Lesson 40 How to Publish & Share Power BI Reports: A Complete Guide

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After creating powerful reports in Power BI Desktop, the next step is to publish and share them with your team, clients, or stakeholders.

In this blog, you’ll learn:

• ✅ How to publish reports from Power BI Desktop.
• ✅ How to share reports using Power BI Service.
• ✅ How to schedule automatic data refresh.
• ✅ Best practices for collaborating in Power BI.

1️⃣ Understanding Power BI Service vs. Power BI Desktop

🚀 Key Takeaway: You need Power BI Service to publish, share, and refresh reports online.

2️⃣ How to Publish Reports to Power BI Service

Step 1: Save Your Power BI Report

• 1️⃣ In Power BI Desktop, go to File → Save As.
• 2️⃣ Save your report as a .pbix file.

Step 2: Sign in to Power BI Service

• 1️⃣ Click Home → Publish in Power BI Desktop.
• 2️⃣ Sign in using your Microsoft account.
• 3️⃣ Select a workspace (e.g., "My Workspace" or "Sales Team").
• 4️⃣ Click Publish.

🎉 Success! Your report is now available in Power BI Service.

3️⃣ How to Share Power BI Reports

After publishing your report, you can share it with others:

Option 1: Share a Report Link

• 1️⃣ Open Power BI Service (https://app.powerbi.com).
• 2️⃣ Go to My Workspace → Select your report.
• 3️⃣ Click Share → Enter email addresses of users.
• 4️⃣ Click Send.

🚀 Pro Tip: Set view or edit permissions before sharing.

Option 2: Embed Power BI Report in a Website

Want to display your report on a website or blog?

• 1️⃣ In Power BI Service, open your report.
• 2️⃣ Click File → Embed Report.
• 3️⃣ Choose "Embed in SharePoint Online" or "Embed in Website".
• 4️⃣ Copy the generated iframe code and paste it into your website.

🚀 Example: If you want to embed a Power BI dashboard

Option 3: Publish to Power BI App

If your company uses Power BI Pro, you can:

• ✔️ Package multiple reports into an app.
• ✔️ Control access with user roles.
• ✔️ Share dashboards in Microsoft Teams.

🚀 Best For: Large organizations that need structured reporting.

4️⃣ How to Set Up Automatic Data Refresh

By default, Power BI reports use static data from when they were last updated. To keep your reports up-to-date, set up a data refresh schedule.

Step 1: Open Power BI Service

Go to https://app.powerbi.com and open your dataset.

Step 2: Schedule a Refresh

• 1️⃣ Click on More Options (⋮) → Settings.
• 2️⃣ Go to Scheduled Refresh.
• 3️⃣ Turn on Keep Data Updated.
• 4️⃣ Set Refresh Frequency (Daily, Hourly, etc.).
• 5️⃣ Click Apply.

🚀 Pro Tip: Use Power BI Gateway if your data is stored on a local SQL Server or Excel file.

5️⃣ Best Practices for Sharing Power BI Reports

• ✔️ Use Row-Level Security (RLS) – Show different data for different users.
• ✔️ Use Power BI Pro for Collaboration – Required for team sharing.
• ✔️ Test Reports Before Sharing – Check performance and accuracy.
• ✔️ Set Data Refresh Alerts – Get notified if a refresh fails.
• ✔️ Optimize Report Performance – Remove unnecessary visuals for faster loading.

6️⃣ Conclusion: Power BI Sharing Made Easy!

By publishing reports to Power BI Service, you can:

• ✅ Access reports from any device, anytime.
• ✅ Share insights with your team in seconds.
• ✅ Keep reports updated with automatic refresh.
• ✅ Embed reports in websites, apps, and SharePoint.

7️⃣ What’s Next?

📌 In the next blog, you’ll learn:

• ✅ How to use Row-Level Security (RLS) in Power BI.
• ✅ How to optimize Power BI performance.
• ✅ How to track user activity in Power BI Service.

🔔 Stay tuned to Virvijay.com for more Power BI tutorials!

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