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Powerbi PDF

The document provides an overview of Power BI, including: - Power BI Desktop is a free application that allows users to connect to data sources, transform data, build visualizations and reports, and share reports with others. - The Power BI service is the cloud-based component that allows users to publish reports from Power BI Desktop and share them with other Power BI license holders for viewing on the web and mobile devices. - The document reviews the basic functions and workflows of connecting to data, transforming it, building reports visually with charts and graphs, and publishing reports to the Power BI service for sharing.

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Senthil Kumar
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100% found this document useful (1 vote)
713 views169 pages

Powerbi PDF

The document provides an overview of Power BI, including: - Power BI Desktop is a free application that allows users to connect to data sources, transform data, build visualizations and reports, and share reports with others. - The Power BI service is the cloud-based component that allows users to publish reports from Power BI Desktop and share them with other Power BI license holders for viewing on the web and mobile devices. - The document reviews the basic functions and workflows of connecting to data, transforming it, building reports visually with charts and graphs, and publishing reports to the Power BI service for sharing.

Uploaded by

Senthil Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 169

Contents

Get started with Power BI - documentation


Overview
What is Power BI?
What is Power BI Desktop?
What is the Power BI service?
Comparing Power BI Desktop and the service
Concepts
What's new in the latest Power BI Desktop update?
What's new in the Power BI service
Understand the Power BI service
Ten tips for getting help
Licensing
Sign up for Power BI
Features by license type
How-to guides
Get Power BI Desktop
Get started with Power BI Desktop
Reference
Supported languages and countries/regions
Supported browsers
Resources
Videos
Webinars
Power BI Desktop videos
Power BI Desktop updates archive
Power BI Desktop Send a Smile Privacy Statement
2 minutes to read
What is Power BI Desktop?
5 minutes to read • Edit Online

Power BI Desktop is a free application you install on your local computer that
lets you connect to, transform, and visualize your data. With Power BI Desktop,
you can connect to multiple different sources of data, and combine them (often
called modeling) into a data model. This data model lets you build visuals, and
collections of visuals you can share as reports, with other people inside your
organization. Most users who work on business intelligence projects use Power
BI Desktop to create reports, and then use the Power BI service to share their
reports with others.

The most common uses for Power BI Desktop are as follows:

Connect to data
Transform and clean that data, to create a data model
Create visuals, such as charts or graphs, that provide visual representations
of the data
Create reports that are collections of visuals, on one or more report pages
Share reports with others by using the Power BI service

People most often responsible for such tasks are often considered data analysts
(sometimes referred to as analysts) or business intelligence professionals
(often referred to as report creators). However, many people who don't consider
themselves an analyst or a report creator use Power BI Desktop to create
compelling reports, or to pull data from various sources and build data models,
which they can share with their coworkers and organizations.

There are three views available in Power BI Desktop, which you select on the
left side of the canvas. The views, shown in the order they appear, are as
follows:
Report : In this view, you create reports and visuals, where most of your
creation time is spent.
Data : In this view, you see the tables, measures, and other data used in the
data model associated with your report, and transform the data for best use
in the report's model.
Model : In this view, you see and manage the relationships among tables in
your data model.

The following image shows the three views, as displayed along the left side of
the canvas:

Connect to data
To get started with Power BI Desktop, the first step is to connect to data.
There are many different data sources you can connect to from Power BI Desktop.

To connect to data:

1. From the Home ribbon, select Get Data > More .

The Get Data window appears, showing the many categories to which Power BI
Desktop can connect.
2. When you select a data type, you're prompted for information, such as the
URL and credentials, necessary for Power BI Desktop to connect to the data
source on your behalf.
3. After you connect to one or more data sources, you may want to transform
the data so it's useful for you.

Transform and clean data, create a model


In Power BI Desktop, you can clean and transform data using the built-in Power
Query Editor. With Power Query Editor, you make changes to your data, such as
changing a data type, removing columns, or combining data from multiple
sources. It's like sculpting: you start with a large block of clay (or data),
then shave off pieces or add others as needed, until the shape of the data is
how you want it.

To start Power Query Editor:

Select Edit Queries > Edit Queries from the Home ribbon.

The Power Query Editor window appears.


Each step you take in transforming data (such as renaming a table, transforming
a data type, or deleting a column) is recorded by Power Query Editor. Every
time this query connects to the data source, those steps are carried out so
that the data is always shaped the way you specify.

The following image shows the Power Query Editor window for a query that has
been shaped, and turned into a model.

Once your data is how you want it, you can create visuals.

Create visuals
After you have a data model, you can drag fields onto the report canvas to
create visuals. A visual is a graphic representation of the data in your model.
There are many different types of visuals to choose from in Power BI Desktop.
The following visual shows a simple column chart.
To create or change a visual:

From the Visualizations pane, select the visual icon.

If you already have a visual selected on the report canvas, the selected
visual changes to the type you selected.

If no visual is selected on the canvas, a new visual is created based on


your selection.

Create reports
More often, you'll want to create a collection of visuals that show various
aspects of the data you've used to create your model in Power BI Desktop. A
collection of visuals, in one Power BI Desktop file, is called a report. A
report can have one or more pages, just like an Excel file can have one or more
worksheets.

With Power BI Desktop you can create complex and visually rich reports, using
data from multiple sources, all in one report that you can share with others in
your organization.

In the following image, you see the first page of a Power BI Desktop report,
named Overview , as seen on the tab near the bottom of the image.
Share reports
After a report is ready to share with others, you can publish the report to the
Power BI service, and make it available to anyone in your organization who has
a Power BI license.

To publish a Power BI Desktop report:

1. Select Publish from the Home ribbon.

Power BI Desktop connects you to the Power BI service with your Power BI
account.

2. Power BI prompts you to select where in the Power BI service you'd like to
share the report, such as your workspace, a team workspace, or some other
location in the Power BI service.

You must have a Power BI license to share reports to the Power BI service.

Next steps
To get started with Power BI Desktop, the first thing you need is to download
and install the application. There are two ways to get Power BI Desktop:

Get Power BI Desktop from the Windows Store


Download Power BI Desktop from the web
What is the Power BI service?
2 minutes to read • Edit Online

Power BI is a collection of software services, apps, and connectors that work


together to help you create, share, and consume business insights in the way
that serves you and your business most effectively. The Microsoft Power BI
service (app.powerbi.com), sometimes referred to as Power BI online, is the
SaaS (Software as a Service) part of Power BI. In the Power BI service,
dashboards help you keep a finger on the pulse of your business. Dashboards
display tiles, which you can select to open reports for exploring further.
Dashboards and reports connect to datasets that bring all of the relevant data
together in one place.

Need help with understanding the building blocks that make up Power BI? See
Basic concepts for designers in the Power BI service. Or visit our playlist on
YouTube. A good video to start with is Introduction to the Power BI service:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/B2vd4MQrz4M

The other main components of Power BI are the Windows desktop application Power
BI Desktop and the Power BI mobile apps for Windows, iOS, and Android
devices. You and your colleagues can use these three elements—Power BI Desktop,
the service, and the mobile apps—to create, share, and consume business
insights. Read What is Power BI for an overview.

Creating reports in the service


In a typical Power BI workflow, you begin by building a report in Power BI
Desktop, then publishing it to the Power BI service.

This workflow is common, but you can also create Power BI reports right in the
Power BI service. Do you have a subscription to a SaaS (software as a service)
application like Salesforce? Power BI has apps that automatically create
dashboards and reports from your online data. Get a head start by connecting to
Salesforce or check out the other SaaS apps you can connect to. If you're part
of an organization, someone in your organization may have published apps and
distributed them to you.

Sharing your findings


After you've created reports and dashboards, you can share them so end users in
the Power BI service and mobile devices can view and interact with them. Being
able to control how you share your work is one of the most important features
of the Power BI service. You create workspaces where you and your colleagues
can collaborate on reports and dashboards. Then you can bundle and distribute
them as apps. You can also share the datasets themselves, so others can use
them as a basis for their own reports. Read more about ways to share your work
in Power BI.

Next steps
Quickstart for consumers: Learn your way around the Power BI service
Tutorial: Get started with the Power BI service
Quickstart: Connect to data in Power BI Desktop
2 minutes to read
What's new in Power BI Desktop?
2 minutes to read • Edit Online

March 2020 Update (2.79.5768.562)


We feel lucky as a four-leaf clover to share our March Power BI Desktop with
you.

Get the latest version of Power BI Desktop from the Download Center. If you're
running Windows 10, you can also get Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft Store.
Regardless of how you install Power BI Desktop, the monthly versions are the
same, although the version numbering may differ. For more information about
downloading and installing Power BI Desktop, see Get Power BI Desktop.

IMPORTANT
Beginning with the September 2019 release, Power BI Desktop is released only as a single .exe
file, which contains all supported languages. The .msi version is no longer being released.

The links beside each feature in the Power BI Desktop update list are
interpreted as follows:

[blog]: Most features are explained in a section in the monthly update blog
post.
[video]: Some features have a video excerpt that discusses the feature, which
plays in a new browser tab.
[article]: Some features have an article that provides more detail.
The remaining features are self-explanatory and don't need an article or
video.

You can also watch the entire Power BI Desktop monthly update video.

The following updates are new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Reporting
New action types for buttons [video] [blog]
Multi-column sort for tables [video] [blog]
Dual axis for line chart [video] [blog]
Filter pane search [video] [blog]
Updates to decomposition tree visual [video] [article] [blog]
New ribbon is now on by default [video] [article] [blog]

Modeling
New DAX function: COALESCE [video] [article] [blog]

Visuals
Updates to ArcGIS Maps [video] [blog]
New Power BI visuals [video] [blog]

Template apps
Azure DevOps dashboard by Data Maru [video] [blog]
TeamsPower by Encamina [video] [blog]

Data preparation
Query diagnostics now generally available [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
Hive LLAP connector (preview) [video] [blog]
Cognite connector (preview) [video] [blog]

Other features
Enhanced dataset metadata (preview) [video] [article] [blog]
Using default system credentials for web proxy [video] [blog]
New instructor-led administrator in a day training [video] [blog]

For detailed information about each of these new features, see Power BI Desktop
feature summary blog post.

Check out what's new in the Power BI service, and what's new in the mobile apps
for Power BI.

NOTE
See the data sources available to Power BI Desktop. Our list is always growing, so check back
often.

Power BI Desktop monthly update video


The following video describes each of these updates. You can also watch this
video from the blog post:

More videos
Like learning about Power BI through videos and other engaging content? Check
out the following collection of video sources and content:

Power BI channel: a collection of Power BI videos on YouTube.


Guided learning for Power BI: a sequential learning tour of Power BI, in
bite-size pieces.

Updates for previous months


Looking for Power BI Desktop updates for previous months? You can find them in
the Power BI Desktop monthly updates archive.
What's new in the Power BI service
34 minutes to read • Edit Online

Check this page for known issues and recently released features in the
Power BI Service . For related "What's New" information, see:

What's new in business intelligence October '18 release notes from the
Microsoft Business Applications Group: The latest updates to our business
applications.
What's new in Power BI Desktop
What's new in the mobile apps for Power BI
Power BI team blog

Also, check out the YouTube channels for information about "What's new" and
features.

Microsoft Power BI (YouTube)


Guy in a Cube (YouTube)

October 2019
New Power Automate action to refresh Power BI datasets.
Contact list for reports and dashboards in the Power BI service.

Previous months (2019)


September 2019
Updates to connection configuration for template apps.

August 2019
New capacity settings for Power BI Premium.
Custom branding for your organization.
Summarized data export with build permission.
Support for URL parametrs for paginated reports.
Support for monthly e-mail subscriptions.

July 2019
Support for non-premium datasets for paginated reports.
General availability of Power BI aggregations.
Send refresh notifications to others.
Testing tool for Power BI Premium capacities.
Public preview of service availability notifications.
Public preview of the New Look for Power BI reports.
New Power BI region in South Africa.

June 2019
Public preview of Shared and Certified datasets.
AI metrics available in the Premium Capacity Metrics app.
General availability of Power BI template apps.
General availability of paginated reports in Power BI.
Public preview of Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) for Power BI Premium.
Viewer role for the new workspaces experience.

May 2019
Custom navigation for Power BI Apps.
Additional attachments types (PPTX, XLSX, DOCX, CSV, XML) available for
e-mail subscriptions within paginated reports.
Commenting for Power BI reports in the service.

April 2019
General availability of Power BI dataflows.
General availability of the new workspaces experience.
New Power BI regions in France and Korea.
Updated Q&A experience for dashboards.
Support for Azure Analysis Services within paginated reports.
Paginated reports supported in Power BI Apps.
E-mail subscriptions with PDF attachments for paginated reports.
Power BI Premium summary and workload metrics supported in Admin Portal
Query caching available in Power BI Premium.
General availability of Power BI Home.

March 2019
General Availability of Multi-Geo for Power BI Premium.
Editing and managing Power BI content support for Azure B2B.
Public preview of read-only XMLA endpoint.

February 2019
Workloads and active dataset size metrics in Capacity Monitoring app.
Export to PDF for Power BI reports.
On-demand e-mail subscriptions.
Bulk operations in the Admin Portal.
Filtered export for PPT and PDF.
Help and support settings in the Admin Portal.
Data lineage experience for dataflows.
Certified Power BI visuals setting in the Admin Portal.

January 2019
Embedding secure Power BI reports in internal portals or websites.
Updates to dataflows editor with new connectors, and support for native
SQL queries and Power Query Online transformations.
Personal bookmarks in the Power BI service.
Time-based scheduling with e-mail subscriptions.

2018
December 2018
AI-powered recommended apps in Power BI Home.
Workspace management in the Admin Portal.
Preview of Power BI Dataflows and Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2
Integration in dataflows.
Power BI solution templates became open source.

November 2018
Power BI data prep available with dataflows public preview.
Public preview of paginated reports in Power BI Premium.
Data size and count of datasets in memory in the Capacity Monitoring app.

October 2018
Aggregations[desktop-aggregations.md] in the Power BI service.
Power BI expanded to three new regions: Central India, Australia East,
and Central US (Iowa).
Export to PowerPoint made generally available.

September 2018
Dashboard commenting in the Power BI service.
Public preview of Power BI Home and Global Search.
Ability to monitoring queries in the Capacity Monitoring app.

August 2018
Capacity Monitoring app for Power BI Premium.
Power BI Report URL filter improvements.

July 2018
Power BI visuals support for persistent filters.
APIs and PowerShell Cmdlets for Power BI administrators.
Multi-Geo support for Power BI Premium.

June 2018
Sharing reports with filters and slicers.
New and improved user interface for gateway connections and setting up
datasets.

May 2018
Theme dashboards in the Power BI service.
Incremental refresh with Premium.
Request access workflow for Power BI Apps.
Get Data updates to make it easier for users to find Power BI Apps.
Settings to turn on and off Persistent filters in the Power BI service.
Azure B2B invite workflow improvements for reports.

April 2018
Power BI Whitepaper on data protection
Power BI Service audit logs turned-on by default for Office 365 tenant.

March 2018
Persistent filters in the Power BI Service.
Share content with users using their personal e-mail accounts. Extension
of Azure Active Directory B2B.

February 2018
Automatically install Power BI Apps for end users.
P4 and P5 capacities on Power BI Premium
Preview of Organizational Power BI visuals.

January 2018
Share and favorite Power BI reports.
OAuth2 and DirectQuery Single Sign-on Support (SSO) for Azure SQL
Database and Data Warehouse.
In-region auditing: audit logs will now be stored in the same Office 365
region as their tenant.
GA of SharePoint Online Power BI report web part.
Admin control to turn off viewing Power BI visuals for all users in a
tenant.
Scheduled refresh support for Azure Analysis Services (AAS).

