Chapter 9: Using Reports in the Power BI Service

Now that we have published a report to the Power BI service and understood the basics of how to operate within the service, there are many other features of the service that are important to understand. The service has its own extensive feature set, such as sharing and commenting, that adds significant capabilities to Power BI in addition to just using the Desktop version alone. Understanding these features and capabilities will allow us to maximize the value of Power BI for any organization. Chief among these is how to use reports within the service. This chapter explores all of the different features that are available when using reports in the service, including how to collaborate on reports, receive regular updates, use bookmarks, and so on.

To understand the full capabilities of reports within the Power BI service, the following topics are covered in this chapter:

• Viewing and using reports
• Editing and creating reports...

Technical requirements

You will need the following requirements to successfully complete this chapter:

• An internet connection.
• An Office 365 account or Power BI trial account.
• If you have skipped any of the previous chapters, you can download LearnPowerBI.pbix from GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Learn-Power-BI-second-edition.
• Check out the following video to see the Code in Action: https://bit.ly/3F0jqwM

Viewing and using reports

The reporting interface within Power BI provides a number of useful functions when viewing reports. Some of these functions are similar to the features within Power BI Desktop, while others are unique to the service. You will see different options depending on whether you own a report or have read permissions to a report. The features and functionality described here encompass all of the options present as if you owned the report.

The first difference between Power BI Desktop and the Power BI service that most users will notice is that there is a Pages pane located to the left of the report versus the Page tabs in the Desktop version. All pages in the report except for hidden pages will be listed in the Pages pane. This Pages pane can be collapsed or expanded using the << and >> icons, respectively.

The functions for reports within the service can be accessed by using the slim ribbon bar that appears above your report, as shown in the following...

Editing and creating reports

In addition to adding features and capabilities to reports that are published from Power BI Desktop, the Power BI service also includes an interface for editing reports and even building entirely new reports on top of existing datasets. Being able to edit and create reports is dependent upon a user's permissions on the report and dataset. These permissions are covered in detail in Chapter 10, Understanding Dashboards, Apps, Goals, and Security.

Editing reports

To edit a report, follow these steps:

1. While viewing a report, click the Edit link in the ribbon.
2. The report canvas will change to Edit mode. This changes the ribbon so that it provides editing options. It also activates the Visualizations and Fields panes, as shown in the following screenshot:

Figure 9.25 – Editing a report in the service

When in edit mode, the ribbon and layout change to be more similar to Power BI Desktop, with the pages...

Summary

This chapter has been all about using reports in the Power BI service. The service extends the functionality around reports far beyond what is provided in the Desktop version. It does this through enabling collaboration, printing and exporting, embedding, and even the editing and creation of new reports. The service allows report authors and viewers to collaborate through commenting on entire reports or individual visuals. In addition, report users can subscribe to reports in order to receive automated emails containing the current contents of reports.

The service also provides the critical ability to print reports, which is missing from the Desktop version, in addition to allowing reports to be exported in various formats, such as PowerPoint and PDF. The service also allows reports to be securely embedded in other websites and SharePoint Online. Finally, the service allows you to edit reports directly within the service or even create new reports from existing datasets...

Questions

As an activity, try to answer the following questions on your own:

• How do you tag another user in a comment?
• What are the key differences between report bookmarks, personal bookmarks, and persistent filters?
• Which formats can users export Power BI reports to?
• What are three different ways in which reports can be embedded in other websites?
• True or false: Using the Publish to web feature maintains the security of a report.
• Once Publish to web is used, how do you remove an embed link?
• What is the most important thing to remember about editing reports in the Power BI service?

Further reading

To learn more about the topics that were covered in this chapter, please take a look at the following references:

• Embed a report in a secure portal or website: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-embed-secure
• Filter a report using query string parameters in the URL: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-url-filters
• Embed a report web part in SharePoint Online: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-embed-report-spo
• Publish to the web from Power BI: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-publish-to-web
• Announcing Persistent Filters in the Power BI Service: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-persistent-filters-in-the-service/
• Create report bookmarks in Power BI to share insights and build stories: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-bookmarks
• Subscribe others to your reports and dashboards in the Power BI Service: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service...