17  Publishing & Sharing Reports & Dashboards

NoteGetting Your Work to the Right People

Building an accurate, well-designed report in Power BI Desktop is the foundation. But a report that only exists on one person’s laptop delivers no organizational value. Publishing and sharing are the steps that transform a local file into a live, accessible resource that the right people can find, interact with, and act on.

This chapter covers the full publishing and sharing workflow: from sending a report to the Power BI Service for the first time, through the different ways to share it with colleagues, to embedding it in the tools your organization already uses every day and exporting it for offline consumption.

flowchart LR
    A[Power BI Desktop <br> .pbix file] -->|Publish| B[Power BI Service <br> Workspace]
    B --> C[Share via Link <br> or Email]
    B --> D[Pin to <br> Dashboard]
    B --> E[Embed in <br> Teams / SharePoint]
    B --> F[Export <br> PDF, PPT, Excel]
    B --> G[Publish <br> as App]
    classDef default fill:#003366,color:#ffffff,stroke:#ffcc00,stroke-width:3px,rx:10px,ry:10px;

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17.1 Publishing to the Service

17.1.1 Publishing from Power BI Desktop

NoteWhat Happens When You Publish

Publishing sends your Power BI Desktop .pbix file to the Power BI Service. Behind the scenes, Power BI splits the file into two separate items that land in your chosen workspace: the dataset (the data model, relationships, Power Query steps, and DAX measures) and the report (the pages, visuals, and layout). These two items are independent once published. The dataset can power multiple reports and is refreshed on its own schedule. The report connects to the dataset and always shows data from the most recent refresh.

Publishing requires a Power BI account. To share content with others, both you and your recipients need a Power BI Pro or Premium Per User licence, or the content must be published to a Premium capacity workspace.

NoteHow to Publish a Report: Step by Step

1. Open your completed report in Power BI Desktop
2. Go to the Home ribbon and click Publish
3. If you are not already signed in, Power BI prompts you to sign in with your Microsoft organizational account
4. The Publish to Power BI dialog appears, listing all workspaces you have access to. Select the destination workspace from the list
5. Click Select. Power BI Desktop begins uploading the dataset and report. A progress indicator appears in the status bar at the bottom of the screen
6. When the upload completes successfully, a dialog confirms the publication with a direct hyperlink to the report in the Service
7. Click Open [report name] in Power BI to open the published report in your browser immediately

[Insert screenshot of the Publish to Power BI dialog showing a list of workspace names with one selected, and the Select button in the bottom-right corner of the dialog]

NoteRe-Publishing an Updated Report

Each time you make changes in Power BI Desktop and click Publish again to the same workspace, Power BI prompts you to confirm that you want to replace the existing dataset and report. Clicking Replace overwrites both items with the updated version.

Any changes made directly to the report in the Power BI Service since the last publish (such as renamed visuals or page-level filters added in the browser) will be lost when you replace. For this reason, always treat Desktop as the source of truth and the Service as the distribution platform.

[Insert screenshot of the replacement confirmation dialog that appears when publishing to a workspace where the report already exists, showing the “Replace” and “Cancel” buttons with a message indicating the existing dataset and report will be overwritten]

WarningPublish to the Correct Workspace

Always double-check the destination workspace in the Publish dialog before clicking Select. Publishing to the wrong workspace exposes your report to the wrong audience. If you accidentally publish sensitive data to a shared workspace, remove the report and dataset from that workspace immediately using the workspace content management options in the Service.

TipSet Up Scheduled Refresh Immediately After Publishing

A freshly published dataset contains a snapshot of the data at the time of publishing. Configure a scheduled refresh in the dataset Settings in the Power BI Service straight after publishing, so consumers always see current data. Do not leave a dataset without a refresh schedule in a shared workspace.

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17.2 Sharing Reports and Dashboards

17.2.1 Sharing Reports via Link, Email, and Direct Access

NoteThe Share Button

Once a report is published to a shared workspace, the primary way to give specific individuals access to it is through the Share feature. Sharing creates a direct access grant to the report (and optionally to the underlying dataset) for the people you specify, without requiring them to be members of the workspace.