Previous months (2017)


October and November 2017
Selective publish of content with Power BI Apps.
External user distribution with Azure Active Directory B2B.
AI-powered app recommendations.
Dashboard on-tile UI updates.
E-mail subscriptions support for apps.
Granular admin control for publish to web.

September 2017
In Premium capacity, share dashboards to users who don't have a Power BI
Pro license.
Allocate capacities to suit your business needs with v-core pooling.
Instantly scale-up or scale-down capacities with one click.
PubNub block to easily push data into REST APIs
Improved load performance for usage metrics.

August 2017
Know your audience with per-user usage metrics.
Get started with Power BI service apps for online services.
Connect to IBM Netezza with the On-premises data gateway through both
import and DirectQuery connectivity modes.
Dynamic RLS now supported for Power BI Embedded.
Advanced filtering API now added for the 1.7 release of Power BI visuals
API.

July 2017
Support for email subscriptions on dashboards.
Inspect and diagnose why the loading time is poor for dashboards using
the Performance Inspector.
Snowflake and SAP BusinessWarehouse DirectQuery now supported for On-
premises data gateway.
New APIs to manage data refresh in Power BI service.

June 2017
Power BI Premium made generally available.
Multiple API improvements to automate scheduled refresh, clone and rebind
reports, update gateway bindings, and much, much more
Relative links in Power BI apps from dashboard tiles to other dashboards
and reports.
Impala connector generally available on Power BI Desktop.
Extend visual capabilities of Power BI with interactive R Power BI
visuals.

April and May 2017


Measure and magnify your impact with usage metrics for dashboard and
report creators.
Connect to PostgreSQL with the On-premises data gateway.
Power BI SharePoint Web Part made available for all users.
Connect Power BI to any data source using the Data Connector SDK.
Navigate to reports with multiple URL filter parameters.
Preview: Use Power BI Apps to widely distribute your dashboards and
reports to large audiences.

March 2017
Fine-tune how Power BI used in your organization with granular admin
controls.
Get more done in less time with the View Related Content pane.
Improved troubleshooting messages for DAX queries.
Exercise more control over your datasets with custom cache refresh
schedules.
Connect to Amazon Redshift.
Browse Power BI visuals in the Office Store.
Preview: Subscribe to report pages to stay on top of your data.
Use the Azure AD Content Pack to learn more about how your employees and
partners are using Azure AD.

February 2017
Navigation Preview improvements – more easily switch between workspaces,
and take action on content within the current workspace.
Embed Power BI dashboards into your custom application.
Preview: Integrate Power BI reports in SharePoint Online.

January 2017
Administer Power BI using the Power BI admin role.
Power BI audit logs in the Office 365 auditing portal are globally
available.
Version 1.4 of developer tools and Power BI visuals APIs released.
Real-time streaming feature set released to general availability.
Push data to Power BI using Power Automate without writing a line of
code.
Preview: Subscribe to report pages to stay on top of your data.
Use the Azure AD Content Pack to learn more about how your employees and
partners are using Azure AD.

2016
November 2016
Preview: Try out the new navigation for the Power BI service, powerbi.com
Preview: Export a Power BI report to PowerPoint.
Preview: Download Power BI reports (PBIX files) from the Power BI service
so you can edit them in Power BI Desktop.
Create a liquid fill gauge, a circle gauge that represents a percentage
value with animated liquid waves.
Explore your Jira project-management data with this Power BI content pack
Explore your Insightcentr data with this Power BI content pack
Create infographics quickly with the infographic designer custom visual
Preview: Azure Stream Analytics outputs Power BI streaming datasets, with
which you can create streaming tiles.
Preview: Add ESRI ArcGIS Maps Visualizations to your reports and
dashboards

October 2016
Take advantage of Power BI integration with the new Microsoft Teams.
Design R visualizations in Power BI without understanding R.
Preview: With Azure Analysis Services, BI professionals can create BI
semantic models based on data that resides in the cloud or on premises,
to provide business users with a simplified view of their data.
The new Power BI Service Administrator Role can be assigned to users who
should have access to the Power BI Admin Portal but not other Office 365
administrative access.
Explore your MYOB Advanced data with Power BI.
How a non-administrator can review the Power BI audit log
Display text columns as ToolTips.

July 2016
RLS graduates from preview

Row Level Security (RLS) lets you restrict data access based on who is
accessing it. Recently we streamlined the process of configuring RLS by
exposing roles and rules in Power BI Desktop. Today, we are happy to
announce that RLS is now generally available for all Power BI Pro users.

Data classification

You can now tag your dashboards with classifications defined by your
company's IT department, raising awareness of those viewing your
dashboards about what level of security should be used.

Analyze your on-premises data in Excel

Analyze in Excel feature has expanded to support on-premises datasets. We


establish a secure and direct connection to your on-premises dataset that
enables you to analyze it in Excel. We also introduced a setting for
admins to turn off the Analyze in Excel feature for on-premises sources.

For all the details, visit the Power BI team blog

June 2016
Quick Insights
Quick Insights work with Complex Filters: We are happy to announce that
Quick Insights scoped to a single tile now understand complex filters.

For all the details, visit the Power BI Team blog

May 2016
Get Data

File size limit increase to 1 GB: We increased the file size limit for
both Excel workbooks and Power BI Desktop files to 1 GB.
Find SSAS servers set up with the Enterprise gateway and other gateway
updates: Now when you set up an Enterprise gateway, users in your company
will be able to access these servers in the Power BI service through the
Get Data page. We also added support for refreshing datasets that include
data from SAP Business Warehouse Server using the gateway and creating
UPN mapping rules when you are using Analysis Services with the gateway.

Row-level security (RLS)

Azure Active Directory (AAD) group support: Users can now assign AAD
groups (security groups and distribution lists) to a role. This makes it
easier to assign roles to a large group of users at once.
Test your RLS roles with reports backed by the data with RLS in place: We
added a feature to our RLS preview that lets you test your dataset as a
specific role. This will make sure the role works as you expect before
any users get their hands on your dashboard.
Define and apply RLS to cloud models based on direct queries: You can now
create and apply RLS rules for direct query data sources.

Dashboards

Favorite dashboards: To help you reach the dashboards you go to most, we


added a way to favorite those dashboards and make them easily accessible
from all your workspaces.

Analyze in Excel

Improved download experience: Easily download updates to the Analyze in


Excel feature through a new dialog experience.
Support for RLS: Once you set up RLS, the rules you apply to the data now
flow through when a user analyzes the data in Excel.
Improved error messaging for on-premises Analysis Services databases:
Previously, if you selected Analyze in Excel for an unsupported data
source, you wouldn't get an error message until after you downloaded the
ODC file and tried to connect to Power BI. Now as soon as you select
Analyze in Excel for a data source we don't support, you'll see a message
letting you know we don't yet support that data source.

For all the details, visit the Power BI Team blog

Power BI Q&A support for SQL Server 2016 Analysis Services tabular
models: We are pleased to announce improvements to the Power BI Q&A user
experience and the start of the public preview for Power BI Q&A for
enterprise gateway connected data sources - starting with support for SQL
Server 2016 Analysis Services tabular models. For all the details, see
the blog post
Local File Support for Excel Reports: You can now upload your Excel files
from your local drive or other storage services and use that Excel Report
just as you would in Excel Online with the added benefits of Power BI.
For all the details, see the blog post

April 28, 2016

Quick Insights on Dashboard Tiles: When viewing a tile in Focus mode,


click Get Insights to search the tile and its related data for
correlations, outliers, trends, seasonality, change points in trends, and
major factors automatically, within seconds.

For all the details, visit the Power BI Team blog

April 26, 2016

Narratives for Power BI: As you interact with your data and
visualizations, this custom visual dynamically delivers insights in
narrative form, just like you'd expect an analyst would write. This
visual is fueled by Narrative Science Quill.

For all the details, visit the Power BI Team blog

April 16, 2016

Microsoft Trust Center: Power BI joined the Microsoft Trust Center, a


single source for documenting compliance certifications for Microsoft
products. Power BI's certifications include ISO 27001, ISO 27018, EU
Model Clauses, HIPAA BAA, and UK G-Cloud.

For all the details, visit the Power BI Team blog

April 14, 2016

Enterprise

Content pack support for RLS (Preview): If RLS is defined for those
dashboards and reports that are distributed as part of a content pack,
then the security rules will be respected for those content packs.

Dashboards

Vimeo video tile: From the dashboard, add a tile that contains an
embedded Vimeo player.

Analyze in Excel

Analyze in Excel available to all users: the ability to access your Power
BI data models in Excel has been extended to all users, regardless of the
license they're assigned.
Improved multi-user account experience: if you have more than one Power
BI user account, it's now easier to sign in.

For all the details, visit the Power BI Team blog

March 31, 2016 Lots of updates announced at the Microsoft Data Insights
Summit.

Dashboards
Featured dashboard: makes it easier to reach the dashboard you care about
most.
Filter dashboard list: show all, show content you created, show content
shared with you.

Enterprise features

Admin usage reporting: added a usage report to the Power BI admin center.
Row-level security: this is a Preview feature that allows you to set
permissions on Power BI datasets.
Disable exporting data: users in your tenant will no longer be able to
export tile and visual data to a .csv file.

Q&A

Auto complete for "is": Q&A will suggest values if you type column name
followed by "is".

Mobile

KPIs on your Apple watch: monitor your KPI and card tiles without having
to open Power BI app.

Excel

Analyze in Excel: connect your Power BI data model to Excel and do your
analysis inside of Excel instead of Power BI.

Other

Power BI in Australia: now anyone in Australia, individual or through an


organization, can go to powerbi.microsoft.com and sign up for Power BI.
Language settings: override the automatic language detection and set the
language for Power BI.

For all the details, visit the Power BI Team blog

March 11, 2016

This month we made some updates to dashboards, Quick Insights, and Q&A.

Dashboards

Full Screen mode: print without having to exit Full Screen mode first
Full Screen mode: expand your tiles to fill the entire canvas and remove
excess white space by selecting Fit to Width
Use Tile Flow to automatically align your tiles to the top-left corner of
the canvas.

Quick Insights

The Trend and Correlation insights now have trend lines to make it easier
to see patterns in the data.

Q&A

You can now specify Gauge and Area charts in Q&A


Improved auto-complete for Q&A - as soon as you type just a few
characters, Q&A begins auto completing and suggesting visuals for you.
For all the details, visit the Power BI Team blog

February 10, 2016

Today we released a long list of top-requested features. Read the blog


post.

Sharing

Share with users outside your organization


Request access to a dashboard

Admin Portal

Easy user management with a link to the Microsoft 365 admin center
Ability to disable publishing to web
Prevent users from publishing content packs to the entire org
Ability to disable sharing content to external users

Quick Insights

Quick Insights when you publish Power BI Desktop files

Dashboard

Add Web content to your dashboard (via Widget)


Add video content to your dashboard (via Widget)
Zoom on dashboards

Connectivity

Connect to files on your team SharePoint site through a URL

For all the details, visit the Power BI Team blog

January 28, 2016

Updates to reports and visualizations:

Add borders to visuals


Add background images to pages and Cartesian chart plot areas

Performance Improvements for report rendering, cross-highlight, etc.

Regardless of the browser version being used, a significant Performance


improvement can be noticed by users when loading reports, switching
between pages, cross-highlighting data across visuals, etc. with this new
update.

January 6, 2016

The Power BI team has been busy over the holiday break. For all the
details, visit the Power BI Team blog

Dashboards

Export tile data


Add an image or text box widget to dashboards
Print dashboards
Refresh time on tiles
Tooltips on dashboard tiles

Collaboration

Shared dashboard notification


Contact owner of a shared or organizational dashboard

Reports

Print current report page


Export report visual data

Connectivity

Connect to files on SharePoint team sites

Excel Reports

Open Excel reports in Excel desktop


Pin Excel charts
Format improvements for Excel tiles

Other

Power BI in Brazil
Hebrew and Arabic support

For all the details, visit the Power BI Team blog

2015
December 16, 2015

Lots of updates this week, most apply to Power BI Desktop but several
significant updates to report authoring and visualizations as well. The
Power BI Team Blog contains full descriptions and even a video describing
the updates.

Download Power BI Desktop

Updates to the report authoring formatting pane and ribbon:

1. Format data labels per category series


2. Change number of decimal places showed in visuals
3. Change text size in visuals
4. Ability to lay out visuals accurately: alignment, distribute, size,
position (requires Power BI Desktop for authoring)
5. Set styles across multiple visuals through Format Painter (requires
Power BI Desktop for authoring)
Enhancements to visualizations:

1. visuals cue for sort state in Table visual


2. new visual: Stacked Area chart
3. smart tooltips for Area and Line charts on hover
4. ability to create Reference line/region for a Cartesian visual
5. improved data labels for pie and scatter chart
R visuals integration in Desktop (Preview feature)
Desktop will suggest table to table relationships when trying to
create 2 tables which are not related.

Desktop optimized Home ribbon layout.

Desktop data modeling updates in Relationships View:

1. zooming slider
2. fit zoom to
3. reset layout
4. ability to zoom in using Ctrl-Mouse selection rectangle
Desktop data connectivity enhancements

1. SSAS Multidimensional support - Hierarchies support (Preview


Feature)
2. Stripe Connector
3. Smartsheet Connector
4. "Enter Data": Paste or enter data to create a table
5. DirectQuery Improvements: Support for all data types of T-SQL and
SAP HANA, resulting in Performance improvements.
6. ODBC Connector: Support for selecting User/System DSNs
7. CSV Connector: Ability to specify Column Delimiter in the Source
dialog

For all the details, including a video demonstrating many of these updates,
visit the Power BI Blog.

December 10, 2015

Pin report pages to dashboard

Refresh dashboard tiles

Use images in slicers

Change interactions between report visuals

For all the details, visit the Power BI Blog.

December 8, 2015

QR codes in Power BI

December 3, 2015

Automatically discover trends and uncover patterns in a dataset with


Quick Insights: video or article
Visualize your VMob data in Power BI
Preview of Power BI gateway for enterprise
Introducing a new content pack: Search Analytics from Bing on Power BI
dashboards
New Developer-focused enhancements: Two new APIs and easier app
registration

November 24, 2015

Pin Excel ranges to dashboards


Chromeless full screen mode for dashboards and reports
Know where your data is stored
Improved loading of on-premises reports
Share dashboards directly to another user's workspace
Improved Google Analytics connector experience
Close your Power BI account

For all the details, visit the Power BI Blog

November 18, 2015

Create a duplicate dashboard


Freely position dashboard tiles
Improved navigation for full screen view
Better experience when inviting peers from your organization to Power BI
groups
Improved error messages for tiles

For all the details, visit the Power BI Blog

November 11, 2015

New site for Power BI documentation, localized


Improved load time for reports
Update organizational content packs with report-only changes
Power BI health status in Microsoft 365 admin center
KPIs and images in tables, matrices, and cards

For all the details, visit the Power BI Blog

November 3, 2015

Guided Power BI purchase experience.


Individuals can buy Power BI Pro.
Duplicate report page.

For all the details, visit the Power BI Blog

October 28, 2015

Share dashboards with Active Directory Security groups


People picker
Sharing with a large number of email addresses
Collapse nav pane through an URL parameterized

For all the details, visit the Power BI Blog

October 20, 2015

Read-only members in Power BI groups


Featured questions in Q&A
Full screen pop-out mode for report visualizations

For all the details, visit the Power BI blog

October 13, 2015


Full screen mode to display your dashboards and reports on big screen TVs
'Fit to screen' support in full screen mode to display your entire
dashboard in the available space
In-focus mode to get more details on dashboard tiles
Ability to view last update time for each tile
Ability to view the source for each tile
Planview Enterprise is an end-to-end portfolio and resource management
solution that connects strategy to execution, improving decision-making
across the enterprise. The Planview Enterprise content pack for Power BI
allows you to visualize your resource and work management data in an
entirely new way. Simply sign in with your credentials and begin to
interactively explore your portfolio investment spend, budget status, and
how well your projects align with strategic priorities.

