Create a Power BI report
Power BI reports can be created in either Power BI Desktop or the Power BI service. Of these two options, creating a report in Power BI Desktop is the more common method. When Power BI Desktop is opened and the dialog box offering video tutorials is closed, the user is presented with a blank canvas. The canvas is where a user creates reports and visuals from their data.
Step 1 – Importing data
The user starts by selecting the Get Data option on the ribbon. This option enables the user to choose from the many different data sources to which Power BI Desktop can connect. For example, if the user selects Excel, they're prompted to provide the location of the Excel file that Power BI Desktop will connect to.
Power BI Desktop then loads the workbook, reads its contents, and displays the available data using the Navigator window. The user can choose what data to load into the Power BI Desktop by selecting the check boxes beside each table.
Once the user indicates which tables should be loaded, the data can be viewed in the Fields pane. In many cases, the data will need to be cleaned and transformed to make it more useful and user-friendly. To do so, the user can select the option to edit the data. This option opens the Power Query Editor, which enables the user model the data before loading it into the Fields pane.
Additional reading. For more information, see Query overview in Power BI Desktop.
Step 2 – Creating visualizations
Once the data is loaded or modeled, the user can begin to work with visualizations. In the Visualizations pane, the user must select the type of visualization they want to use. The selected visualization then displays a blank placeholder on the canvas.
Dragging data fields onto the bottom portion of the Visualizations pane builds and organizes the visual. The available fields will change based on the type of visualization that's selected. As the user drags and drops data fields, the visualization is automatically updated to reflect the changes.
Other visualizations can be added to the canvas. Once the file is saved, a .pbix file is created, and a Power BI Desktop report is available to share with others.
Step 3 – Sharing a report
There are several ways to share a report created in Power BI Desktop. The report creator can either:
- distribute the report’s .pbix file like any other file.
- upload the .pbix file to the Power BI service.
- publish the .pbix file directly from the Power BI Desktop to the Power BI service.
The report creator must have a Power BI account to publish or upload reports to the Power BI service. When the user publishes a report, they must select the destination from the list of workspaces. Once the report is published to the Power BI Service, the report creator and the users to which the report has been shared who have edit privileges can create a Dashboard based on the report’s visuals.