To open the Share dialog:

1. Open the report in the Power BI Service
2. Click the Share button in the top-right toolbar (shown as a person icon with a plus sign, or a share arrow depending on your Service version)
3. The Share dialog opens

[Insert screenshot of the Power BI Service report view with the Share button highlighted in the top toolbar, and the Share dialog open showing the recipient email input field and sharing options below it]

Share Directly with Specific People

NoteHow to Share Directly

To share the report with specific individuals:

1. In the Share dialog, type the email addresses of the people you want to share with in the Enter a name or email address field. You can enter multiple addresses separated by commas, or enter a security group name to share with an entire team at once
2. Configure the sharing options:
   • Allow recipients to share this report — toggle on if recipients should be able to share the report further with others
   • Allow recipients to build content with the data associated with this report — toggle on if recipients should be able to create their own reports using the underlying dataset
   • Send an email notification to recipients — toggle on to automatically send each recipient an email containing the report link and an optional personal message
3. Click Grant access

Recipients receive the email (if enabled) with a direct link. Clicking the link opens the report directly in their browser if they are signed in with a Power BI account that has an appropriate licence.

[Insert screenshot of the Share dialog with email addresses entered in the recipient field, the sharing option toggles visible below, an optional message field, and the Grant access button at the bottom]

Share via a Copyable Link

NoteGenerating a Shareable Link

For sharing through Teams, Slack, email, or any other communication channel without entering individual email addresses, generate a shareable link:

1. In the Share dialog (or by clicking Copy link directly from the report toolbar), Power BI displays a link and a set of link type options
2. Choose the appropriate link scope:
   • People in your organization — anyone in your organization with a compatible Power BI licence can open the link. The report is not publicly accessible outside the organization
   • People with existing access — only those who already have explicit access to the report can open the link. The link itself does not grant new access
   • Specific people — only the individuals you name can open the link. Clicking the link prompts others to request access
3. Click Copy to copy the link to the clipboard, then paste it wherever you want to distribute it

[Insert screenshot of the Copy link panel showing the three link scope options as radio buttons with their descriptions, a preview of the link URL, and the Copy button]

WarningSharing Requires Appropriate Licences

Recipients of a shared report must have a Power BI Pro or Premium Per User licence to open it, unless the report is in a Premium capacity workspace (in which case recipients with a free licence can view it). Before sharing widely, confirm the licence situation of your intended audience. Recipients who try to open a shared report without the required licence will see an upgrade prompt rather than the report itself.

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17.2.2 Creating and Sharing Dashboards

NoteReports vs. Dashboards: A Reminder

In Power BI, reports and dashboards serve distinct purposes. A report is a multi-page, interactive analytical tool built in Desktop. A dashboard is a single-page, curated monitoring surface built in the Service by assembling tiles pinned from reports. Dashboards are designed for at-a-glance status monitoring rather than deep exploration, and they can aggregate tiles from multiple reports and even multiple workspaces onto a single canvas.

NoteCreating a New Dashboard

To create a new dashboard in the Power BI Service:

1. Navigate to the workspace where you want the dashboard to live
2. Click New in the workspace toolbar and select Dashboard from the dropdown menu
3. Give the dashboard a descriptive name and click Create
4. An empty dashboard canvas appears. The canvas is a blank grid ready to receive tiles pinned from your published reports

[Insert screenshot of the empty dashboard canvas after creation, showing the blank grid with a “Add tiles” prompt visible and the dashboard name displayed in the header]

Pinning Visuals to a Dashboard

NoteHow to Pin a Visual

The primary way to add content to a dashboard is by pinning visuals from published reports:

1. Open any published report in the Power BI Service in Reading view
2. Hover over the visual you want to pin. A small toolbar appears in the top-right corner of the visual
3. Click the Pin visual icon (the pushpin icon)
4. The Pin to dashboard dialog appears with two options: Existing dashboard (select from your dashboards list) or New dashboard (creates a new dashboard with this tile as the first item)
5. Select the destination and click Pin
6. A confirmation message appears at the top of the screen confirming the tile was pinned, with a link to open the dashboard

[Insert screenshot of a report visual in the Power BI Service with the visual toolbar visible showing the Pin visual pushpin icon, alongside the Pin to dashboard dialog with Existing dashboard selected and a dashboard name chosen from the dropdown]

Pinning a Live Page

NoteHow to Pin an Entire Report Page as a Live Tile

Instead of pinning individual visuals, you can pin an entire report page as a single live tile on the dashboard. This is useful when a report page contains a well-composed set of visuals and slicers that should appear together as a functional unit on the dashboard, with full interactivity preserved.