View our blog and online documentation to learn more.

October 6, 2015

With Power BI Q&A, you can explore your data using simple, intuitive
questions and receive answers in the form of interactive charts and
graphs. With this release, we have added a feature to help you get
started with Power BI Q&A, even when you do not know anything about the
data. To get started with this, navigate to any dashboard and click the
"How to ask" link near the Q&A question box. Power BI presents you with a
number of suggestions based on your data.
Two weeks ago, we introduced support for inserting shapes into the report
canvas in Power BI Desktop. This week, we are happy to announce that you
can now add shapes to your report canvas when you are authoring and/or
editing reports in the Power BI web app.
We have added the option to turn off email notification when you share a
dashboard. Simply uncheck the "Send email notification to recipients"
check box in the Power BI share dialog. You will be presented with a URL
– copy and share this URL to your colleagues to give them access to the
dashboard.
Microsoft Dynamics NAV is a business management solution for small to
medium organizations. It offers customers a full solution for their
business with greater control over their financials and business
processes. The Power BI content pack provides out-of-box reports for
Dynamics NAV users, such as sales and profit, opportunities pipeline,
profitability and more. These metrics are organized on a dashboard that
can be fully customized, allowing you to easily connect and immediately
start exploring your data.

Check out the blog and online documentation for more information.

September 29, 2015

With this week's service update, when creating new reports you can now
choose from multiple page sizes as well as define your own page size.
This controls the size and aspect ratio of each page in the report.
We added additional visual formatting support for images and bubble
charts. You can lock the aspect while resizing images to avoid image
distortion and scatter chart bubbles can be configured to be filled or
not.
Today, Power BI will send sharing invites to an alternate email address.
When a dashboard is shared with you, we will send the sharing invite link
both to your original email address and to your alternate email address
(if you have it configured).
Power BI is available to all customers including those on the Dedicated
on Multitenant (DonMT) O365 architecture. You will be using Power BI as a
shared service in multi-tenant mode. In most cases, you can register for
Power BI by following the simple self-service-signup process – just enter
your work email address, enter your name and password to get started. If
you are the tenant administrator, you can assign licenses to your users
using the instructions here.
Azure Audit Logs allows you to view control-plane operational logs in
your Azure subscription. The Power BI Azure Audit Logs content pack can
help you easily analyze and visualize the wealth of information contained
in these logs. The content pack allows you to connect to your data and
begin to discover insights with the out-of-the box dashboard and reports.
Read our blog and online documentationfor more information.

Learn more in our blog.

September 22, 2015

Have more flexibility on your dashboard to customize your dashboards with


additional tile sizes, ranging from 1x1 to 5x5.
You can now share (and un-share) a dashboard from your group space
exactly the way you would do it in your own space. Once colleagues accept
your sharing invitation, the shared dashboard (and their associated
reports) will be added in their own space with read-only permission.
We added 5 additional industry related samples to Power BI: Customer
Profitability, Human Resources, Opportunity Analysis, Procurement
Analysis, and Sales and Marketing Sample.
Stripe is an advanced payment platform for online businesses. From start-
ups to Fortune 500 companies, thousands of businesses use Stripe to
accept payments in over 130 currencies, from anyone in the world. By
connecting Power BI with your existing Stripe account, you'll be able to
use the Power BI Stripe content pack to monitor, explore, and visualize
your Stripe activity.

Learn more in our blog.

September 15, 2015

You can now choose which dashboard you want to pin your visual to! You
can choose the target dashboard from your existing dashboards, or even
create a new dashboard and pin the visual to it in one shot.
Additionally, you can control your visual colors in the dashboard. If
your report is using a different theme from the dashboard theme, you can
control whether the visual retains current theme, or uses the default
dashboard theme to achieve consistency across visuals from various
sources.
You can now simply pin the tile from one dashboard to another, the same
way you would pin a report visual to a dashboard.
If your 60-day Power BI Pro trial period is close to expiration, you can
contact us to request an extension to your trial. If approved, your trial
will be extended for another 60 days.
comScore Digital Analytix is an online solution that provides insights
into your user base through the best of analytics and audience
demographics. With the Power BI comScore content pack, you can quickly
connect and begin gaining insights into your web analytics data. This
content pack includes an out-of-the box dashboard, a set of reports, and
a curated data set to help you explore and drill into your data. Learn
more about the content pack in our blog and help topic.

September 8, 2015

Friendly Hyperlinks now allow you to provide links for your users without
needing to display the entire URL in the textbox.
Drill Support has been added to Power BI Reports. You can create a Drill
path that enables users to navigate from one level of data to related
data.
Two new Industry Related Samples, It Spend Analysis and Supplier Quality
Analysis, have been added under the samples section of the Get Data
experience. These samples are great examples of how you can use your data
to create insightful reports and dashboards.
We have a new content pack for tyGraph, which allows you to easily gain
deeper insights into your Yammer data. The content pack includes a
dashboard, a set of reports and a curated dataset to explore and provide
insights such as the Measure of Active Engagement (The MAE Score) and
content consumption metrics such as File Views and File Downloads. Learn
more on our blog and help topic.

September 1, 2015

Webtrends helps companies make sense of their customer data to drive


digital marketing success. Users have the ability to observe, analyze and
deliver insights on the visitor journey across web, social, mobile and
SharePoint channels. With the release of the Webtrends content pack,
users will now have the ability to use Power BI to monitor, analyze, and
visualize their Webtrends analytics data. The Webtrends content pack for
Power BI help page has more information.
Getting started with Q&A is even simpler. The moment you put your cursor
inside the Q&A text box, we instantly display a list of questions and key
metrics that are relevant to your data. In the drop down, by default, you
will see the questions for tiles already pinned to the dashboard as well
as an entry for each table you have in your dataset.
The dynamic canvas size we display by default renders all our report
items with optimal dimensions for the browser window size. If you want to
lock in the aspect ratio, or want to fit your report in a different way,
we now support another three options for you: Fit to Page, Fit to Width,
and Actual Size.
We also Increased the limit on the number of datasets and reports you can
have. You can now have up to 200 datasets and 200 reports for each
dataset in your Power BI account.

August 18, 2015


Azure Mobile Engagement is an app analytics service that allows
developers to track their application's performance helping them increase
retention and app usage. Using the Power BI Azure Mobile Engagement
content pack you can quickly connect to an out-of-box dashboard, a set of
reports and a curated data set, and instantly get insights into how well
your app is doing. Please see the Azure Mobile Engagement content pack
for Power BI help page for more information.

August 11, 2015

Mandrill is an email infrastructure service developed by MailChimp that


lets you analyze your email campaigns from a wide variety of information.
With the Power BI Mandrill content pack, you can quickly connect to your
Mandrill data and immediately gain insights into your newsletter or
marketing campaign. For additional details on how to get started, please
see the Mandrill content pack for Power BI help page.

August 4, 2015

Power BI now offers Circuit ID users the ability to track and monitor all
their Circuit ID cloud communications services, empowering them to make
the right business decisions. For additional details on how to get
started, please see the Circuit ID content pack for Power BI help page.
Today we've released an enhancement to the Share Dashboard feature to
make it even easier to use. If your organization uses Office 365 for
email, you can now share to an email distribution group just the same way
you would send an email in Outlook. Just enter the address of the
distribution group and click Share. All members of the distribution group
will receive an email invitation to view the dashboard.

July 28, 2015

We're excited to announce that this week's update to Power BI now offers
database performance tracking with the SQL Sentry content pack. This
content pack includes a dashboard and reports that help you monitor the
SQL Server deployments you track using the SQL Sentry Cloud. For
additional details on how to get started, please see the SQL Sentry
content pack for Power BI help page.

July 24, 2015

We're excited to announce our "general availability" (GA) release of


Power BI. Sign up today for Power BI Pro. As part of the GA release, we
are offering some great new features:
A new visualization and report creation experience: The new reporting
canvas has a larger selection of visualizations, more control over
formatting of titles, legends, axes, colors, backgrounds, and more.
Power BI groups: groups offer a powerful collaborative experience built
on Office 365 groups.
Organizational content packs: Power BI makes creating dashboards and
reports extremely simple, and now users can publish this content to the
organizational content gallery.
Bring in whole Excel files: You can bring any Excel workbook stored on
OneDrive for Business into Power BI and view the entire workbook, exactly
as you would in Excel Online.
Bring in CSV files: Just like Excel or Power BI Desktop file, a comma-
separated values text (CSV) file can also be a dataset for your Power BI
dashboards and reports.
Replace Excel, Power BI Desktop, and CSV files: you can upload an updated
version of a file to Power BI and it will replace the existing dataset.
All the reports and dashboards that are connected to this dataset now
automatically use the new version.
We're excited to announce that this week's update to Power BI now offers
work item tracking in the Visual Studio Online content pack. This update
includes a new dashboard, report and an updated data set offering
insights on your work items in addition to important metrics about your
Git repository, pull requests, and version control content included in
the initial version. For additional details on how to get started, please
see the Visual Studio Online content pack for Power BI help page.

July 14, 2015

Acumatica Cloud ERP delivers a suite of fully integrated business


management applications such as Financials, Distribution, CRM and Project
Accounting, powered by a robust and flexible platform. With the Power BI
Acumatica content pack, you can quickly connect and immediately gain
insights into your opportunity data. This content includes an out-of-box
dashboard, a set of reports and a curated dataset to explore and provide
details such as your total won opportunities by date. Read more here.
Azure HDInsight now offers a fully managed Spark service. This capability
allows for scenarios such as iterative machine learning and interactive
data analysis. Power BI allows you to directly connect to the data in
Spark on HDInsight offering simple and live exploration. Read our help
doc for more information.
Office 365 navigation and application launcher integration. With a single
click, you can now navigate to all of your Office 365 applications.
Specifying a custom URL that users navigate to when they click a tile.
You now have the ability to control exactly where users go: a specific
report, another dashboard, an SSRS report, or an external website.
Visibility and management of the storage you are consuming in Power BI
Configuring the visual and fields displayed in Q&A

July 7, 2015

One of the most awaited and requested feature is now available in Power
BI. Starting today, in Power BI you can refresh datasets connecting to
your on-premises sources such as SQL Server. You can refresh a dataset
that has been created from a Power BI Designer file or an Excel workbook
with data imported into the workbook using Power Query or Power Pivot.

June 30, 2015

We released a new Power BI UserVoice content pack that can help you
monitor and visualize your UserVoice data and immediately gain insights
into it with the ready-to-use dashboard and report.

June 23, 2015

Power BI Desktop files can be refreshed (scheduled refresh & refresh now)
when uploaded to the Power BI service.
We are releasing the biggest visual change to Power BI since December: a
cleaner and simpler experience to Get Data. When you click on Get Data,
you are now presented a single screen with a set of categories to choose
from. This will make it even easier to find the content that matters to
you.
Azure SQL Data Warehouse offers elastic scale and massive parallel
processing. With the limited public preview announced today, Power BI
allows you to directly connect to the data stored in your Azure SQL Data
Warehouse offering simple and dynamic exploration. After creating a
connection to your data warehouse, queries are generated in real time and
sent back to the source as you explore the data. This removes the need to
create and upload a custom data model and offers interactive exploration
of your data.

June 16, 2015

SweetIQ lets you easily track your local listings by providing location
and review data from your local search ecosystem. Power BI allows you to
analyze and monitor that data, by offering out of box content built from
your SweetIQ data. For additional details on how to get started, please
see the SweetIQ content pack for Power BI help page.

June 2, 2015

Now tracking important statistics about your apps is easy with Power BI
and the appFigures content pack. For additional details on how to connect
and get started, see the documentation for appFigures content pack for
Power BI.

May 28, 2015

Get quick insights into your QuickBooks Online account data using our
content pack. For additional details on how to connect and get started,
see the QuickBooks Online content pack for Power BI documentation.

May 13, 2015

You can connect directly to data stored in your Azure SQL Database . We
dynamically generate and send down queries to the source, allowing you to
create interactive reports directly over your database. You can read the
blog post and documentation for more information.

May 7, 2015

We updated our look to a new modern design, a look that is fresh and
distinctive while keeping your focus on what matters: your data and your
insights.

April 28, 2015

Power BI is now available in 44 languages . Read our blog post to see


the full list.

April 23, 2015

You can now visualize and explore your Microsoft Dynamics Marketing
data with our new content pack! You can read our blog post for more
information.

April 15, 2015

You can now visualize and explore your Google Analytics data with our
new content pack! With the Google Analytics content pack you will get a
dashboard, report and dataset that allow you to gain insights into the
usage of your site in the last 6 months. You can read our blog post.
You can now pin all cards expect those containing KPIs and Images from
Q&A and reports
You can now use cards in Q&A by using the phrase 'as card' at the end
of your query

March 31, 2015

GitHub dashboards have new visuals that focus on community building,


improved calculations, and improved layout
SendGrid dashboards have new visuals and a new layout to help you find
better insights
You can now use treemaps in Q&A by using the phrase 'as treemap' at the
end of your query
You can now pin treemaps from Q&A and reports
Lots of bug fixes!

February 25, 2015

Bug fixes and improvements to user experience and reliability.

January 26, 2015

Service usability and reliability have been improved through various bug
fixes.

2014
December 11, 2014

Reliability of refresh with OneDrive has been improved. Some situations


where workbooks were not refreshing from OneDrive have been resolved.

Next steps
What is Power BI?

More questions? Try asking the Power BI Community


Basic concepts for designers in the
Power BI service
13 minutes to read • Edit Online

The aim of this article is to orient you to the Power BI service: what the
different elements are, how they work together, and how you can work with them.
You may get more out of it if you've already signed up for the Power BI service
and added some data. As a designer, your typical workflow is usually to start
by creating reports in Power BI Desktop. Then you publish them to the Power BI
service, where you can continue modifying them. You also create the dashboards
based on your reports in the Power BI service.

For this article, if you don't have your own reports yet try installing a Power
BI sample content pack.

When you open the Power BI service in a browser, you start at your Home screen.
Here are the elements you may see:

1. Navigation pane
2. Office 365 app launcher
3. Power BI home button
4. Icon buttons, including settings, help, and feedback
5. Search box
6. Favorite and frequent dashboards, reports, and workspaces
7. Recent dashboards, reports, and workspaces
8. Your workspaces

You and the end users for your reports and dashboards have the same start
experience in the Power BI service in a browser.

We'll dig into these features later, but first let's review some Power BI
concepts. Or you might want to watch this video first. In the video, Will
reviews the basic concepts and gives a tour of the Power BI service.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/B2vd4MQrz4M

Power BI concepts
The five major building blocks of Power BI are: dashboards, reports, workbooks,
datasets, and dataflows. They're all organized into workspaces, and they're
created on capacities. It's important to understand capacities and workspaces
before we dig into the five building blocks, so let's start there.

Capacities
Capacities are a core Power BI concept representing a set of resources
(storage, processor, and memory) used to host and deliver your Power BI
content. Capacities are either shared or dedicated. A shared capacity is shared
with other Microsoft customers, while a dedicated capacity is fully committed
to a single customer. Dedicated capacities require a subscription, and are
fully described in the Managing Premium capacities article.

By default, workspaces are created on a shared capacity. In shared capacity,


workloads run on computational resources shared with other customers. As the
capacity must share resources, limitations are imposed to ensure "fair play",
such as the maximum model size (1 GB) and maximum daily refresh frequency
(eight times per day).

Workspaces
Workspaces are created on capacities. Essentially, they are containers for
dashboards, reports, workbooks, datasets, and dataflows in Power BI.

