Skip to content
Course Content
Lesson 1: Introduction to Power BI:
Understand the basics of Power BI and its components.
0/3
1.1: What is Power BI?
00:43
1.2: Power BI Components
1.3: Real-Life Scenarios & Use Cases
Lesson 2: Data Import and Transformation:
Learn how to import data from various sources and transform it for analysis. This lesson introduces learners to the essential process of importing and preparing data for analysis. Starting with a guided tour of the Power BI Desktop interface, learners become familiar with key components like the ribbon, Fields pane, Visualizations pane, and Filters pane. Using a sample dataset—sales transactions Excel file—this lesson lays the foundation for hands-on learning by showing how to load and preview data. By the end of the lesson, students will be comfortable navigating the workspace and ready to move into transforming and modeling their data.
0/3
2.1: Getting Data into Power BI
2.2: Connecting to Data Sources in Power BI Desktop
2.3: Data Transformation with Power Query in Power BI
Lesson 3: Creating Visualizations and reports
Discover how to create a variety of visualizations, including charts, graphs, and maps.
0/3
3.1: Building Your First Visualizations
3.2: Enhancing and Formatting Visuals in Power BI
3.3: Creating Reports with Multiple Pages
Lesson 4: Sharing and Collaboration:
Explore ways to share your reports and collaborate with others using Power BI.
0/4
4.1 Introduction to the Power BI Service – From Creation to Sharing
4.2: Publishing a Power BI Desktop Report to the Power BI Service (Step-by-Step Guide)
4.3: Creating Dashboards and Sharing Insights
4.4: Power BI Copilot: Interactive Tutorial for Developers and Report Viewers
Case Study & Next Steps
0/1
Power BI Comprehensive Case Study Review
Power BI Beginner Course
About Lesson

In this step-by-step guide, we will walk through how to publish a Power BI Desktop report to the Power BI Service, using My Workspace as the destination. We’ll cover prerequisites, each stage of the publishing process, and how to manage access to the published report. By the end, you’ll know how to get your report online in Power BI so you can access it from anywhere via a browser.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

  • Power BI Account – You need an account for the Power BI Service (sign up for a Power BI Free or Pro account). You must be logged in to Power BI Desktop with this account to publish reports[6][1].
  • Power BI Desktop – Installed on your computer with the report (.pbix file) that you want to publish. If you don’t have Power BI Desktop, download it from Microsoft’s site and create or open a report to publish.
  • Internet Access – Publishing will upload the report to the cloud (Power BI Service), so an internet connection is required.

Steps to Publish a Power BI Report to the Service

  1. Open Power BI Desktop and Sign In: Launch Power BI Desktop and open the report you want to publish (.pbix file). Ensure you are signed in to your Power BI account. You can sign in by clicking the Sign In button on the upper right corner of Power BI Desktop (if you aren’t already signed in)[6]. Power BI Desktop needs an authenticated account to publish to the online service.

  2. Click the Publish Button: Once your report is ready, go to the Home tab in Power BI Desktop and click the Publish button (on the top ribbon bar). This is the last option on the Home toolbar[4]. (You can also access this via File > Publish > Publish to Power BI.) Power BI will prompt you to save any unsaved changes before publishing. If prompted with a save dialog, provide a name (if it’s a new file) and click Save to proceed[4]. After saving, the publish process will begin.

    (Power BI Desktop will ask you to save your work if you haven’t already, then start uploading your report.)

  3. Select a Destination Workspace: After initiating publish, a dialog titled “Publish to Power BI” will appear. You need to choose where in the Power BI Service to publish the report. In this example, select My workspace (this is your personal workspace in the cloud). If you belong to multiple workspaces, you’ll see them listed; choose “My workspace” for now[4]. Then click the Select (or OK) button to confirm. Power BI Desktop will begin uploading the report to My Workspace in your Power BI online account.

    (The publish dialog lets you pick from workspaces you have access to. Here we choose My workspace.)

  4. Wait for the Publishing to Complete: The Power BI Desktop will upload your report (and its underlying dataset) to the cloud. This usually takes a few moments. Once finished, you’ll see a success message confirming that the report was published successfully[4]. The confirmation dialog will typically say “Success!” and provide a link to the report in the Power BI Service. For example, it might show a button or link “Open in Power BI”.

    (Power BI confirms the report is published. You can click the provided link to view it online.)

  5. View the Report in Power BI Service (Online): You can now view the report on the Power BI Service (in your web browser). There are two ways to do this:

    • Click the link from the confirmation dialog: If you clicked the “Open in Power BI” link in the success dialog, your default web browser will launch and take you directly to the report in the Power BI Service[4]. You may be prompted to sign in on the web if you weren’t already.
    • Or, navigate manually: Open your browser and go to https://app.powerbi.com. Sign in with the same account. In the left navigation, click My workspace – this is where you published the report. Under My workspace, go to the Reports section. You should see your report listed there (with the name of your PBIX file)[4]. Click on the report name to open it. You will now see the report exactly as it was in Power BI Desktop, but running in your browser. You can interact with it and even share it from here.

    At this point, your report is live in the cloud. You can access it from anywhere by logging into the Power BI Service in a web browser — no need to have your Power BI Desktop open. The dataset is also published under Datasets in My workspace, allowing you to schedule refreshes or build dashboards on it as needed.

  6. (Optional) Share the Report or Collaborate: By default, reports in My Workspace are private to you – no one else can see what you publish in your personal workspace[1]. If you want others to view or use this report, you have a few options to explicitly share or deploy it:

    • Share the report with specific people: In the Power BI Service, open the report and click the Share button. Enter the email addresses or names of colleagues you want to give access to. Shared users will be able to view (and interact with) the report online, but not edit it[5]. Keep in mind that to share from My Workspace, you (and the recipients) typically need a Power BI Pro license or the report must be in a Premium capacity[1][5]. When you share, the report remains in your My Workspace, but others get a direct link to view it. You can manage permissions later (for example, stop sharing) via the Manage permissions option on the report[4].

    • Publish to a collaborative workspace: For broader team access, consider publishing the report to a Power BI workspace that your colleagues use, instead of My Workspace. Power BI Workspaces are collaborative spaces where teams can work together on dashboards, reports, and datasets[3]. If you publish to a workspace (for example, a workspace called “Sales Team Reports”), everyone who is a member of that workspace will be able to see and (if their role allows) edit the content. Workspaces are ideal for co-authoring and organizing content for projects or departments. From a workspace, you can also deploy the content as an app for easier consumption by a wider audience. In summary, My Workspace is your personal sandbox[2], whereas shared workspaces let multiple users collaborate and view content together.

    Note: If you accidentally published to My Workspace but intended it for others, you can move or republish the content to a different workspace later. Also remember that if you share a report or use collaborative workspaces, all viewers need the appropriate Power BI license or the workspace must be on Premium capacity for them to see the content[1].

By following these steps, you have successfully published a Power BI Desktop report to the Power BI Service. Your report is now stored in the cloud under your account, allowing you to access it from any web browser or even the Power BI mobile app. You’ve also learned that by default the report is private to you, and how you can share it with others or collaborate using workspaces when needed. Happy reporting!

References
Previous
Next