To pin a live page:

1. Open the report in the Power BI Service and navigate to the page you want to pin
2. Click the More options menu (three dots) in the top-right toolbar of the report
3. Select Pin to a dashboard
4. Choose Existing dashboard or New dashboard and click Pin live
5. The entire page appears as a single tile on the dashboard. Users can interact with the slicers on the tile directly from the dashboard without opening the full report

[Insert screenshot of the More options menu on a report page in the Power BI Service with “Pin to a dashboard” highlighted, alongside the dashboard showing the resulting live page tile occupying a large area of the canvas with the report page rendered inside it and a slicer visible]

NoteArranging Dashboard Tiles

Once tiles are pinned to a dashboard, switch to the dashboard’s Edit mode to arrange them:

1. Open the dashboard and click Edit in the top toolbar
2. In edit mode, each tile shows a drag handle. Click and drag tiles to reposition them on the grid
3. Resize tiles by dragging the resize handle in the bottom-right corner of each tile. Tiles snap to the grid dimensions
4. Click the pencil icon on any tile to edit its title, subtitle, and the hyperlink it navigates to when clicked
5. Click Save when the layout is complete

[Insert screenshot of a dashboard in edit mode showing multiple tiles with drag handles visible, one tile being dragged to a new position, and the resize handle visible on another tile’s bottom-right corner]

NoteSharing a Dashboard

Dashboards are shared using the same Share mechanism as reports:

1. Open the dashboard in the Power BI Service
2. Click the Share button in the toolbar
3. Enter recipient email addresses or generate a shareable link using the same options described in the report sharing section above
4. Configure the sharing options and click Grant access

Recipients can view and interact with the tiles on the dashboard but cannot edit it unless they are members of the workspace with an appropriate role.

[Insert screenshot of the Share dialog open from a dashboard, showing the same interface as the report sharing dialog with email recipient fields and sharing options]

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17.3 Embedding Reports

17.3.1 Embedding Reports in Teams, SharePoint, and Websites

NoteWhy Embed Reports?

Sharing a link to a report works when recipients are comfortable navigating the Power BI Service. But many organizations use Microsoft Teams as their primary collaboration hub and SharePoint as their intranet. Embedding Power BI reports directly inside Teams channels and SharePoint pages brings the data to where people already work, removing the friction of switching to a separate platform.

For public-facing data (published to the web), embedding allows reports to be surfaced on external websites without requiring viewers to have a Power BI account.

Embedding in Microsoft Teams

NoteHow to Add a Power BI Report to a Teams Channel

1. Open the Microsoft Teams channel where you want to embed the report
2. Click the + icon next to the tab bar at the top of the channel to add a new tab
3. Search for and select the Power BI app from the tab gallery
4. Sign in if prompted and select the report you want to embed from your workspaces
5. Click Save. A new tab appears in the channel containing the fully interactive Power BI report
6. Channel members can interact with the report (use slicers, drill down, apply filters) directly in Teams without leaving the application

[Insert screenshot of a Microsoft Teams channel with a Power BI report embedded in a dedicated tab, showing the report’s visuals rendered inside the Teams interface with the Teams navigation visible around it]

NoteSharing Reports via Teams Chat

In addition to embedding in a channel tab, you can share a report directly in a Teams chat or channel message:

1. Open the report in the Power BI Service
2. Click Share in the toolbar and select Chat in Teams
3. Type the name of the Teams channel or person you want to share with
4. Add an optional message and click Share
5. The recipient receives a message with an interactive preview card of the report. Clicking it opens the report directly