There are two types of workspaces: My workspace and workspaces.

My workspace is the personal workspace for any Power BI customer to work


with your own content. Only you have access to your My workspace. You can
share dashboards and reports from your My Workspace. If you want to
collaborate on dashboards and reports, or create an app, then you want to
work in a workspace.

Workspaces are used to collaborate and share content with colleagues. You
can add colleagues to your workspaces and collaborate on dashboards,
reports, workbooks, and datasets. With one exception, all workspace
members need Power BI Pro licenses. Read more about the new workspaces.

Workspaces are also the places where you create, publish, and manage apps
for your organization. Think of workspaces as staging areas and containers
for the content that will make up a Power BI app. So what is an app? It's
a collection of dashboards and reports built to deliver key metrics to the
Power BI consumers in your organization. Apps are interactive, but
consumers can't edit them. App consumers, the colleagues who have access
to the apps, don't necessarily need Pro licenses.

To learn more about sharing in general, start with Ways to share dashboards
your work.

Now, on to the five Power BI building blocks.


Dataflows
A dataflow helps organizations to unify data from disparate sources. They are
optional, and are often used in complex or larger projects. They represent data
prepared and staged for use by datasets. However, they can't be used directly
as a source for reporting. They leverage the extensive collection of Microsoft
data connectors, enabling the ingestion of data from on-premises and cloud-
based data sources.

Dataflows are only created and managed in workspaces (but not My Workspace),
and they are stored as entities in the Common Data Model (CDM) in Azure Data
Lake Storage Gen2. Typically, they're scheduled to refresh on a recurring basis
to store up-to-date data. They're great for preparing data for use—and
potential re-use—by your datasets. For more information, see the Self-service
data prep in Power BI article.

You can't have dashboards or reports without data (well, you can have empty
dashboards and empty reports, but they're not useful until they have data), so
let's now introduce datasets .

Datasets
A dataset is a collection of data that you import or connect to. Power BI lets
you connect to and import all sorts of datasets and bring all of it together in
one place. Datasets can also source data from dataflows.

Datasets are associated with workspaces and a single dataset can be part of
many workspaces. When you open a workspace, the associated datasets are listed
under the Datasets tab. Each listed dataset represents a single source of
data, for example, an Excel workbook on OneDrive, or an on-premises SSAS
tabular dataset, or a Salesforce dataset. There are many different data sources
supported, and we’re adding new ones all the time. See the list of dataset
types that you can use with Power BI.

In the example below, I've selected the "Sales and marketing" workspace and
clicked the tab for Datasets .

ONE dataset...
can be used over and over in one or in many workspaces.

can be used in many different reports.

Visualizations from that one dataset can display on many different


dashboards.

To connect to or import a dataset, select Get Data at the bottom of the nav
pane. Follow the instructions to connect to or import the specific source and
add the dataset to the active workspace. New datasets are marked with a yellow
asterisk. The work you do in Power BI doesn't change the underlying dataset.

Datasets added by one workspace member are available to the other workspace
members with an admin, member, or contributor role.

Datasets can be refreshed, renamed, explored, and removed. Use a dataset to


create a report from scratch or by running quick insights. To see which reports
and dashboards are already using a dataset, select View related . To explore a
dataset, select it. What you're actually doing is opening the dataset in the
report editor where you can really start exploring into the data by creating
visualizations.

Now, let's move on to the next topic—reports.

Dig deeper
Datasets in the Power BI service
Dataset modes in the Power BI service
What is Power BI Premium?
Get data for Power BI
Sample datasets for Power BI

Reports
A Power BI report is one or more pages of visualizations such as line charts,
maps, and treemaps. Visualizations are also called visuals . All of the
visualizations in a report come from a single dataset. You can create reports
from scratch within Power BI, import them with dashboards that colleagues share
with you, or Power BI can create them when you connect to datasets from Excel,
Power BI Desktop, databases, and SaaS applications. For example, when you
connect to an Excel workbook that contains Power View sheets, Power BI creates
a report based on those sheets. And when you connect to an SaaS application,
Power BI imports a pre-built report.

There are two modes to view and interact with reports: Reading view and Editing
view. When you open a report, it opens in Reading view. If you have edit
permissions, then you see Edit report in the upper-left corner, and you can
view the report in Editing view. If a report is in a workspace, everyone with
an admin, member, or contributor role can edit it. They have access to all the
exploring, designing, building, and sharing capabilities of Editing view for
that report. The people they share the report with can explore and interact
with the report in Reading view.

When you open a workspace, the associated reports are listed under the Reports
tab. Each listed report represents one or more pages of visualizations based on
only one of the underlying datasets. To open a report, select it.

When you open an app, you're presented with a dashboard. To access an


underlying report, select a dashboard tile (more on tiles later) that was
pinned from a report. Keep in mind that not all tiles are pinned from reports,
so you may have to click a few tiles to find a report.

By default, the report opens in Reading view. Just select Edit report to open
it in Editing view (if you have the necessary permissions).

In the example below, I selected the "Sales and marketing" workspace and
clicked the tab for Reports .

ONE report...

is contained in a single workspace.

can be associated with multiple dashboards within that workspace. Tiles


pinned from that one report can appear on multiple dashboards.

can be created using data from one dataset. Power BI Desktop can combine
more than one data source into a single dataset in a report, and that
report can be imported into Power BI.

Dig deeper
Create a report in the Power BI service by importing a dataset
Optimize reports for the Power BI mobile apps
Dashboards
A dashboard is something you create in the Power BI service or something a
colleague creates in the Power BI service and shares with you. It is a single
canvas that contains zero or more tiles and widgets. Each tile pinned from a
report or from Q&A displays a single visualization that was created from a
dataset and pinned to the dashboard. Entire report pages can also be pinned to
a dashboard as a single tile. There are many ways to add tiles to your
dashboard; too many to be covered in this overview topic. To learn more, see
Dashboard tiles in Power BI.

Why do people create dashboards? Here are just some of the reasons:

to see, in one glance, all the information needed to make decisions.


to monitor the most-important information about your business.
to ensure all colleagues are on the same page, viewing and using the same
information.
to monitor the health of a business or product or business unit or marketing
campaign, etc.
to create a personalized view of a larger dashboard -- all the metrics that
matter to you.

When you open a workspace, the associated dashboards are listed under the
Dashboards tab. To open a dashboard, select it. When you open an app, you'll
be presented with a dashboard. Each dashboard represents a customized view of
some subset of the underlying dataset(s). If you own the dashboard, you'll also
have edit access to the underlying dataset(s) and reports. If the dashboard was
shared with you, you'll be able to interact with the dashboard and any
underlying reports, but will not be able to save any changes.

There are many different ways that you, or a colleague, can share a dashboard.
Power BI Pro is required for sharing a dashboard and may be required for
viewing a shared dashboard.

ONE dashboard...

is associated with a single workspace

can display visualizations from many different datasets

can display visualizations from many different reports

can display visualizations pinned from other tools (for example, Excel)

Dig deeper
Create a blank dashboard and then get some data .
Duplicate a dashboard
Create a phone view of a dashboard

Workbooks
Workbooks are a special type of dataset. If you've read the Datasets section
above, you know almost all you need to know about workbooks. But you may be
wondering why sometimes Power BI classifies an Excel workbook as a Dataset and
other times as a Workbook .

When you use Get data with Excel files, you have the option to Import or
Connect to the file. When you choose Connect, your workbook will appear in
Power BI just like it would in Excel Online. But, unlike Excel Online, you’ll
have some great features to help you pin elements from your worksheets right to
your dashboards.

You can’t edit your workbook in Power BI. But if you need to make some changes,
you can click Edit, and then choose to edit your workbook in Excel Online or
open it in Excel on your computer. Any changes you make are saved to the
workbook on OneDrive.

Dig deeper
Get data from Excel workbook files
Publish to Power BI from Excel

A dashboard in My Workspace
We've covered workspaces and building blocks. Let's bring it together and
review the pieces that make up the dashboard experience in the Power BI
service.

1. Navigation pane
Use the nav pane to locate and move between your workspaces and the Power BI
building blocks: dashboards, reports, workbooks, and datasets.
Select Get Data to add datasets, reports, and dashboards to Power BI.

Expand and collapse the nav pane with this icon .


Open or manage your favorite content by selecting Favorites .
View and open your most-recently visited content by selecting Recent
View, open, or delete an app by selecting Apps .
Did a colleague share content with you? Select Shared with me to search and
sort that content to find what you need.
Display and open your workspaces by selecting Workspaces .

Single-click these elements:

an icon or heading to open in content view


a right arrow (>) to open a flyout menu for Favorites, Recent, and
Workspaces.
a chevron icon to display the My Workspace scrollable list of dashboards,
reports, workbooks, and datasets.

2. Canvas
Because we've opened a dashboard, the canvas area displays visualization tiles.
If for example, we had opened the report editor, the canvas area would display
a report page.

Dashboards are composed of tiles. Tiles are created in report Editing view,
Q&A, other dashboards, and can be pinned from Excel, SSRS, and more. A special
type of tile called a widget is added directly onto the dashboard. The tiles
that appear on a dashboard were specifically put there by a report
creator/owner. The act of adding a tile to a dashboard is called pinning.
For more information, see Dashboards (above).

3. Q&A question box


One way to explore your data is to ask a question and let Power BI Q&A give you
an answer, in the form of a visualization. Q&A can be used to add content to a
dashboard or report.

Q&A looks for an answer in the dataset(s) connected to the dashboard. A


connected dataset is one that has at least one tile pinned to that dashboard.

As soon as you start to type your question, Q&A takes you to the Q&A page. As
you type, Q&A helps you ask the right question and find the best answer with
rephrasings, autofill, suggestions, and more. When you have a visualization
(answer) you like, pin it to your dashboard. For more information, see Q&A in
Power BI.

4. Icons in the black header bar


The icons in the upper right corner are your resource for settings,
notifications, downloads, getting help, turning the New look on or off, and
providing feedback to the Power BI team.

5. Dashboard title (navigation path, or breadcrumbs)


It's not always easy to figure out which workspace and dashboard are active, so
Power BI creates a navigation path for you. In this example, we see the
workspace (My workspace) and the dashboard title (Retail Analysis Sample). If
we opened a report, the name of the report would be appended to the end of the
navigation path. Each section of the path is an active hyperlink.

Notice the "C" icon after the dashboard title. This dashboard has a data
classification tag of "confidential." The tag identifies the sensitivity and
security level of the data. If your Admin has turned on data classification,
every dashboard will have a default tag set. Dashboard owners should change the
tag to match their dashboard's proper security level.

6. Office 365 app launcher


With the app launcher, all your Office 365 apps are easily available with one
click. From here, you can quickly launch your email, documents, calendar, and
more.

7. Power BI home
Selecting Power BI brings you back to your Power BI home.

8. Labeled icons in the gray menu bar


This area of the screen contains additional options for interacting with the
content (in this case, with the dashboard). Besides the labeled icons you can
see, selecting the More options (…) reveals options for duplicating,
printing, refreshing the dashboard and more.

Next steps
What is Power BI?
Power BI videos
Report editor - take a tour
More questions? Try asking the Power BI Community
10 tips for getting help with your
Power BI questions
3 minutes to read • Edit Online

Do you ever get frustrated using Power BI, or struggle because you can't get
answers to your Power BI questions when you need them -- i.e. "just-in-time"?

Here are 10 tips that Power BI experts (including people who work on the
product at Microsoft) commonly follow to find answers to their Power BI
questions.

1 Use a search engine


Experts who need answers for Power BI often use search. Want to find a DAX
formula for a common business calculation? You can find this on the internet.
Bookmark where you find the best answers. Create a folder for yourself on tips
and answers you find.

2 Check the Power BI documentation


The Power BI team is continually updating and improving the Power BI
documentation and training. You can find great content including recordings of
webinars, white papers, guided learning, and links to blog posts on all the
latest features.

3 Read the Power BI blog for the latest news


The Power BI team explains all the new features in their regular Power BI blog
posts. Find out what's new in everything from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI
mobile apps. Make a habit of returning often to see what's new: Take a few
minutes each week to scan the blogs. You never know when you'll benefit from
that bit of information you noticed months ago.

4 Try Twitter
Lots of Power BI customers and experts are on Twitter. Ask your question in a
tweet. Add the hashtags #powerbi and #powerbihelp so the people who know will
see your tweet.

5 Watch videos on YouTube


Do videos fit your learning style better? Power BI has two sets you'll be
interested in:

A good place to start is the Analyze and Visualize data with Power BI
playlist.
Then try the Power BI channel for a much bigger selection.
If you have more experience with Power BI, the Guy in a Cube YouTube channel
might be a better fit for you.
6 Attend training
The training options available to you are nearly endless, from in-person lab
training to short videos.

Guided learning on the Power BI site.


Free Power BI webinars, live and on-demand, on the Power BI site.

You can find additional options online, such as:

edX.org offers a free course, Analyzing and Visualizing Data with Power BI.
Lynda.com offers has courses such as Power BI Pro Essential Training.
Look for in-person "Dashboard in a Day " training sessions.

7 Ask or search in the Power BI community


Ask questions and find answers in the Power BI community. BI experts around the
world are active in the community. Make sure to benefit from their knowledge by
using this resource.

8 Join or create a Power BI user group


Join a Power BI user group and ask your group for help in answering your
questions. Or you start your own user group and create a community of people
who help each other out, focused on your needs: in your area, for your data, in
your time zone.

9 Check the service status


If you're having an issue with the service, it may be that the service itself
is having issues. Check the Support page for any reports.

10 Just try it
If all else fails, the final tip is to observe the system. Often, people ask
what capabilities Power BI has. You can often answer this type of question by
going into the Power BI service or Power BI Desktop, looking at the options in
the user interface, and then trying to use them.

For example, say you're wondering if you can share dashboards with a security
group. To answer that question, go to the sharing dialog box and try adding a
security group. Either way, you'll have your answer after this test.

Next steps
What is Power BI?
Try asking the Power BI Community
Still have an issue? Please visit the Power BI support page
Sign up for Power BI as an individual
4 minutes to read • Edit Online

Power BI can be your personal data analysis and visualization tool, and can
also serve as the analytics and decision engine behind group projects,
divisions, or entire corporations. This article explains how to sign up for
Power BI as an individual. If you're a Power BI admin, see Power BI licensing
in your organization.

Supported email addresses


Before you start the sign-up process, it's important to learn which types of
email addresses that you can use to sign-up for Power BI:

Power BI requires that you use a work or school email address to sign up.
You can't sign up using email addresses provided by consumer email
services or telecommunication providers. This includes outlook.com,
hotmail.com, gmail.com, and others.

After you sign up, you can invite guest users to see your Power BI content
with any email address, including personal accounts.

You can sign-up for Power BI with .gov or .mil addresses, but this
requires a different process. For more info, see Enroll your US Government
organization in the Power BI service.

Sign up for a Power BI account


Follow these steps to sign up for a Power BI account. Once you complete this
process you will have a Power BI (free) license which you can use to try Power
BI on your own using My Workspace, consume content from a Power BI workspace
assigned to a Power BI Premium capacity or initiate an individual Power BI Pro
Trial. For more information, see Power BI features by license type.
1. Go to the sign-up page.

2. Enter your email address then select Sign up .

3. If you get a message like this one, choose an option to receive a


verification code, then continue to the next step in this procedure.

If you get a message like this one, finish the steps to sign in and use
Power BI.

4. Enter the code that you received then select Sign up .

5. Check your email for a message like this one.


6. On the next screen, enter your information and the verification code from
the email. Select a region, review the policies that are linked from this
screen, then select Start .

