How to Share a Power BI File

Building a powerful report in Power BI is a great first step, but the real value comes when you share those insights with your team, clients, or stakeholders. If you've ever felt a bit stuck wondering about the best way to get your report from your computer into the hands of others, you're in the right place. This guide will walk you through the various ways to share your Power BI files, from simple links to embedding on a website, so you can choose the perfect method for your needs.

Before You Share: Understanding the Essentials

Before we jump into the "how," it's important to understand a few core concepts that will make the sharing process much smoother. Getting these right will save you a lot of headaches later on.

.PBIX File vs. Published Report: What's the Difference?

This is the most critical distinction to grasp. Think of it like a Word document versus a web page.

• A .pbix file is the source file you create and work with in Power BI Desktop. It contains everything: your data model, the data itself, your queries, and all your visual designs. Sharing this file is like handing someone the entire project to edit, modify, and inspect.
• A published report lives in the Power BI Service (the cloud-based part of Power BI). This is an interactive, web-based version of your report. Sharing this is like sending a link to a website, users can interact with filters and slicers, but they can't change the underlying structure unless you give them specific permissions.

For nearly all scenarios, your goal will be to publish your .pbix file to the Power BI Service and then share it from there. Directly emailing the .pbix file around should be reserved for collaborating with other report developers.

A Quick Note on Licensing

Power BI's sharing features are closely tied to licensing. While you can build reports for free with Power BI Desktop, sharing them generally requires a paid license for both the person sharing and the person viewing.

• Power BI Pro: This is the standard license needed for most sharing and collaboration. If you have a Pro license, you can share reports with other users who also have a Pro license.
• Power BI Premium Per User (PPU): A step up from Pro, this offers more advanced features. PPU users can share with other PPU users.
• Power BI Premium Capacity: This is an organizational-level plan. If your reports are stored in a workspace with Premium capacity, you can share them with anyone, even users with a Free license. This is common in larger companies.

The key takeaway is that for most team-based sharing, both you and your colleagues will likely need a Power BI Pro license.

Step 1: Publish Your Report to the Power BI Service

Regardless of how you want to share, the first official step is moving your report from Power BI Desktop to the cloud. This simple process makes your work accessible for sharing.

1. Open your completed .pbix file in Power BI Desktop.
2. In the Home tab of the ribbon, look for the Publish button. Click it.
3. You'll be prompted to sign in to your Power BI account if you haven't already.
4. A dialog box will appear asking you to select a destination. This will be a Workspace. A workspace is like a folder or a shared drive in the Power BI Service used to organize content for different teams or projects.
5. Power BI will publish your file. Once it’s done, you'll get a success message with a link to open the report directly in the Power BI Service.

Great! Your report is now online and ready to be shared. Now let's explore your sharing options.

Option 1: Sharing a Direct Link to Your Report

This is the simplest and most common method for sharing a single report with specific individuals or a small group.

1. Navigate to the report you just published in the Power BI Service (app.powerbi.com).
2. In the top bar, you'll see a prominent Share button. Click it.
3. In the "Send link" dialog that appears, you can enter the email addresses of the people you want to share with.
4. Before clicking Send, review the three options beneath the email field:
5. Click on Settings to manage permissions:
6. Click Apply, add an optional message if you're sending an email, and click Send. Your recipients will receive an email notification with a direct link to view the report.

Option 2: Collaborating in a Workspace

If you're working with a team on a collection of reports, simply adding them to the workspace is a much more efficient approach. This is similar to sharing a folder in Google Drive or OneDrive instead of dozens of individual files.

By giving colleagues access to a workspace, you grant them access to everything inside it - all the reports, dashboards, and datasets. You also assign them a specific role that determines what they can and cannot do.

1. In the Power BI Service, navigate to the workspace where your report is located.
2. In the top-right corner of the workspace view, click the Access button.
3. Enter the names or email addresses of your team members.
4. Next, assign them a role. There are four options:
5. Click Add. Your colleagues can now access the workspace and everything inside it through their own Power BI accounts.

Option 3: Packaging Content with a Power BI App

If you have a collection of related reports and dashboards ready for wide distribution throughout a department or entire organization, a Power BI App is the best method.

An app combines related dashboards and reports into one polished package, providing a superior user experience by streamlining navigation. It's the most professional way to distribute finalized content to a large audience of information "consumers."

1. Inside your workspace, click the Create app button in the top-right corner.
2. On the Setup tab, give your app a name, description, and logo.
3. On the Content tab, select which reports and dashboards from the workspace to include in your app and organize the navigation for easier consumption. You can create different sections and organize how users find the right information.
4. On the Audience tab, define who can access the app. You can grant access to your entire organization or pick specific user groups (e.g., Marketing, Sales).
5. Once you're satisfied, click Publish app. An app URL can be sent to all intended viewers for easy access.

Option 4: Embedding Your Charts onto a Website or Portal

Publish to Web (Publicly)

This option generates a public iFrame code that you can embed on a publicly facing blog, website, or portfolio page. Anyone on the internet can see it, and no Power BI login or license is needed.

This method is not secure, and you should never expose confidential or proprietary data.

• From your report: File > Embed report > Publish to web (public).

Website or Portal (Securely)

This generates a secure embed link for sharing in an internal tool like SharePoint Online or a secure company intranet. Viewers will need to log in to their Power BI accounts, so all the proper permissions still apply.

• From your report: File > Embed report > Website or portal.

"Last Resort" Methods: Exporting and Sending the .PBIX

For most cases, the methods above work best. But there are a couple of "old-school" ways that are useful in certain cases:

Export to PDF, PowerPoint, or Excel

This is a great option if your audience is unfamiliar with Power BI. From your published report in the Power BI Service, click Export on the command bar, and you'll be presented with several options.

• PDF: Creates a static PDF file. All filters on your reports will be "locked" into whatever the report default is.
• PowerPoint: There are two modes available to embed your charts into PowerPoint - either as an image or as live embed data.
• Excel: This will create a pivot table linked with your data in your Power BI dataset.

The major drawback of this approach is that the data is static. As soon as you export your datasets, it becomes stale. But it's great for printing handouts at meetings or archiving monthly reports.

Sending the .PBIX File Directly

This is the equivalent of just attaching the file to an email. Sharing it manually is generally a bad idea because it risks losing control over report revisions and data privacy. Many people are discouraged because of these risks, it’s rare any modern team operates this way, yet it's an option when the matter is expedient.

The recipient must have Power BI Desktop installed, data security will be a concern, and it opens up the possibility for various mishaps. Only use this method when collaborating closely, and make sure to clarify which version of the file they'll receive to avoid overlap.

Final Thoughts

Sharing your Power BI reports doesn't have to be complicated. From publishing to secure links, apps, or portals, several pathways are available depending on the audience you need to reach. Just choose the one that suits you best.

Automating consistent report publishing and archiving processes streamlines your data management and enables other tasks to thrive while you focus on analyses that bring you the most success.