[Insert screenshot of the Chat in Teams option in the Power BI Service Share menu, alongside a Teams chat message showing the report preview card with the report thumbnail and a link to open it]

Embedding in SharePoint Online

NoteHow to Embed a Report in a SharePoint Page

1. Open the report in the Power BI Service
2. Click File (or the three-dot More options menu) and select Embed report → SharePoint Online
3. Power BI generates a SharePoint embed URL. Copy this URL
4. Navigate to your SharePoint Online page and click Edit to enter page editing mode
5. Add a new web part to the page by clicking the + icon and searching for Power BI
6. Paste the embed URL into the Power BI web part configuration panel and click Publish
7. The report appears embedded on the SharePoint page, fully interactive, for all users who have access to both the SharePoint page and the Power BI report

[Insert screenshot of the SharePoint Online embed URL dialog in the Power BI Service showing the embed URL and copy button, alongside a SharePoint page in edit mode with the Power BI web part added and the report rendering inside the page layout]

NoteEmbedding on a Public Website (Publish to Web)

For reports that contain publicly shareable data and do not require authentication, Power BI’s Publish to web feature generates an embed code that can be placed on any public webpage, allowing anyone on the internet to view the report without signing in.

To generate a Publish to web embed code:

1. Open the report in the Power BI Service
2. Click File → Embed report → Publish to web (public)
3. Power BI displays a warning explaining that the report will be publicly accessible. Confirm that the report does not contain sensitive or confidential data
4. Click Create embed code
5. Copy the iframe embed code or the direct link and paste it into your website’s HTML

[Insert screenshot of the Publish to web dialog showing the public embed warning message, the Create embed code button, and the generated iframe code and link displayed after confirmation]

WarningPublish to Web Makes Data Fully Public

The Publish to web feature removes all authentication. Anyone with the embed link can view the report, including the underlying data it displays. Never use Publish to web for reports containing personal data, financial data, proprietary business data, or any information that should not be publicly accessible. This feature is appropriate only for genuinely public-facing datasets such as government open data, public statistics, or marketing information intended for external audiences.

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17.4 Exporting Content

17.4.1 Export Options

NoteWhen to Export

Interactive Power BI reports in the Service are always preferable for regular consumption because they stay current with data refreshes and allow full exploration. However, exports are necessary when: a recipient does not have a Power BI licence, an attachment is required for an email or regulatory submission, a static snapshot of a specific point in time must be archived, or a visual needs to be embedded in a presentation.

Power BI provides export options for four formats: PDF, PowerPoint, Excel, and CSV. All exports capture the report in its current filter and slicer state at the moment of export.

Export to PDF

NoteExporting a Report as PDF

A PDF export renders each report page as a static page in a PDF document, preserving the visual layout exactly as it appears on screen with all current filter selections applied.

To export to PDF:

1. Open the report in the Power BI Service
2. Click Export in the top toolbar and select PDF
3. Choose whether to export the current page only or all pages
4. Click Export. The PDF is generated and downloaded to your browser’s default download location

Each report page becomes one PDF page. Interactive elements such as slicers, drill-through, and tooltips are not functional in the PDF. Visuals appear exactly as they look at the moment of export.

[Insert screenshot of the Export dropdown menu in the Power BI Service toolbar with PDF highlighted, and the export options panel showing the page selection radio buttons and Export button]

Export to PowerPoint

NoteExporting a Report as a PowerPoint Presentation

A PowerPoint export converts each report page into a PowerPoint slide, suitable for presenting data in meetings or sending as an editable presentation file.

To export to PowerPoint:

1. Click Export → PowerPoint in the Power BI Service toolbar
2. Choose the export format:
   • Export with current values — generates a static image of each report page as a slide. No Power BI connection is required to view the exported file. The data is frozen at the moment of export
   • Export with live data — embeds the Power BI report as an interactive object within each slide. Viewing the live data version requires Microsoft Office and an active Power BI account. The embedded report can be refreshed within PowerPoint to show current data
3. Click Export. A .pptx file is downloaded

[Insert screenshot of the PowerPoint export dialog showing the two export format options (current values vs. live data) as radio buttons with their descriptions, and the Export button]

Export Data to Excel

NoteExporting Visual Data to Excel

The Excel export option extracts the underlying data from a specific visual as a spreadsheet, allowing further analysis or manipulation in Excel. This is not a full dataset export: it exports only the data displayed in the selected visual, filtered to the current report filter and slicer state.