7. You're then taken to Power BI sign in page, and you can begin using Power
BI.
Trial expiration
After you complete the sign up process, you can sign up for a Power BI Pro
trial in the Power BI service. When that trial expires, your license changes
back to a Power BI (free) license. After this happens, you no longer have
access to features that require a Power BI Pro license. For more information,
see Features by license type.

If a Power BI (free) license is sufficient, you don't have to do anything else.


To take advantage of Power BI Pro features, contact your IT admin about
purchasing a Power BI Pro license.

Troubleshooting the sign-up process


In most cases, you can sign up for Power BI by following the described process.
Some of the issues that may prevent you from signing up are described in the
following table, with possible workarounds.

SYMPTOM / ERROR MESSAGE CAUSE AND WORKAROUND

Personal email addresses (for example Power BI doesn't support email addresses
nancy@gmail.com) You'll receive a message provided by consumer email services or
similar to this one during signup: telecommunications providers.

You entered a personal email address: Please To finish signing up, try again using an email
enter your work email address so we can address assigned by your work or school.
securely store your company's data.
If you still can't sign up and are willing to
or complete a more advanced setup process, you can
register for a new Office 365 trial
That looks like a personal email address. Enter subscription and use that email address to sign
your work address so we can connect you with up.
others in your company. And don’t worry. We
won’t share your address with anyone. You can also have an existing user invite you
as a guest.
SYMPTOM / ERROR MESSAGE CAUSE AND WORKAROUND

Self-service signup disabled : You receive a Your organization’s IT admin has disabled self-
message like this one during signup: service signup for Power BI.

We can't finish signing you up. Your IT To finish signing up, contact your IT admin and
department has turned off signup for Microsoft ask them to follow the instructions to enable
Power BI. Contact them to complete signup. sign-up.

or You may also experience this problem if you


signed up for Office 365 through a partner.
That looks like a personal email address. Enter
your work address so we can connect you with
others in your company. And don’t worry. We
won’t share your address with anyone.

Email address isn't an Office 365 ID You Your organization uses IDs to sign in to Office
receive a message like this one during signup: 365 and other Microsoft services that are
different than your email address. For example,
We can't find you at contoso.com. Do you use a your email address might be
different ID at work or school? Nancy.Smith@contoso.com but your ID is
nancys@contoso.com.
Try signing in with that, and if it doesn't
work, contact your IT department. To finish signing up, use the ID that your
organization has assigned to you for signing in
to Office 365 or other Microsoft services. If
you don't know what this is, contact your IT
admin.

If you still can't sign up and are willing to


complete a more advanced setup process, you can
register for a new Office 365 trial
subscription and use that email address to sign
up.

Next steps
Purchasing Power BI Pro
Power BI Service agreement for individual users

More questions? Try asking the Power BI Community


Power BI service features by license
type
2 minutes to read • Edit Online

In the Power BI service, users have defined capabilities based on the type of
per-user license they have and whether the content they are acting on is in a
workspace assigned to a Power BI Premium capacity.

Per-user - Power BI Pro and Power BI (free) licenses. A Power BI Pro


license enables a user to collaborate with other Power BI Pro users by
consuming content from, and sharing content with other users with a Power
BI Pro license. Only users with a Power BI Pro license can publish content
to app workspaces, share dashboards, and subscribe to dashboards and
reports. A free license enables a user to consume content in a workspace
assigned to a Power BI Premium capacity and access to some of the features
of the Power BI service for their own personal content in their My
Workspace. For more information, see Sign up for Power BI as an individual
and Purchase and assign Power BI Pro user licenses.

Power BI Premium capacity - Power BI Premium licensing. Power BI Premium


provides dedicated capacity to deliver more consistent performance and
support larger data volumes in Power BI. Power BI Premium also enables
widespread distribution of content by Pro users without requiring users
who view the content to have Power BI Pro licenses. For more information,
see What is Power BI Premium?

For a detailed comparison of license types, see the Power BI features


comparison section of Power BI pricing.
Get Power BI Desktop
8 minutes to read • Edit Online

Power BI Desktop lets you build advanced queries, models, and reports that
visualize data. With Power BI Desktop, you can build data models, create
reports, and share your work by publishing to the Power BI service. Power BI
Desktop is a free download.

You can get Power BI Desktop in two ways, each of which is described in the
following sections:

Install as an app from the Microsoft Store.


Download directly, as an executable you download and install on your
computer.

Either approach gets the latest version of Power BI Desktop onto your
computer, but there are some differences worth noting, as described in the
following sections.

Install as an app from the Microsoft Store


There are a few ways to access the most recent version of Power BI Desktop
from the Microsoft Store.

1. Use one of the following options to open the Power BI Desktop page of
the Microsoft Store:

Open a browser and go directly to the Power BI Desktop page of the


Microsoft Store.

From the Power BI service, select the Download icon from the upper
right corner, and then select Power BI Desktop .

Go to the Power BI Desktop product page, and then select Download


Free .

2. After you've landed on the Power BI Desktop page of the Microsoft Store,
select Install .
There are a few advantages to getting Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft
Store:

Automatic updates : Windows downloads the latest version automatically in


the background as soon as it's available, so your version will always be
up to date.

Smaller downloads : Microsoft Store ensures only components that have


changed in each update are downloaded to your machine, resulting in
smaller downloads for each update.

Admin privilege isn't required : When you download the package directly
and install it, you must be an administrator for the installation to
complete successfully. If you get Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft
Store, admin privilege is not required.

IT roll-out enabled : Through the Microsoft Store for Business, you can
more easily deploy, or roll out, Power BI Desktop to everyone in your
organization

Language detection : The Microsoft Store version includes all supported


languages, and checks the language used on your computer each time it's
launched. This language support also affects the localization of models
created in Power BI Desktop. For example, built-in date hierarchies match
the language that Power BI Desktop is using when the .pbix file is
created.

The following consideration and limitations apply when you install Power BI
Desktop from the Microsoft Store:

If you use the SAP connector, you may need to move your SAP driver files to
the Windows\System32 folder.
Installing Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft Store doesn't copy user
settings from the .exe version. You might have to reconnect to your recent
datasources and reenter your data source credentials.
NOTE
The Power BI Report Server version of Power BI Desktop is a separate and different
installation from the versions discussed in this article. For information about the Report
Server version of Power BI Desktop, see Create a Power BI report for Power BI Report Server.

Download Power BI Desktop directly


To download the Power BI Desktop executable from the Download Center, select
Download from the Download Center page. Then, specify a 32-bit or 64-bit
installation file to download.

Install Power BI Desktop after downloading it


You're prompted to run the installation file after you've finished downloading
it.

Beginning with the July 2019 release, Power BI Desktop ships as a single .exe
installation package that contains all supported languages, with a separate
.exe file for the 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The .msi packages are
discontinued beginning with the September 2019 release, requiring the .exe
executable for installation. This approach makes distribution, updates, and
installation (especially for administrators) much easier and more convenient.
You can also use command-line parameters to customize the installation
process, as described in Using command-line options during installation.

After you launch the installation package, Power BI Desktop installs as an


application and runs on your desktop.
NOTE
Installing the downloaded (MSI) version (deprecated), and the Microsoft Store version of Power
BI Desktop on the same computer (sometimes referred to as a side-by-side installation) is not
supported. Manually uninstall Power BI Desktop before you download it from the Microsoft
Store.

Using Power BI Desktop


When you launch Power BI Desktop, a welcome screen is displayed.

If you're using Power BI Desktop for the first time (that is, the installation
isn't an upgrade), you're prompted to fill out a form or sign in to the Power
BI service before you can continue.

From there, you can begin creating data models or reports, then share them
with others on the Power BI service. Check out the Next steps section for
links to guides to help you get started using Power BI Desktop.

Minimum requirements
The following list provides the minimum requirements to run Power BI Desktop:

Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2, or later


.NET 4.5
Internet Explorer 10 or later
Memory (RAM): At least 1 GB available, 1.5 GB or more recommended.
Display: At least 1440x900 or 1600x900 (16:9) recommended. Lower resolutions
such as 1024x768 or 1280x800 aren't recommended, as certain controls (such
as closing the startup screen) display beyond those resolutions.
Windows display settings: If you set your display settings to change the
size of text, apps, and other items to more than 100%, you may not be able
to see certain dialogs that you must interact with to continue using Power
BI Desktop. If you encounter this issue, check your display settings in
Windows by going to Settings > System > Display , and use the slider to
return display settings to 100%.
CPU: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit or 64-bit x86 processor recommended.

Considerations and limitations


We want your experience with Power BI Desktop to be great. Because there may
be occasions when you run into an issue with Power BI Desktop, this section
contains solutions or suggestions to address these issues.

Using command-line options during installation


When you install Power BI Desktop, you can set properties and options with
command-line switches. These settings are especially useful for administrators
who manage or facilitate the installation of Power BI Desktop across
organizations. These options apply to .msi and .exe installations.

COMMAND-LINE OPTION BEHAVIOR

-q, -quiet, -s, -silent Silent install

-passive Show the progress bar only during installation

-norestart Suppress the computer restart requirement

-forcerestart Restart the computer after installation without


a prompt

-promptrestart Prompt the user if computer restart is required


(default)

-l<>, -log<> Log the installation to a specific file, with


the file specified in <>

-uninstall Uninstall Power BI Desktop

-repair Repair the installation (or install if it's not


currently installed)

-package, -update Install Power BI Desktop (default, as long as -


uninstall or -repair aren't specified)

You can also use the following syntax parameters, which you specified with a
property = value syntax:

PARAMETER MEANING

ACCEPT_EULA Requires a value of 1 to automatically accept


the EULA

ENABLECXP A value of 1 enrolls in the customer experience


program that captures telemetry on usage of the
product

INSTALLDESKTOPSHORTCUT A value of 1 adds a shortcut to the Desktop


PARAMETER MEANING

INSTALLLOCATION File path to where you want it installed

LANGUAGE The locale code (for example, en-US, de-DE, pr-


BR) to force the default language of the
application. If you don't specify the language,
Power BI Desktop displays the Windows OS
language. You can change this setting in the
Options dialog.

REG_SHOWLEADGENDIALOG A value of 0 disables showing the dialog that


appears before you've signed in to Power BI
Desktop.

DISABLE_UPDATE_NOTIFICATION A value of 1 disables update notifications.

For example, you can run Power BI Desktop with the following options and
parameters to install without any user interface, using the German language:

-quiet LANG=de-DE ACCEPT_EULA=1

Installing Power BI Desktop on remote machines


If you’re deploying Power BI Desktop to your users with a tool that requires a
Windows installer file (.msi file), you can extract the .msi file from the
Power BI Desktop installer .exe file. Use a third-party tool, such as WiX
Toolset.

NOTE
As a third-party product, WiX Toolset options might change without notice. Check their
documentation for the most up-to-date information, and contact their user mailing list for
help.

1. On the computer where you downloaded the Power BI Desktop installer,


install the latest version of the WiX Toolset.

2. Open a command-line window as an administrator and navigate to the folder


where you installed WiX Toolset.

3. Run the following command:

Dark.exe <path to Power BI Desktop installer> -x <output folder>

For example:

Dark.exe C:\PBIDesktop_x64.exe -x C:\output

The output folder contains a folder named AttachedContainer, which


includes the .msi files.

Upgrading an install from an .exe to a .msi that you've extracted from an .exe
is not supported. In order to make this upgrade, first you'll need to
uninstall the older version of Power BI Desktop that you have.

Issues when using previous releases of Power BI Desktop


Some users may encounter an error message similar to the following message
when they use an outdated version of Power BI Desktop:

We weren't able to restore the saved database to the model

Updating to the current version of Power BI Desktop usually solves this issue.

Disabling notifications
We recommend updating to the most recent version of Power BI Desktop to take
advantage of advances in features, performance, stability, and other
improvements. Some organizations may not want users to update to each new
version. You can disable notifications by modifying the registry with the
following steps:

1. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Power BI Desktop key.
2. Create a new REG_DWORD entry in the key with the following name:
DisableUpdateNotification .
3. Set the value of that new entry to 1 .
4. Restart your computer for the change to take effect.

Power BI Desktop loads with a partial screen


In certain circumstances, including certain screen resolution configurations,
some users may see Power BI Desktop render content with large black areas.
This issue is generally a result of recent operating system updates that
affect how items are rendered, rather than a direct result of how Power BI
Desktop presents content. Follow these steps to address this issue:

1. Press the Start key and enter blurry into the search bar that appears.
2. In the dialog that appears, select the option: Let Windows fix apps that
are blurry.
3. Restart Power BI Desktop.

This issue may resolve after later Windows updates are released.

Next steps
After you've installed Power BI Desktop, see the following content to help you
get up and running quickly:

What is Power BI Desktop?


Query overview in Power BI Desktop
Data sources in Power BI Desktop
Connect to data in Power BI Desktop
Shape and combine data in Power BI Desktop
Common query tasks in Power BI Desktop
Get started with Power BI Desktop
20 minutes to read • Edit Online

Welcome to the getting started guide for Power BI Desktop. This tour shows you
how Power BI Desktop works, what it can do, and how to build robust data models
and amazing reports to amplify your business intelligence.

For a quick overview of how Power BI Desktop works and how to use it, you can
scan the screens in this guide in just a few minutes. For a more thorough
understanding, you can read through each section, perform the steps, and create
your own Power BI Desktop file to post on the Power BI service and share with
others.

You can also watch the Getting Started with the Power BI Desktop video, and
download the Financial Sample Excel workbook to follow along with the video.

How Power BI Desktop works


With Power BI Desktop, you can:

1. Connect to data, including multiple data sources.


2. Shape the data with queries that build insightful, compelling data models.
3. Use the data models to create visualizations and reports.
4. Share your report files for others to leverage, build upon, and share. You
can share Power BI Desktop .pbix files like any other files, but the most
compelling method is to upload them to the Power BI service.

Power BI Desktop integrates proven Microsoft query engine, data modeling, and
visualization technologies. Data analysts and others can create collections of
queries, data connections, models, and reports, and easily share them with
others. Through the combination of Power BI Desktop and the Power BI service,
new insights from the world of data are easier to model, build, share, and
extend.

Power BI Desktop centralizes, simplifies, and streamlines what can otherwise be


a scattered, disconnected, and arduous process of designing and creating
business intelligence repositories and reports. Ready to give it a try? Let's
get started.

NOTE
For data and reporting that must remain on-premises, there's a separate and specialized version
of Power BI called Power BI Report Server. Power BI Report Server uses a separate and
specialized version of Power BI Desktop called Power BI Desktop for Power BI Report Server,
which works only with the Report Server version of Power BI. This article describes standard
Power BI Desktop.

Install and run Power BI Desktop


To download Power BI Desktop, go to the Power BI Desktop download page and
select Download Free . Or for download options, select See download or language
options.

You can also download Power BI Desktop from the Power BI service. Select the
Download icon in the top menu bar, and then select Power BI Desktop .

On the Microsoft Store page, select Get , and follow the prompts to install
Power BI Desktop on your computer. Start Power BI Desktop from the Windows
Start menu or from the icon in the Windows taskbar.

The first time Power BI Desktop starts, it displays the Welcome screen.

From the Welcome screen, you can Get data , see Recent sources , open recent
reports, Open other reports , or select other links. You can also choose
whether to always show the Welcome screen at startup. Select the close icon to
close the Welcome screen.
Along the left side of Power BI Desktop are icons for the three Power BI
Desktop views: Report , Data , and Relationships , from top to bottom. The
current view is indicated by the yellow bar along the left, and you can change
views by selecting any of the icons.

Report view is the default view.


Power BI Desktop also includes the Power Query Editor , which opens in a
separate window. In Power Query Editor , you can build queries and transform
data, then load the refined data model into Power BI Desktop to create reports.

