bar chart to get machine-learning explanations of why it rose, fell or is distributed differently, with the contributing categories ranked against the previous point. Models using DirectQuery or row-level security can't use it.
- Application discovery
Lists which Quick Access segments people have actually used over the previous 30 days, so administrators can replace broad Quick Access with separate, per-app Private Access entries. Found among the Global Secure Access reports.
- Auto-generate release notes
An option when creating a GitHub release that lists what changed since the previous release's tag; a
.github/release.ymlfile can tailor the output. - Auto-redeploy trigger
If deploying to a stage fails, this classic release post-deployment option rolls the stage back by redeploying the previous successful release.
- Autotune
A preview option in Fabric Spark that studies previous runs to pick better values for shuffle partitions, broadcast join threshold and max partition bytes query by query. It's disabled by default (
spark.ms.autotune.enabled), limited to Runtime 1.2, and incompatible with private endpoints and high concurrency mode. - Chat message roles
Labels on chat messages: instructions go under system, the person's input under user, the model's previous answers under assistant, and results returned by a called tool under tool (or function).
- Copy job
Moves data between a source and a destination in Fabric Data Factory with no pipeline required. Runs can copy everything or just changes (incremental mode, driven by CDC or a watermark column), and the item keeps track of where the previous run stopped.
- Data access governance reports
Oversharing reports found in the SharePoint admin center with SharePoint Advanced Management. Snapshot reports list site permissions and content shared with Everyone or EEEU, while activity reports track sharing links and EEEU sharing across the previous 28 days.