How to Share Power BI PBIX File via Google Drive

Sharing a Power BI report with a colleague should be simple, but just dropping a PBIX file into a shared Google Drive folder can create more problems than it solves. This tutorial explains the best way to collaborate on Power BI reports and clarifies when and how you should actually use Google Drive to share your PBIX files without causing a data disaster.

Understanding Your Power BI File

Before sharing anything, it's important to understand what a PBIX file actually contains. Think of the .pbix file created by Power BI Desktop as a self-contained project folder. It packages together several key components:

The Report Canvas: All of your visuals, charts, tables, text boxes, and images exactly as you designed them.
The Data Model: The relationships you've built between different data tables, any custom columns, and DAX measures.
Power Query Steps: Every transformation step you applied to clean and prepare your data.
The Data Itself (Usually): If you used the "Import" storage mode, the entire dataset is physically stored inside the PBIX file. This is a critical point for security and file size.

Because the PBIX file can contain a full copy of your data, simply emailing it or uploading it to a shared drive is like sharing a database, not just a report. This can lead to some serious issues.

Why Google Drive Isn’t Great for Active Collaboration

At first glance, uploading your PBIX file to a shared Google Drive folder seems like an easy solution for collaboration. It’s what we do with Google Docs and Sheets, right? Unfortunately, Power BI files don't work the same way and this approach will quickly lead to frustration.

The Version Control Nightmare

Power BI PBIX files are not designed for simultaneous editing like a Google Sheet. If you and a coworker both download the file from Google Drive, make changes, and re-upload it, you’ll end up with two different versions. The person who saves last overwrites the other person’s work, leading to lost changes and messy, duplicated files like Report_v2_final(1).pbix and Report_v2_Johns-edit.pbix.

Broken Data Connections and Refresh Failures

Let’s say your report connects to an Excel file on your personal C: drive (e.g., C:\Users\YourName\Documents\sales_data.xlsx). When you send the PBIX file to a teammate, their computer doesn’t have that file path. When they try to refresh the data, they’ll see this dreaded error:

The file is trying to connect to a data source on your local machine. Unless your colleague has the exact same file saved in the exact same location (or access to the same network drive or server with identical credentials), they won't be able to refresh the data.

Serious Security Risks

Remember that the PBIX file often contains a full copy of your dataset. If that file includes sensitive information like customer details, financial records, or employee salaries, uploading it to a broadly accessible Google Drive folder is a huge security risk. Anyone who can access the folder can download the file and see all the underlying data, completely bypassing any Row-Level Security (RLS) you set up within Power BI Service. You lose all control over who sees what.

The Right Way: Sharing via the Power BI Service

The proper environment for sharing and collaborating on Power BI reports is the Power BI Service - the cloud-based component of Power BI. This workflow ensures that everyone works from a single source of truth, data can be refreshed automatically, and security is properly managed.

Step 1: Publish Your Report to a Workspace

A Workspace in Power BI Service is a shared, collaborative area for teams. Instead of sending a file, you publish your report to this central hub.

In Power BI Desktop, with your report open, go to the Home tab.
Click the Publish button.
A dialog box will appear, asking you to select a destination. Choose the Workspace you want to share the report in. If you don't have one, you can create a new one in the Power BI Service.
Once you select your workspace, click Select. Power BI will upload your report and dataset to that shared space.

Now, your report exists in the cloud and is ready to be shared securely.

Step 2: Grant Access and Manage Permissions

With your report published, you can now give your team access directly within the Power BI Service. Go to your Workspace and click the Access button in the top right corner. You can add colleagues using their email addresses and assign them one of four roles:

Admin: Can do everything, including managing other users and deleting the workspace.
Member: Can publish and manage content, and share access with others. Good for trusted collaborators.
Contributor: Can publish and edit content in the workspace but cannot share or grant access to others. This is the perfect role for team members who build and edit reports.
Viewer: Can only view and interact with existing reports. They cannot edit or change anything. This role is ideal for stakeholders and end-users.

This role-based access is far more secure and controlled than dropping a raw file in a shared folder.

Step 3: Set Up a Scheduled Data Refresh

To keep the data in your shared report up-to-date, you need to configure a refresh schedule. This eliminates the need for anyone to manually refresh and re-upload the file.

In Power BI Service, navigate to your Workspace.
Find the dataset for your report (it will have the same name), click the three dots (...), and select Settings.
Expand the Data source credentials section and click Edit credentials. You’ll need to re-enter your credentials for the data sources, allowing the Power BI Service to log in on your behalf.
Expand the Scheduled refresh section. Toggle it on and choose a refresh frequency (e.g., daily at 8 AM).

Note: If your data source is on a local network (not in the cloud), you will need to install and configure an on-premises data gateway. This gateway acts as a secure bridge between your local data and the Power BI Service, allowing for scheduled refreshes.

When You Can Use Google Drive for PBIX Files

After all that, there are a few valid scenarios where using Google Drive to share a PBIX file makes perfect sense. These are typically for handoffs or backups, not for active collaboration.

1. Transferring Ownership of a Report

If you've finished developing a report and need to hand it over to another developer, using Google Drive is a good way to transfer the source PBIX file. The other developer will download it, take ownership, connect it to the official data sources, and publish it from their account.

In this case:

Save the file with a clear, final name: e.g., Monthly_Sales_Dashboard_2023_handover.pbix.
Upload it to a specific, non-public Google Drive folder.
Share the link directly with the new owner. Clearly communicate that they are downloading a copy to take over management.

2. Making a Backup of Your Work

Using Google Drive as a personal backup is always a good idea. Periodically saving versions of your PBIX files to a personal cloud folder provides a version history you can revert to if needed. This is your personal repository, not a shared collaborative space.

3. Sharing with an External User Without a Pro License (With Caution)

If you need to share a report preview with an external user who has the free Power BI Desktop app but not a Power BI Pro license, sending them the PBIX file is an option. They can open the file on their own machine and explore the report. However, they will receive a static version of the data (as of your last save) and won't be able to refresh it. Be extremely cautious about data sensitivity in this scenario.

Best Practices in Review

Primary Collaboration Hub: Always use the Power BI Service and Workspaces for active team collaboration. It's built for security, version control, and data refreshing.
Separate Datasets and Reports: For advanced projects, publish your data model as a standalone dataset in the Service. Then, build new reports that connect to this single, certified dataset to ensure data consistency across your team.
Use Clear Naming Conventions: When you do need to save a file, make the names informative. Include the date, version number, or status (e.g., DRAFT, FINAL).
Consider Templates (.PBIT): If you only need to share the report structure (visuals, layout, model) without the actual data, save it as a Power BI Template (.pbit) file. These files are much smaller and inherently more secure.

Final Thoughts

While you can drop a PBIX file into Google Drive in about ten seconds, it's a shortcut that leads to confusion, data silos, and potential security breaches. For any real teamwork, the robust, secure, and efficient method is to publish your reports to the Power BI Service, where you can properly manage access and automate data refreshes. Google Drive is best used for specific, one-time file handoffs or personal backups.

Managing various platform-specific tools like Power BI can be a job in itself, and file management is only part of the complexity. At Graphed, we created a way to skip the manual setup and sharing friction entirely. You can connect all your cloud data sources - from marketing platforms to sales CRMs - and use simple, plain English to create live, always-up-to-date dashboards in seconds. Instead of passing PBIX files back and forth, your whole team can get instant answers from a single, shared source of truth.