Connect to data
With Power BI Desktop installed, you’re ready to connect to the ever-expanding
world of data. To see the many types of data sources available, select Get
Data > More in the Power BI Desktop Home tab, and in the Get Data window,
scroll through the list of All data sources. In this quick tour, you connect to
a couple of different Web data sources.
Imagine you're a data analyst working for a sunglasses retailer. You want to
help your client target sunglasses sales where the sun shines most frequently.
The Bankrate.com Best and worst states for retirement page has interesting data
on this subject.

On the Power BI Desktop Home tab, select Get Data > Web to connect to a web
data source.
In the From Web dialog box, paste the address
https://www.bankrate.com/retirement/best-and-worst-states-for-retirement/ into
the URL field, and select OK .

If prompted, on the Access Web Content screen, select Connect to use


anonymous access.

The query functionality of Power BI Desktop goes to work and contacts the web
resource. The Navigator window returns what it found on the web page, in this
case a table called Ranking of best and worst states for retirement , and a
document. You're interested in the table, so select it to see a preview.

At this point you can select Load to load the table, or Transform data to
make changes in the table before you load it.
When you select Transform data , Power Query Editor launches, with a
representative view of the table. The Query Settings pane is on the right, or
you can always show it by selecting Query Settings on the View tab of Power
Query Editor.

For more information about connecting to data, see Connect to data in Power BI
Desktop.

Shape data
Now that you're connected to a data source, you can adjust the data to meet
your needs. To shape data, you provide Power Query Editor with step-by-step
instructions for adjusting the data while loading and presenting it. Shaping
doesn't affect the original data source, only this particular view of the data.

NOTE
The table data used in this guide might change over time. As such, the steps you need to follow
might vary, requiring you to be creative about how you adjust steps or outcomes, which is all
part of the fun of learning.

Shaping can mean transforming the data, such as renaming columns or tables,
removing rows or columns, or changing data types. Power Query Editor captures
these steps sequentially under Applied Steps in the Query Settings pane. Each
time this query connects to the data source, those steps are carried out, so
the data is always shaped the way you specify. This process occurs when you use
the query in Power BI Desktop, or when anyone uses your shared query, such as
in the Power BI service.

Notice that the Applied Steps in Query Settings already contain a few steps.
You can select each step to see its effect in the Power Query Editor. First,
you specified a web source, and then you previewed the table in the Navigator
window. In the third step, Changed type , Power BI recognized whole number data
when importing it, and automatically changed the original web Text data type to
Whole numbers .

If you need to change a data type, select the column or columns to change. Hold
down the Shift key to select several adjacent columns, or Ctrl to select non-
adjacent columns. Either right-click a column header, select Change Type , and
choose a new data type from the menu, or drop down the list next to Data Type
in the Transform group of the Home tab, and select a new data type.
NOTE
The Power Query Editor in Power BI Desktop uses the ribbon or the right-click menus for
available tasks. Most of the tasks you can select on the Home or Transform tabs of the ribbon
are also available by right-clicking an item and choosing from the menu that appears.

You can now apply your own changes and transformations to the data and see them
in Applied Steps .

For example, for sunglasses sales you're most interested in the weather
ranking, so you decide to sort the table by the Weather column instead of by
Overall rank . Drop down the arrow next to the Weather header, and select Sort
ascending . The data now appears sorted by weather ranking, and the step Sorted
Rows appears in Applied Steps .

You're not very interested in selling sunglasses to the worst weather states,
so you decide to remove them from the table. From the Reduce Rows group of the
Home tab, select Remove Rows > Remove Bottom Rows . In the Remove Bottom
Rows dialog box, enter 10, and then select OK .

The bottom 10 worst weather rows are removed from the table, and the step
Removed Bottom Rows appears in Applied Steps .

You decide the table has too much extra information for your needs, and to
remove the Affordability , Crime , Culture , and Wellness columns. Select the
header of each column that you want to remove. Hold down the Shift key to
select several adjacent columns, or Ctrl to select non-adjacent columns.

Then, from the Manage Columns group of the Home tab, select Remove Columns .
You can also right-click one of the selected column headers and select Remove
Columns from the menu. The selected columns are removed, and the step Removed
Columns appears in Applied Steps .

On second thought, Affordability might be relevant to sunglasses sales after


all. You'd like to get that column back. You can easily undo the last step in
the Applied Steps pane by selecting the X delete icon next to the step. Now
redo the step, selecting only the columns you want to delete. For more
flexibility, you could delete each column as a separate step.

You can right-click any step in the Applied Steps pane and choose to delete
it, rename it, move it up or down in the sequence, or add or delete steps after
it. For intermediate steps, Power BI Desktop will warn you if the change could
affect later steps and break your query.

For example, if you no longer wanted to sort the table by Weather , you might
try to delete the Sorted Rows step. Power BI Desktop warns you that deleting
this step could cause your query to break. You removed the bottom 10 rows after
you sorted by weather, so if you remove the sort, different rows will be
removed. You also get a warning if you select the Sorted Rows step and try to
add a new intermediate step at that point.

Finally, you change the table title to be about sunglass sales instead of
retirement. Under Properties in the Query Settings pane, replace the old
title with Best states for sunglass sales.

The finished query for your shaped data looks like this:

For more information about shaping data, see Shape and combine data in Power BI
Desktop.

Combine data
The data about various states is interesting, and will be useful for building
additional analysis efforts and queries. But there's one problem: most data out
there uses two-letter abbreviations for state codes, not the full names of the
states. To use that data, you need some way to associate your state names with
their abbreviations.

You're in luck. Another public data source does just that, but the data will
need a fair amount of shaping before you can combine it with your sunglass
table.

To import the state abbreviations data into Power Query Editor, select New
Source > Web from the New Query group on the Home tab of the ribbon.
In the From Web dialog box, enter the URL for the state abbreviations site:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_abbreviations.

In the Navigator window, select the table Codes and abbreviations for U.S.
states, federal district, territories, and other regions , and then select
OK . The table opens in Power Query Editor.

Remove all columns except for Name and status of region , Name and status of
region2 , and ANSI . To keep only these columns, hold down Ctrl and select the
columns. Then, either right-click one of the column headers and select Remove
Other Columns , or, from the Manage Columns group of the Home tab, select
Remove Other Columns .

Drop down the arrow next to the Name and status of region2 column header, and
select Filters > Equals . In the Filter Rows dialog box, drop down the Enter
or select a value field next to equals and select State .

Select Or , and next to the second equals field, select State


("Commonwealth") . Select OK .
With extra values like Federal district and island removed, you now have a
list of the 50 states and their official two-letter abbreviations. You can
rename the columns to make more sense, for example State name , Status , and
Abbreviation , by right-clicking the column headers and selecting Rename .

Note that all of these steps are recorded under Applied Steps in the Query
Settings pane.

Your shaped table now looks like this:

Retitle the table to State codes in the Properties field of Query Settings .

With the State codes table shaped, you can combine these two tables into one.
Since the tables you now have are a result of queries you applied to the data,
they're also called queries. There are two primary ways of combining queries:
merge and append.

When you have one or more columns you'd like to add to another query, you merge
the queries. When you have additional rows of data you'd like to add to an
existing query, you append the query.

In this case, you want to merge the State codes query into the Best states
for sunglasses query. To merge the queries, switch to the Best states for
sunglasses query by selecting it from the Queries pane on the left side of
Power Query Editor. Then select Merge Queries from the Combine group in the
Home tab of the ribbon.

In the Merge window, drop down the field to select State codes from the other
queries available. Select the column to match from each table, in this case
State from the Best states for sunglasses query and State name from the
State codes query.

If you get a Privacy levels dialog, select Ignore privacy levels checks for
this file and then select Save . Select OK .

A new column called State codes appears on the right of the Best states for
sunglass sales table. It contains the state code query that you merged with
the best states for sunglass sales query. All the columns from the merged table
are condensed into the State codes column. You can expand the merged table and
include only the columns you want.

To expand the merged table and select which columns to include, select the
Expand icon in the column header. In the Expand dialog box, select only the
Abbreviation column. Deselect Use original column name as prefix , and then
select OK .

NOTE
You can play around with how to bring in the State codes table. Experiment a bit, and if you
don’t like the results, just delete that step from the Applied Steps list in the Query
Settings pane. It's a free do-over, which you can do as many times as you like until the
expand process looks the way you want it.

For a more complete description of the shape and combine data steps, see Shape
and combine data in Power BI Desktop.

You now have a single query table that combines two data sources, each of which
has been shaped to meet your needs. This query can serve as a basis for lots of
additional, interesting data connections, such as demographics, wealth levels,
or recreational opportunities in the states.
For now, you have enough data to create an interesting report in Power BI
Desktop. Since this is a milestone, apply the changes in Power Query Editor
and load them into Power BI Desktop by selecting Close & Apply from the Home
tab of the ribbon. You can also select just Apply to keep the query open in
Power Query Editor while you work in Power BI Desktop.

You can make more changes to a table after it is loaded into Power BI Desktop,
and reload the model to apply any changes you make. To reopen Power Query
Editor from Power BI Desktop, select Edit Queries on the Home tab of the
Power BI Desktop ribbon.

Build reports
In Power BI Desktop Report view, you can build visualizations and reports. The
Report view has six main areas:
1. The ribbon at the top, which displays common tasks associated with reports
and visualizations.
2. The canvas area in the middle, where visualizations are created and arranged.
3. The pages tab area at the bottom, which lets you select or add report pages.
4. The Filters pane, where you can filter data visualizations.
5. The Visualizations pane, where you can add, change, or customize
visualizations, and apply drillthrough.
6. The Fields pane, which shows the available fields in your queries. You can
drag these fields onto the canvas, the Filters pane, or the Visualizations
pane to create or modify visualizations.

You can expand and collapse the Filters , Visualizations , and Fields panes by
selecting the arrows at the tops of the panes. Collapsing the panes provides
more space on the canvas to build cool visualizations.

To create a simple visualization, just select any field in the fields list, or
drag the field from the Fields list onto the canvas. For example, drag the
State field from Best states for sunglass sales onto the canvas, and see
what happens.

Look at that! Power BI Desktop recognized that the State field contained
geolocation data and automatically created a map-based visualization. The
visualization shows data points for the 40 states from your data model.

The Visualizations pane shows information about the visualization and lets you
modify it.

1. The icons show the type of visualization created. You can change the type of
a selected visualization by selecting a different icon, or create a new
visualization by selecting an icon with no existing visualization selected.
2. The Fields option in the Visualization pane lets you drag data fields to
Legend and other field wells in the pane.
3. The Format option lets you apply formatting and other controls to
visualizations.

The options available in the Fields and Format areas depend on the type of
visualization and data you have.

You want your map visualization to show only the top 10 weather states. To show
only the top 10 states, in the Filters pane, hover over State is (All) and
expand the arrow that appears. Under Filter type , drop down and select Top N .
Under Show items , select Bottom , because you want to show the items with the
lowest numerical ranks, and enter 10 in the next field.

Drag the Weather field from the Fields pane into the By value field, and then
select Apply filter .

You now see only the top 10 weather states in the map visualization.

Retitle your visualization by selecting the Format icon in the Visualization


pane, selecting Title , and typing Top 10 weather states under Title text .
To add a visualization that shows the names of the top 10 weather states and
their ranks from 1 to 10, select a blank area of the canvas and then select the
Column chart icon from the Visualization pane. In the Fields pane, select
State and Weather . A column chart shows the 40 states in your query, ranked
from highest to lowest numerical rank, or worst to best weather.

To switch the order of the ranking so that number 1 appears first, select the
More options ellipsis at the upper right of the visualization, and select Sort
ascending from the menu.
To limit the table to the top 10 states, apply the same bottom 10 filter as you
did for the map visualization.

Retitle the visualization the same way as for the map visualization. Also in
the Format section of the Visualization pane, change Y axis > Axis title
from Weather to Weather ranking to make it more understandable. Then, turn the
Y axis selector to Off , and turn Data labels to On .

Now, the top 10 weather states appear in ranked order along with their
numerical rankings.

You can make similar or other visualizations for the Affordability and
Overall ranking fields, or combine several fields into one visualization.
There are all sorts of interesting reports and visualizations you can create.
These Table and Line and clustered column chart visualizations shows the top
10 weather states along with their affordability and overall rankings:
You can show different visualizations on different report pages. To add a new
page, select the + symbol next to the existing pages on the pages bar, or
select Insert > New Page in the Home tab of the ribbon. To rename a page,
double-click the page name in the pages bar, or right-click it and select
Rename Page , and then type the new name. To go to a different page of the
report, select the page from the pages bar.

You can add text boxes, images, and buttons to your report pages from the
Insert group of the Home tab. To set formatting options for visualizations,
select a visualization and then select the Format icon in the Visualizations
pane. To configure page sizes, backgrounds, and other page information, select
the Format icon with no visualization selected.

When you finish creating your pages and visualizations, select File > Save and
save your report.

For more information about reports, see Report View in Power BI Desktop.

Share your work


Now that you have a Power BI Desktop report, you can share it with others.
There are a few ways to share your work. You can distribute the report .pbix
file like any other file, you can upload the .pbix file from the Power BI
service, or you can publish directly from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI
service. You must have a Power BI account to be able to publish or upload
reports to Power BI service.

To publish to the Power BI service from Power BI Desktop, from the Home tab of
the ribbon, select Publish .

You may be prompted to sign in to Power BI, or to select a destination.

When the publish process is complete, you see the following dialog:
When you select the link to open the report in Power BI, your report opens in
your Power BI site under My workspace > Reports .

Another way to share your work is to load it from within the Power BI service.
Go to https://app.powerbi.com to open Power BI in a browser. On your Power BI
Home page, select Get data at lower left to start the process of loading your
Power BI Desktop report.

On the next page, select Get from the Files section.


On the next page, select Local File . Browse to and select your Power BI
Desktop .pbix file, and select Open .

After the file imports, you can see it listed under My workspace > Reports in
the left pane of the Power BI service.
When you select the file, the first page of the report appears. You can select
different pages from the tabs at the left of the report.

You can make changes to a report in the Power BI service by selecting More
options > Edit from the top of the report canvas. To save your changes, select
Save a copy .
There are all sorts of interesting visuals you can create from your report in
the Power BI service, which you can pin to a dashboard. To learn about
dashboards in the Power BI service, see Tips for designing a great dashboard.
For more information about creating, sharing, and modifying dashboards, see
Share a dashboard.

To share a report or dashboard, select Share at the top of the open report or
dashboard page, or select the Share icon next to the report or dashboard name
in the My workspace > Reports or My workspace > Dashboards lists.

Complete the Share report or Share dashboard screen to send an email or get a
link to share your report or dashboard with others.
There are many compelling data-related mash-ups and visualizations you can do
with Power BI Desktop and the Power BI service.

Next steps
Power BI Desktop supports connecting to a diagnostics port. The diagnostics
port allows other tools to connect to and perform traces for diagnostic
purposes. When using the diagnostics port, making any changes to the model is
not supported. Changes to the model may lead to corruption and data loss.

For more information on the many capabilities of Power BI Desktop, check out
the following resources:

Query overview in Power BI Desktop


Data sources in Power BI Desktop
Connect to data in Power BI Desktop
Tutorial: Shape and combine data with Power BI Desktop
Common query tasks in Power BI Desktop
Supported languages and
countries/regions for Power BI
5 minutes to read • Edit Online

This article lists supported languages and countries/regions for the Power BI
service, Power BI Desktop, and Power BI documentation.

Countries and regions where Power BI is available


For a list of countries and regions where Power BI is available, see the
international availability list.