To export a visual’s data to Excel:

1. Hover over the visual in the Power BI Service and click the More options menu (three dots) in the visual header
2. Select Export data
3. Choose the data format:
   • Summarized data — exports the aggregated values shown in the visual (what is visible on screen)
   • Underlying data — exports the row-level data feeding the visual before aggregation, if the report builder has enabled this option
4. Click Export. An .xlsx file is downloaded

[Insert screenshot of the More options menu on a visual in the Power BI Service showing the Export data option, alongside the export format dialog showing the Summarized data and Underlying data options with radio buttons and the Export button]

Export to CSV

NoteExporting Visual Data as CSV

The CSV export works in the same way as the Excel export but produces a plain .csv file rather than a formatted .xlsx spreadsheet. CSV is the preferred format when the exported data will be imported into another system, database, or analytical tool rather than read directly by a human.

To export to CSV:

1. Click the More options menu on the visual
2. Select Export data
3. In the export dialog, select CSV as the file format (available as an option alongside Excel in the file format dropdown)
4. Click Export

[Insert screenshot of the Export data dialog with the File format dropdown open showing both Excel and CSV as options, with CSV selected]

NoteWhat Exports Capture and What They Do Not

All export formats capture the report in its current filtered state. The table below summarizes what each format preserves and what it loses.

Feature	PDF	PowerPoint (Static)	PowerPoint (Live)	Excel / CSV
Visual layout	Yes	Yes	Yes	No (data only)
Current filter state	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Interactivity	No	No	Yes (requires Power BI)	No
Data freshness	Frozen at export	Frozen at export	Live on refresh	Frozen at export
Suitable for printing	Yes	Yes	No	No
Suitable for further analysis	No	No	No	Yes

TipAlways Apply Intended Filters Before Exporting

Before clicking Export, ensure all slicers and filters on the report page are set to the state you want captured in the output. The export engine captures exactly what is visible on screen at the moment of export, including any slicer selections, active page-level filters, and visual-level filters. A common mistake is exporting without realizing a slicer is still set from a previous exploration session, producing an export that shows only a subset of the intended data.

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17.5 Publishing Best Practices

17.5.1 Publishing Best Practices

NoteA Publishing and Sharing Checklist

Before publishing a report and sharing it with others, work through the following checklist to ensure the report is ready for a wider audience.

• All data source credentials are saved in the dataset Settings and a scheduled refresh is configured
• The report is published to the correct workspace with the appropriate audience access
• Row-Level Security roles are defined and users are assigned if the report contains data that should be restricted by user
• All visuals have meaningful titles and tooltips configured
• The report has been tested in Reading view in the Power BI Service (not just in Desktop)
• Slicers are reset to their default state before sharing so new viewers open the report in the intended starting view
• If embedding in Teams or SharePoint, the embed has been tested by a user who is not the report owner
• If exporting, the export was reviewed for correct filter state and data completeness before distribution

ImportantPublishing Is a Responsibility, Not Just a Technical Step

Every published report is a representation of your data and your organization. A report with incorrect numbers, stale data, or misconfigured access is more damaging than no report at all, because it erodes trust in data-driven decision-making. Treat publishing as a deliberate act: validate the data, confirm the audience, test the access, and communicate to recipients what the report shows, how often it refreshes, and who to contact with questions.

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Summary

Concept	Description
Distribute Content
Publish to Service	One-click PBIX publish from Desktop to the Service
Workspaces	Choose where the content lives and who collaborates on it
Apps and Audiences	Audience-based variants of the same app
Direct Sharing	Sharing reports with named users or security groups
Engagement and Governance
External Sharing	Sharing with guests in other tenants under tenant settings
Subscriptions	Scheduled email digests with snapshots of report pages
Email Alerts	Threshold-based alerts on KPI cards
Sharing Best Practices	Right-size workspace roles and avoid public links

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