How to Share Microsoft Power BI Reports with Others

Edited 3 weeks ago by ExtremeHow Editorial Team

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Microsoft Power BI is a powerful tool for creating visual reports, analyzing data, and sharing insights with others. It provides users with multiple ways to share reports and dashboards across organizations and even with external stakeholders. In this detailed guide, I will walk you through various methods and best practices for sharing Power BI reports effectively.

Prerequisites for sharing Power BI reports

Before you start sharing your Power BI reports, there are a few pre-requisites to consider:

• You must have a Power BI Pro license or a workspace with Power BI Premium capabilities.
• You must either have created the report or you must have sharing permissions.
• Make sure that the security settings and data permissions are configured correctly.

Ways to share Power BI reports

There are several ways to share a Power BI report with others, depending on the audience and their level of interaction with the report. Let's look at each of these methods in detail.

1. Share the report via Power BI service

Power BI Service is the online counterpart to Power BI Desktop. Using this service, you can share your reports as follows:

1. Log in to your Power BI account on the Power BI service.
2. Go to the workspace that contains the report you want to share.
3. Open the report you want to share.
4. Click the Share button, usually found in the upper right corner of the report view.
5. Enter the email addresses of the people you want to share the report with. You can specify individuals or use groups if your organization has them configured.
6. Set permissions. You can choose whether to let them share the report further.
7. Click Share to send the report to the recipients. They will receive an email notification with a link to view the report.

Example: Let's say you have a sales report that you need to share with your marketing and finance teams. You can add the email addresses of team members in the sharing section and they will receive an instant link to view your sales report.

2. Share the report via Power BI Desktop

You can't share reports directly from Power BI Desktop, but you can publish them to the Power BI service and then share from there. Here's how you can publish a report:

1. Open Power BI desktop.
2. Create or open the report you want to share.
3. Click the Publish button in the Home tab.
4. Sign in to your Power BI account if prompted.
5. Select the desired workspace for your report from the available options.
6. Once published, go to the Power BI service to access the published report and follow the steps listed above to share it.

3. Embed the report in email or SharePoint

Embedding allows users to integrate Power BI reports into other platforms like email or SharePoint. Here's how you can do it:

1. Access the report in the Power BI service.
2. Click the File menu and select Embed Report > Publish to Web.
3. Create the embed code. Microsoft will warn you that this will make the content available to anyone on the Internet, so make sure not to include any sensitive data.
4. Copy the embed code.
5. Paste this code where appropriate, such as inside an HTML page in SharePoint or in the HTML editor of an email using <iframe> tag.

Example: You can share a Power BI report in a monthly newsletter by embedding the report using an embed code. This way, recipients can directly interact with the report in their browser without having to open Power BI separately.

4. Export to PDF or PowerPoint

Sometimes, you might want to share a Power BI report as a static snapshot, such as a PDF or PowerPoint presentation. Here's how to do it:

1. Navigate to the report in the Power BI service.
2. Select the File menu.
3. Select either Export to PDF or Export to PowerPoint.
4. Download the file and distribute it via your preferred method (e.g., email or upload to a shared drive).

This method is useful for sharing information with people who don't have access to Power BI or when distributing content in meetings.

5. Share reports with guest users

Power BI allows sharing reports with guest users, which is useful when sharing reports outside of your organization. Follow these steps:

1. Make sure that your organization's Azure Active Directory (AAD) allows guest sharing.
2. In the Power BI service, go to the report you want to share.
3. Click the Share button and enter the guest user's email address.
4. Adjust permissions as needed and send the invitation.
5. The guest user will receive an email including a link to view the report, and may need to authenticate their email address.

Note: Make sure you are complying with all data protection regulations when sharing data with external entities.

Best practices for sharing Power BI reports

Here are some best practices to ensure that sharing Power BI reports is both secure and effective:

• Permission management: Always check and manage permissions before sharing reports. Don't share sensitive information with people who don't need it.
• Use data permissions wisely: Use row-level security to restrict access to data when needed, so users can only see the data relevant to them.
• Keep shared content relevant: Only share relevant content with specific user groups to avoid information overload.
• Review shared reports regularly: Review shared reports regularly to ensure they are still required and the permissions are valid.
• Document sharing process: Make sure you have documentation on processes and rules for sharing reports for consistency and compliance.

Conclusion

Sharing Power BI reports is a critical aspect of leveraging the full capabilities of Power BI within organizations. By using the sharing features in Power BI, you can effectively distribute insights, collaborate with colleagues, and make data-driven decisions. Remember to consider security and privacy when sharing reports and always follow your organization's data governance policies.

This guide provides a detailed overview of the different ways to share Power BI reports. Whether it's through sharing directly from the Power BI service, embedding reports in other platforms, or exporting them for distribution, Power BI offers flexible options to suit different needs and scenarios.

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