Languages for the Power BI service


The Power BI service (in the browser) is available in the following 44
languages:

Arabic
Basque - Basque
Bulgarian - Български
Catalan - català
Chinese (Simplified) - ( )
Chinese (Traditional) - ( )
Croatian - hrvatski
Czech - čeština
Danish - dansk
Dutch - Nederlands
English - English
Estonian - eesti
Finnish - suomi
French - français
Galician - galego
German - Deutsch
Greek - Ελληνικά
Hebrew
Hindi -
Hungarian - magyar
Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Italian - italiano
Japanese -
Kazakh - аза
Korean -
Latvian - latviešu
Lithuanian - lietuvių
Malay - Bahasa Melayu
Norwegian (Bokmål) - norsk (bokmål)
Polish - Polski
Portuguese (Brazil) - Português
Portuguese (Portugal) - português
Romanian - română
Russian - Русский
Serbian (Cyrillic) - српски
Serbian (Latin) - srpski
Slovak - slovenčina
Slovenian - slovenski
Spanish - español
Swedish - svenska
Thai -
Turkish - Türkçe
Ukrainian - українська
Vietnamese - Ti ng Vi t

What's translated
Power BI translates menus, buttons, messages, and other elements of the
experience into your language. Report content such as automatically generated
titles, filters, and tooltips are translated, but your data isn't automatically
translated. Inside reports, the layout of visuals doesn't change if you're
using a right-to-left language such as Hebrew.

At this time, a few features are available in English only:

Dashboards and reports that Power BI creates when you connect to services
such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Google Analytics, and Salesforce. You can
still create your own dashboards and reports in your own language.
Exploring your data with Q&A.

Stay tuned as we work to bring additional features to other languages.

Choose your language in the Power BI service

1. In the Power BI service, select the Settings icon > Settings .


2. On the General tab > Language .
3. Select your language > Apply .

Choose your language in the browser


Power BI detects your language based on the language preferences on your
computer. The way you access and change these preferences may vary depending on
your operating system and browser. Here's how to access these preferences from
Internet Explorer and Google Chrome.

Internet Explorer (version 11)

1. Click the Tools button in the top-right corner of your browser window:

2. Click Internet Options .

3. In the Internet Options dialog, on the General tab under Appearance, click
the Languages button.

Google Chrome (version 42)

1. Click the menu button in the top-right corner of your browser window:

2. Click Settings .

3. Click Show advanced settings .

4. Under Languages, click the Language and input settings button.

5. Click Add , select a language, and click OK .

The new language is at the end of the list.

6. Drag the new language to the top of the list, and click Display Google
Chrome in this language .

You may need to close and reopen your browser to see the change.

Choose the language or locale of Power BI Desktop


You have two ways of getting Power BI Desktop: You can download it as a
standalone installer, or install it from the Windows Store.

When you install Power BI Desktop from the Windows Store, it installs all the
languages and by default shows the language that corresponds to the Windows
default language.
When you download Power BI Desktop as a standalone installer, you choose the
default language when you run the installer, and can change it at a later
date.
You can also choose a locale to be used when importing data for a specific
report.

NOTE
If you're installing the version of Power BI Desktop that's optimized for Power BI Report
Server, you choose the language when you download. See Install Power BI Desktop optimized for
Power BI Report Server for details.

Choose a language for Power BI Desktop


1. Install Power BI Desktop from the Windows Store, or as a standalone
installer.

2. To change the language, on your computer search for Windows Settings .

3. Select Time & language .

4. Select Region & language , select a language, and select Set as default .

The next time you start Power BI Desktop it will use the language you set
as the default.
To override the default and use Power BI Desktop in a language other than your
Windows language do the following.

1. In Power BI Desktop, go to File > Options and settings > Options .


2. Under Global Settings , select Regional Settings .
3. In the Application Language box, select a different locale.

Language support in Power BI Desktop is limited to the languages displayed in


the Application Language dropdown.

Choose the locale for importing data into Power BI Desktop


Whether you download Power BI Desktop or install it from the Windows Store, you
can choose a locale for a specific report to be something other than the locale
in your version of Power BI Desktop. The locale changes the way data is
interpreted when it’s imported from your data source, for example whether
"3/4/2017" is interpreted as 3 April or March 4.

1. In Power BI Desktop, go to File > Options and settings > Options .

2. Under Current file , select Regional Settings .

3. In the Locale for import box, select a different locale.

4. Select OK .

Choose the language for the model in Power BI Desktop


Besides setting the language for the Power BI Desktop application, you can also
set the model language. The model language affects chiefly two things:
How we compare and sort strings. For example, because Turkish has two of the
letter i, depending on the collation of your database, the two can end up in
different orders when sorting.
The language Power BI Desktop uses when creating hidden date tables from date
fields. For example, fields are called Month/Monat/Mois, etc.

NOTE
Power BI’s model currently uses a locale that is not case-sensitive (or kana-sensitive) so
“ABC” and “abc” will be treated as equivalent. If “ABC” is loaded into the database first,
other strings that differ only by case such as “Abc” won’t be loaded as a separate value.

Here's how to set the model language.

1. In Power BI Desktop, go to File > Options and settings > Options .

2. Under Global , select Regional Settings .

3. In the Model language box, select a different language.

NOTE
Once created, the language of a Power BI model can't be changed.

Languages for the help documentation


Help is localized in these 10 languages:

Chinese (Simplified) - ( )
Chinese (Traditional) - ( )
French - français
German - Deutsch
Italian - italiano
Japanese -
Korean -
Portuguese (Brazil) - Português
Russian - Русский
Spanish - español

Next steps
Are you using one of the Power BI mobile apps? See Supported languages in the
Power BI mobile apps for details.
Questions? Try asking the Power BI Community.
Still have an issue? Visit the Power BI support page.
Supported browsers for Power BI
2 minutes to read • Edit Online

Power BI runs in these browsers:

Microsoft Edge
Internet Explorer 11. Some advanced features, such as lineage view, aren't
supported in Internet Explorer. See Data lineage (preview) for details.
Chrome desktop latest version
Safari Mac latest version
Firefox desktop latest version. Firefox may change the fonts used in Power BI

These browsers are supported on all platforms where they're available.

NOTE
Power BI doesn't run in any browsers in iOS10 or previous versions.

Next steps
What is Power BI?
Try asking the Power BI Community
Still have an issue? Visit the Power BI support page
Power BI videos
2 minutes to read • Edit Online

We have a YouTube channel for Power BI! You can visit our channel and, if
you're new to Power BI a good place to start is the Analyze and Visualize data
with Power BI playlist.

Here are a few videos from that playlist to get you started.

Overview of Power BI service and Power BI Desktop.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/l2wy4XgQIu0
Collaborating and sharing.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/5DABLeJzQYM
Overview of Power BI mobile

https://www.youtube.com/embed/07uBWhaCo78
Power BI for developers

https://www.youtube.com/embed/47uXJW1GIUY

Watch some of our new uploads


Date slicer
Custom visualizations
Alerts in the Power BI service

More videos
Check out the following collection of sources and content for more videos.

Guided Learning for Power BI - a sequential learning tour of Power BI, in


bite-size pieces

Next steps
What is Power BI?

More questions? Try asking the Power BI Community


Power BI webinars
5 minutes to read • Edit Online

Register for our upcoming live webinars or watch our recorded sessions on-
demand.

Upcoming webinars
No webinars scheduled yet. Check back soon for more upcoming events.

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by Phil Seamark
Watch now

Developing with Power BI Embedding – The April 2018 Update


by Ted Pattison
Watch now

Power BI security deep dive


by Kasper de Jonge
Watch now

Ask a Partner: Developing Power BI visuals for Power BI


by Ted Pattison
Watch now

Advanced Topics
Advanced Analytics with Excel and Power BI
by Nagasaikiran Kambhampati and Miguel Martinez
Register to watch
Download the Advanced Analytics Starter Kit to follow along

Power BI adoption framework webinar series


by Manu Kanwarpal and Paul Henwood
Register and watch now - Part 1 - Adoption: Adopt a data-driven culture
Register and watch now - Part 2 - Governance: Govern your Power BI usage
Register and watch now - Part 3 - Service Management: Power BI Service
Management Insights
Register and watch now - Part 4 - Security: Keeping your data secure with Power
BI
Register and watch now - Part 5 - Rollout: Successfully rolling out Power BI

Office 365 Finance Pros Webinar Series


by Mark Traverso, Carlos Otero, Johnnie Thomas, Amanda Cofsky and Miguel
Martinez
Learn tips, tricks & best practices to achieve more in your day-to-day work
using Office 365.
Register and watch now
Be a Full Stack Power BI Jedi – A walkthrough of Power BI most advanced
features through Star Wars data
by Gil Raviv
Watch now

How to Implement a Successful Data Governance Strategy That Makes Your


Organization More Secure
by Ajay Anandan
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Accelerating modern BI adoption with Power BI Premium


by Sirui Sun and Miguel Martinez
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What's new and exciting in Power BI Report Server


by Riccardo Muti, Chris Finlan and Chinmay Joshi
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How Microsoft does Power BI


by Kirkland Barrett
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See also
Power BI whitepapers

Microsoft Data Insights Summit 2017 on-demand sessions

What is Power BI?

Follow @MSPowerBI on Twitter

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

More questions? Try asking the Power BI Community


Power BI Desktop videos
2 minutes to read • Edit Online

Power BI Desktop has a YouTube channel!

See a high-level overview of Power BI Desktop, from getting data and building a
report, to sharing your report with others:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qgam9M8I0xA
Learn how to build stunning reports using Power BI Desktop:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/IMAsitQ2cAc
Import, reshape, and transform data using Power Query Editor:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ByIUx-HmQbw
Select the following links to see all the videos available at the Power BI
YouTube channel:

Get started with Power BI Desktop


Create a report in Power BI Desktop
Use the Power Query Editor
Create relationships between tables
Publish from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI service
Add a calculated column
Previous monthly updates to Power BI
Desktop
89 minutes to read • Edit Online

This article describes previous updates to Power BI Desktop . For the most
current month's release, check out Power BI Desktop latest updates.

Get the latest version of Power BI Desktop from the Download Center. If you're
running Windows 10, you can also get Power BI Desktop from Microsoft Store on
Windows 10. Regardless of how you install Power BI Desktop, the monthly
versions are the same, although the version numbering may differ. For more
information about downloading and installing Power BI Desktop, see Get Power BI
Desktop.

The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need an article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.

The following sections describe previous months' updates to Power BI Desktop .

February 2020 Update (2.78.5740.642)


We loved our February updates, and felt our new features were better than a
heart-shaped box of chocolates.

IMPORTANT
Beginning with the September 2019 release, Power BI Desktop is released only as a single .exe
file, which contains all supported languages. The .msi version is no longer being released.

The links beside each feature in the Power BI Desktop update list are
interpreted as follows:

[blog]: Most features are explained in a section in the monthly update blog
post.
[video]: Some features have a video excerpt that discusses the feature, which
plays in a new browser tab.
[article]: Some features have an article that provides more detail.
The remaining features are self-explanatory and don't need an article or
video.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop this month:


Data management
Incremental refresh is now generally available [video] [article] [blog]

Reporting
Hierarchical slicer (preview) [video] [blog]
Updates to the new ribbon (preview) [video] [article] [blog]

Modeling
New DAX functions: FirstNonBlankValue, LastNonBlankValue [video] [article]
[blog]

Visuals
New custom visuals [video] [blog]

Template apps
Microsoft 365 usage analytics [video] [blog]
NFL analytics by P3 [video] [blog]
Acterys for Quickbooks, Zero and WorkflowMax [video] [blog]

Data preparation
Query diagnostics - support for users who aren't administrators [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
MicroStrategy connector (generally availability) [video] [blog]
FHIR connector (generally availability) [video] [blog]
Additional connectors: Factset, TIBCO, Jamf Pro, Asana [video] [blog]

For detailed information about each of these new features, see Power BI Desktop
feature summary blog post.

Check out what's new in the Power BI service, and what's new in the mobile apps
for Power BI.

NOTE
See the data sources available to Power BI Desktop. Our list is always growing, so check back
often.

Power BI Desktop monthly update video


The following video describes each of these updates. You can also watch this
video from the blog post:

You can also download previous versions of Power BI Desktop if your


organization requires it. We always recommend that you use the most recent
version of Power BI Desktop, rather than a previous version. All previous
versions have the following limitations:

Previous releases of Power BI Desktop are not being serviced - you should
always use the most recent release for the latest features and updates.
It may not be possible to open files created or saved in newer releases of
Power BI Desktop with previous versions of Power BI Desktop.
If you receive a warning when loading a report saved in a newer release of
Power BI Desktop, then save that report in the previous version, you lose any
information related to new features.
We only archive the English versions of Power BI Desktop.

Select the following links to download this earlier version:

February 2020 version of Power BI Desktop - 32-bit


February 2020 version of Power BI Desktop - 64-bit

December 2019 Update (2.76.5678.661)


Our December updates were as fun as a bobsled ride down a snow-covered hill.

IMPORTANT
Beginning with the September 2019 release, Power BI Desktop is released only as a single .exe
file, which contains all supported languages. The .msi version is no longer being released.

The links beside each feature in the Power BI Desktop update list are
interpreted as follows:

[blog]: Most features are explained in a section in the monthly update blog
post.
[video]: Some features have a video excerpt that discusses the feature, which
plays in a new browser tab.
[article]: Some features have an article that provides more detail.
The remaining features are self-explanatory and don't need an article or
video.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Reporting
Theming updates (preview) [video] [article] [blog]
Export the current theme (preview) [video] [article] [blog]
Setting table column or matrix value as a custom URL [video] [blog]
KPI visual formatting settings [video] [blog]
New decomposition tree formatting [video] [blog]
Filter pane toggle button in the new ribbon [video] [blog]
Automatic page refresh query details [video] [blog]

Analytics
Load more for Analyze insights [video] [blog]
New DAX function: Quarter [video] [blog]

Visuals
Personalizing the Visuals pane (generally availability) [video] [blog]
New Power BI visuals [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 connector (generally availability) [video] [blog]
Power Platform Dataflows connector (generally availability) [video] [article]
[blog]
PostgreSQL connector now includes the Npgsql provider [video] [blog]
AtScale connector (general availability) [video] [blog]
Azure Time Series Insights connector [video] [blog]
Data Virtuality connector [video] [blog]
Zucchetti HR Infinity connector [video] [blog]

Data preparation
Updates to AI Insights functions (preview) [video] [article] [blog]

Template apps
Omnichannel insights for Dynamics 365 [video] [blog]
Customer service analytics for Dynamics 365 [video] [blog]
Microsoft Forms Pro for Customer Services [video] [blog]

For detailed information about each of these new features, see Power BI Desktop
December 2019 feature summary.

Check out what's new in the Power BI service, and what's new in the mobile apps
for Power BI.

NOTE
See the data sources available to Power BI Desktop. Our list is always growing, so check back
often.

Power BI Desktop monthly update video


The following video describes each of these updates. You can also watch this
video from the blog post:

You can also download previous versions of Power BI Desktop if your


organization requires it. We always recommend that you use the most recent
version of Power BI Desktop, rather than a previous version. All previous
versions have the following limitations:

Previous releases of Power BI Desktop are not being serviced - you should
always use the most recent release for the latest features and updates.
It may not be possible to open files created or saved in newer releases of
Power BI Desktop with previous versions of Power BI Desktop.
If you receive a warning when loading a report saved in a newer release of
Power BI Desktop, then save that report in the previous version, you lose any
information related to new features.
We only archive the English versions of Power BI Desktop.

Select the following links to download this earlier version:

December 2019 version of Power BI Desktop - 32-bit


December 2019 version of Power BI Desktop - 64-bit

November 2019 Update (2.75.5649.341)


Our our November updates were as welcome as a happy family gathering.
IMPORTANT
Beginning with the September 2019 release, Power BI Desktop is released only as a single .exe
file, which contains all supported languages. The .msi version is no longer being released.

