Publishing and Sharing Power BI Reports
Once you've built a compelling Power BI report, the next crucial step is to make it accessible to your audience. Publishing and sharing are the cornerstones of effective business intelligence, enabling stakeholders to gain insights and make data-driven decisions. This module will guide you through the process of getting your reports from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI service and then distributing them to the right people.
Publishing to the Power BI Service
The Power BI service (app.powerbi.com) is a cloud-based environment where you can host, manage, and share your reports and dashboards. Publishing from Power BI Desktop is the primary method to get your work into the service.
Publishing moves your Power BI Desktop file to the Power BI service for wider access.
After completing your report in Power BI Desktop, you'll use the 'Publish' button to upload it to a chosen workspace in the Power BI service. This makes the report available online.
To publish, ensure you are signed into the Power BI service with your organizational account. In Power BI Desktop, navigate to the 'Home' tab and click the 'Publish' button. You will be prompted to select a workspace where you want to publish your report. Workspaces act as containers for your BI content, allowing for organization and collaboration. Once selected, Power BI Desktop uploads the report and its underlying dataset to the chosen workspace.
Power BI Desktop.
Understanding Workspaces
Workspaces are fundamental to organizing and managing your Power BI content. They provide a collaborative environment for teams to build and share reports and dashboards.
| Workspace Type | Purpose | Collaboration |
|---|---|---|
| My Workspace | Personal storage and development area. | Limited; primarily for individual use. |
| Shared Workspaces | Collaborative development and sharing with teams. | High; allows multiple users to contribute and access content. |
Choose your workspace wisely! Publishing to a shared workspace is essential for team collaboration and broader report distribution.
Sharing Reports and Dashboards
Once your report is in the Power BI service, you can share it with colleagues. Power BI offers several flexible sharing options to cater to different needs.
Sharing makes your insights accessible to specific individuals or groups.
You can share reports directly with users via email or by granting them access to a workspace. Power BI also allows for embedding reports in other applications.
The most common method is direct sharing from the Power BI service. Open your report, click the 'Share' button, and enter the email addresses of the recipients. You can control whether they can reshare or build content with your data. Alternatively, granting users access to a shared workspace allows them to see all content within that workspace. For broader distribution, consider creating Power BI Apps, which bundle related reports and dashboards into a single, easily consumable package. Embedding reports in SharePoint Online, Teams, or custom web applications is also a powerful way to integrate insights directly into existing workflows.
Sharing Methods
The process of sharing a Power BI report involves several key steps and considerations. First, the report is published from Power BI Desktop to a workspace in the Power BI service. From there, users with appropriate permissions can access it. Sharing can be done directly with individuals, by granting access to a workspace, or by packaging reports into a Power BI App for broader distribution. Embedding options allow for integration into other business applications, bringing data insights directly to where users work.
Text-based content
Library pages focus on text content
Permissions and Security
Managing permissions is critical to ensure that only authorized individuals can view or interact with your reports and underlying data.
Always adhere to data governance policies and grant the minimum necessary permissions to users.
In the Power BI service, you can control access at different levels: workspace roles (Admin, Member, Contributor, Viewer) and individual report/dashboard sharing permissions. Row-level security (RLS) can also be implemented within Power BI Desktop to filter data based on the user accessing the report, ensuring that users only see the data relevant to them.
To filter data based on the user accessing the report.
Best Practices for Sharing
To maximize the impact and usability of your shared reports, consider these best practices:
Learning Resources
Official Microsoft documentation detailing how to share reports and dashboards directly with colleagues.
Learn how to package and distribute related reports and dashboards into a single, easy-to-consume Power BI App.
Understand the role of workspaces in organizing, managing, and collaborating on Power BI content.
Explore how to implement row-level security to restrict data access for specific users.
Discover methods for embedding Power BI reports and dashboards into custom web applications or portals.
A video tutorial explaining the differences and use cases for sharing, apps, and workspaces in the Power BI service.
A practical guide to best practices for sharing your Power BI reports effectively and securely.
Engage with the Power BI community, ask questions, and find discussions related to sharing reports and best practices.
A comprehensive video explaining the concepts and functionalities of Power BI workspaces and apps.
An overview of the security features and considerations within the Power BI service, including access management.