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Sign in to the Power BI service

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APPLIES TO: Power BI service for business users Power BI service for designers & developers Power BI Desktop Requires Pro or Premium license

Power BI accounts

Before you can sign in to Power BI, you need an account. There are two ways to get a Power BI account. Your organization can purchase Power BI licenses for its employees or individuals can sign up for free trials or personal licenses. This article covers the first scenario.

Sign in for the first time

After you have an account set up, you can sign in and get started in the Power BI service.

Step 1: Open the Power BI service

The Power BI service runs in a browser.

  • If you've received an email from a colleague, with a link to a dashboard or report, select the link to Open this report or Open this dashboard.

    A screenshot that shows an email that contains a link to a report.

  • Otherwise, open your favorite browser and type app.powerbi.com.

    A screenshot that shows a browser with the Power BI web address in the address bar.

Step 2: Type your email address

  1. The first time you sign in, Microsoft asks if you already have a Microsoft 365 account. Select SIGN IN.

    A screenshot that shows the Microsoft 365 sign-in message.

  2. Enter your Microsoft 365 account password. It's the same email and password that you use for other Microsoft products, like Outlook and Office. Depending on how your account is set up, you might be prompted to enter a code that's sent to your email or mobile device.

    A screenshot that shows an Enter password dialog box.

    Sometimes, your global administrator assigns you a license and sends you an email with this information. Look in your inbox for a welcome email and follow the instructions to sign in for the first time. Use this email account for your sign-in.

Step 3: Review the terms and conditions

Review the terms and conditions. If you agree, select the checkbox and then select Start.

A screenshot showing the terms and conditions dialog.

Step 4: Review your Home landing page

On your first visit, Power BI opens your Home landing page. If Home doesn't open, select it from the navigation pane.

A screenshot of the navigation pane with Home outlined.

On Home, you can see all the content that you have permission to use. There might not be much content at first, but that changes as you continue to use Power BI with your colleagues. You can find the report that your colleague emailed to you under Recent on the Home page.

A screenshot showing a report in the Recent section on the Home page.

Reports shared with you're also stored under Shared with me on the Browse page.

Safely interact with content

As a business user, others share content with you and you interact with that content to view data and make business decisions. As you filter, slice, subscribe, export, and resize, your changes don't impact the underlying semantic model or the original shared content. Power BI is a safe space where you can explore and experiment.

That doesn't mean that you can't save your changes. You can, but those changes only affect your view of the content. To revert to the default view, select the Reset button.

A screenshot showing the reset button on the action bar.

Sign out of the Power BI service

When you close or sign out of the Power BI service, your changes are saved so you can pick up where you left off.

To close Power BI, close the browser tab where you're working.

A screenshot showing the x on the browser tab to close Power BI.

If you share a computer, we recommend signing out each time you close Power BI. In the upper right corner, select your profile picture, and then choose Sign out.

A screenshot showing the profile menu and sign out is outlined.

Troubleshooting

  • If you've signed up for Power BI as an individual, sign in with the email address that you used to sign up.

  • Some people use more than one Power BI account. If you do, you're prompted to select an account from a list when signing in.

Next steps

View a Power BI app