The links beside each feature in the Power BI Desktop update list are
interpreted as follows:

[blog]: Most features are explained in a section in the monthly update blog
post.
[video]: Some features have a video excerpt that discusses the feature, which
plays in a new browser tab.
[article]: Some features have an article that provides more detail.
The remaining features are self-explanatory and don't need an article or
video.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop this month:

User experience
Updated ribbon (preview) [video] [article] [blog]

Reporting
Decomposition tree visual (preview) [video] [blog]

Analytics
Conditionally format button formatting [video] [blog]

Visuals
ArcGIS Maps for Power BI update [video] [blog]
New xViz visuals [video] [blog]
ZoomCharts Drill-Down Waterfall visual [video] [blog]
Financial Reporting Matrix by Profitbase [video] [blog]
Distribution [video] [blog]
Tree [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
LinkedIn Sales Navigator connector [video] [article] [blog]
Edit SAP variables experience (general availability) [video] [article] [blog]
Product Insights connector [video] [blog]

Data transformation
AI functions in Power Query (preview) [video] [article] [blog]
Web by Example connector - support for extracting links [video] [blog]

Template apps
LinkedIn Sales Navigator for Sales Operations [video] [article] [blog]

For detailed information about each of these new features, see Power BI Desktop
November 2019 feature summary.

Check out what's new in the Power BI service, and what's new in the mobile apps
for Power BI.
Power BI Desktop monthly update video
The following video describes each of these updates. You can also watch this
video from the blog post:

You can also download previous versions of Power BI Desktop if your


organization requires it. We always recommend that you use the most recent
version of Power BI Desktop, rather than a previous version. All previous
versions have the following limitations:

Previous releases of Power BI Desktop are not being serviced - you should
always use the most recent release for the latest features and updates.
It may not be possible to open files created or saved in newer releases of
Power BI Desktop with previous versions of Power BI Desktop.
If you receive a warning when loading a report saved in a newer release of
Power BI Desktop, then save that report in the previous version, you lose any
information related to new features.
We only archive the English versions of Power BI Desktop.

Select the following links to download this earlier version:

November 2019 version of Power BI Desktop - 32-bit


November 2019 version of Power BI Desktop - 64-bit

October 2019 Update (2.74.5619.621)


Our October updates were as fun as a pumpkin patch run, and more exciting than
a midnight tour through a haunted mansion.

You can now download the latest version of Power BI Desktop, now delivered as a
single .exe file that contains all supported languages. If you're running
Windows 10, you can also get Power BI Desktop from the Windows Store. The
monthly versions are the same even though the version numbering may differ
between the two, regardless of which way you install Power BI Desktop . See
this article for more information.

IMPORTANT
Beginning with the September 2019 release, Power BI Desktop is only released as a single .exe
file that contains all supported languages. The .msi version is no longer being released.

The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.
The following updates are new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Reporting
Automatic page refresh for DirectQuery [video] [article] [blog]

Analytics
The new Q&A visual [video] [blog]
Improved user experience for Q&A [video] [blog]
Improved drop-down control
Red and blue underlines
Improved visual results
Natural language improvements for Q&A [video] [blog]
Integration with Office / Bing thesaurus
Support for measure tables, and better handling of table names and
ambiguity
Q&A tooling (preview) [video] [blog]
Review questions
Teach Q&A
Review all changes made
Support for SSAS and Azure AS, including RLS [video] [blog]

Visuals
PowerApps visual now included by default [video] [blog]
New xViz visuals [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
Sagra Emigo connector generally available [video] [blog]
Azure cost Management connector updated [video] [article] [blog]
New Workplace Analytics connector [video] [blog]

Data preparation
Query diagnostics [video] [blog]
Data profiling enhancements [video] [blog]

Template apps
Project Web App [video] [blog]

Other
New file format: .PBIDS [video] [article] [blog]
Performance improvements for modeling operations [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.
NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

You can also download previous versions of Power BI Desktop if your


organization requires it. We always recommend that you use the most recent
version of Power BI Desktop, rather than a previous version. All previous
versions have the following limitations:

Previous releases of Power BI Desktop are not being serviced - you should
always use the most recent release for the latest features and updates.
It may not be possible to open files created or saved in newer releases of
Power BI Desktop with previous versions of Power BI Desktop.
If you receive a warning when loading a report saved in a newer release of
Power BI Desktop, then save that report in the previous version, you lose any
information related to new features.
We only archive the English versions of Power BI Desktop.

Select the following links to download this earlier version:

October 2019 version of Power BI Desktop - 32-bit


October 2019 version of Power BI Desktop - 64-bit

September 2019 Update (2.73.5586.561)


Our September updates were like an exciting return to school - new things to
learn, updates to friends we missed over the summer, and opportunities to apply
what we know into better future reports.

You can now download the latest version of Power BI Desktop, now delivered as a
single .exe file that contains all supported languages. If you're running
Windows 10, you can also get Power BI Desktop from the Windows Store. The
monthly versions are the same even though the version numbering may differ
between the two, regardless of which way you install Power BI Desktop . See
this article for more information.

IMPORTANT
Beginning with the September 2019 release, Power BI Desktop is only released as a single .exe
file that contains all supported languages. The .msi version is no longer being released.

The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.

The following updates are new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Reporting
Color and text classes in themes [video] [article] [blog]
New default themes [video] [blog]
Personalized visualization pane improvements (preview) [video] [blog]

Analytics
Custom format strings [video] [blog]
Conditional formatting for more visual formatting options [video] [blog]
Drill-through discoverability improvement [video] [blog]
New DAX expressions: REMOVEFILTERS and CONVERT [video] [blog]

Visuals
PowerApps visual now generally available [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
PostgreSQL connector enhancements [video] [blog]

Data preparation
Copy to clipboard from data profiling [video] [blog]

Template apps
Google Analytics report [blog]

Other
Performance improvements for multi-dimensional models [video] [blog]
Query performance improvements for DirectQuery models [video] [blog]
https://youtu.be/neq0THnRJzo?t=1208

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/neq0THnRJzo

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

You can also download previous versions of Power BI Desktop if your


organization requires it. We always recommend that you use the most recent
version of Power BI Desktop, rather than a previous version. All previous
versions have the following limitations:

Previous releases of Power BI Desktop are not being serviced - you should
always use the most recent release for the latest features and updates.
It may not be possible to open files created or saved in newer releases of
Power BI Desktop with previous versions of Power BI Desktop.
If you receive a warning when loading a report saved in a newer release of
Power BI Desktop, then save that report in the previous version, you lose any
information related to new features.
We only archive the English versions of Power BI Desktop.

Select the following links to download this earlier version:

September 2019 version of Power BI Desktop - 32-bit


September 2019 version of Power BI Desktop - 64-bit

August 2019 Update (2.72.5556.801)


Our August updates were hot and shone brightly on the reports you create in
Power BI Desktop.

You can now download the latest version of Power BI Desktop, now delivered as a
single .exe file that contains all supported languages. If you're running
Windows 10, you can also get Power BI Desktop from the Windows Store. The
monthly versions are the same even though the version numbering may differ
between the two, regardless of which way you install Power BI Desktop . See
this article for more information.

The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Reporting
Grouping visuals [video] [article] [blog]
Filter pane migration [video] [blog]
Icon style picker for conditional formatting of icons [video] [blog]
Conditional formatting warnings [video] [blog]

Analytics
Key influencers visual improvements, general availability [video] [blog]

Visuals
New Power BI visuals and updates [video] [blog]
Data connectivity
Support for SAP HANA HDI Containers [video] [blog]
Edit SAP variables in the Power BI service (preview) [video] [blog]
PostgreSQL DirectQuery [video] [blog]
MarkLogic connector now generally available [video] [blog]
New Power Platform category within Get Data [video] [blog]

Template apps
Facebook Pages - basic analytics [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/sf4n7VXoQHY

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

You can also download previous versions of Power BI Desktop if your


organization requires it. We always recommend that you use the most recent
version of Power BI Desktop, rather than a previous version. All previous
versions have the following limitations:

Previous releases of Power BI Desktop are not being serviced - you should
always use the most recent release for the latest features and updates.
It may not be possible to open files created or saved in newer releases of
Power BI Desktop with previous versions of Power BI Desktop.
If you receive a warning when loading a report saved in a newer release of
Power BI Desktop, then save that report in the previous version, you lose any
information related to new features.
We only archive the English versions of Power BI Desktop.

July 2019 Update (2.71.5523.641)


Our July updates were skyrocketing with colorful bursts of new features and
functionality for your Power BI Desktop.

You can now download the latest version of Power BI Desktop. If you're running
Windows 10, you can also get Power BI Desktop from the Windows Store. The
monthly versions are the same even though the version numbering may differ
between the two, regardless of which way you install Power BI Desktop . See
this article for more information.
The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Reporting
Icon sets for table and matrix [video] [blog]
Percent support for conditional formatting by rules [video] [blog]
New filter pane is now generally available [video] [blog]
Data colors support when using play axis on scatter charts [video] [blog]
Performance improvements when using relative date and dropdown slicers
[video] [blog]

Analytics
Counts for Key influencers visual (preview) [video] [blog]
Aggregations improvements [video] [blog]

Visuals
PowerApps visual is now certified [video] [blog]
Three new Power BI visuals and updates [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 connector (beta) [video] [blog]
Dynamics 365 Customer Insights connector [video] [blog]

Data preparation
New transform: Split column by positions [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/l7OMRUF9UYg
NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

You can also download previous versions of Power BI Desktop if your


organization requires it. We always recommend that you use the most recent
version of Power BI Desktop, rather than a previous version. All previous
versions have the following limitations:

Previous releases of Power BI Desktop are not being serviced - you should
always use the most recent release for the latest features and updates.
It may not be possible to open files created or saved in newer releases of
Power BI Desktop with previous versions of Power BI Desktop.
If you receive a warning when loading a report saved in a newer release of
Power BI Desktop, then save that report in the previous version, you lose any
information related to new features.
We only archive the English versions of Power BI Desktop.

June 2019 Update (2.70.5494.561)


Our June updates spread sunshine and blue skies on your reports, with a
refreshing and bright new color scheme for your Power BI Desktop, and a host of
other improvements.

You can now download the latest version of Power BI Desktop. If you're running
Windows 10, you can also get Power BI Desktop from the Windows Store. The
monthly versions are the same even though the version numbering may differ
between the two, regardless of which way you install Power BI Desktop . See
this article for more information.

The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Reporting
Updated pane design [video] [blog]
Visual level filters for slicers [video] [blog]
Sorting for the performance analyzer pane [video] [blog]
Conditional formatting updates for formatting options [video] [blog]
Visual header tooltips [video] [blog]
Table and matrix total label customization [video] [blog]
Sync slicer support for hierarchy slicer [video] [blog]
Consistent font sizes across visuals [video] [blog]

Analytics
Key influencers visual updates (preview) [video] [blog]
Key influencers with Live connect to Power BI datasets
Key influencers accessibility
Support for Cloud RLS
Manage aggregations dialog accessibility [video] [blog]

Modeling
New == DAX comparison operator [video] [blog]

Visuals
Personalized visualization pane (preview) [video] [blog]
Three new Power BI visuals and updates [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
Connect to shared and certified datasets [video] [blog]
Common Data Service connector is now generally available [video] [blog]
Azure Data Explorer connector is now generally available [video] [blog]
Enhancements to the Cosmos DB connector [video] [blog]
Entersoft data connector [video] [blog]

Data preparation
Improvements to M Intellisense [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/7k-nP38uHyQ

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

May 2019 Update (2.69.5467.1251)


Our May updates bloomed in your garden of great reports, with compelling new
features and a flower pot full of colorful, beautiful visuals.

You can now download the latest version of Power BI Desktop. If you're running
Windows 10, you can also get Power BI Desktop from the Windows Store. The
monthly versions are the same even though the version numbering may differ
between the two, regardless of which way you install Power BI Desktop . See
this article for more information.

The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Reporting
Performance Analyzer pane [video] [article] [blog]
Filter pane improvements (preview) [video] [blog]
Table and matrix keyboard navigation [video] [blog]
Line data label position control [video] [blog]
KPI visual indicator text size control [video] [blog]

Analytics
Key influencers visual improvements (preview) [video] [blog]
Binning support
Formatting options
Mobile support

Modeling
Disable auto-date tables for new reports [video] [blog]
Update to the ALLSELECTED DAX function [video] [blog]

Visuals
ArcGIS maps for Power BI updates [video] [blog]
Six new Power BI visuals and updates [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
Essbase connector - support for Native Query (MDX) [video] [blog]
Intune Data Warehouse connector [video] [blog]
Tenforce connector [video] [blog]
Roamler connector [video] [blog]

Other
Automatic query cancellation for Power BI Desktop [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.
Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/O8GlHDz8xUQ

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

April 2019 Update (2.68.5432.361)


Our April updates were packed full of updates that put spring in your step on
rainy days.

You can now download the latest version of Power BI Desktop. If you're running
Windows 10, you can also get Power BI Desktop from the Windows Store. The
monthly versions are the same even though the version numbering may differ
between the two, regardless of which way you install Power BI Desktop . See
this article for more information.

The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Reporting
Filter pane improvements [video] [article] [blog]
Conditional formatting for visual titles [video] [article] [blog]
Conditional formatting for web URL actions for buttons, shapes and images
[video] [blog]

Analytics
Drillthrough across reports [video] [article] [blog]
Key Influencers visual now supports continuous analysis for numeric targets
[video] [blog]
Python support not generally available [video] [blog]
Partial synonym matching for terms in Q&A [video] [blog]

Modeling
New DAX function - ALLCROSSFILTERED [video] [blog]
Power BI visuals
One new custom visual [blog]

Data connectivity
Power BI dataflows connector now generally available [video] [blog]
Oracle Essbase connector now supports DirectQuery, and is generally available
[video] [blog]
PDF connector now generally available [video] [blog]
Web By Example connector - automatic table inference [video] [blog]
Intersystems IRIS connector [video] [blog]
Indexima connector [video] [blog]
Luminis InformationGrid connector [video] [blog]
Solver BI360 connector [video] [blog]
Paxata connector [video] [blog]

Data preparation
Data Profiling enhancements and general availability [video] [blog]
Fuzzy merge performance enhancements and general availability [video] [blog]
M Intellisense supported in formula bar and custom column dialog, and is
generally available [video] [blog]

Other
Power BI Report Builder [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video channel describes and shows each of these updates. You can
also see the videos from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/vih35kSrEHU

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

March 2019 Update (2.67.5404.581)


Our March updates were packed full of compelling and useful updates, and we
hope these improvements make you feel as lucky as finding a four-leaf clover.

You can now download the latest version of Power BI Desktop. If you're running
Windows 10, you can also get Power BI Desktop from the Windows Store. The
monthly versions are the same even though the version numbering may differ
between the two, regardless of which way you install Power BI Desktop . See
this article for more information.
The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in March:

Reporting
Single select slicer [video] [blog]
Heat map support for Bing maps [video] [blog]
Cross-highlight by axis labels [video] [blog]
Default tooltip formatting [video] [blog]
Static web URL support for buttons, shapes and images [video] [blog]
Filter pane improvements [video] [blog]
Page alignment options [video] [blog]
Selection pane improvements [video] [blog]
Formatting updates for maps [video] [blog]
Accessible visual interaction [video] [blog]

Analytics
Q&A recommendations for improving results [video] [blog]
Show dates as a hierarchy now generally available [video] [blog]

Modeling
New modeling view now generally available [video] [blog]
New DAX functions [video] [blog]

Power BI visuals
New certified Power BI visuals setting in the admin portal [video] [blog]
Two new Power BI visuals [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
PDF connector now supports tables spanning multiple pages (preview) [video]
[blog]
Intelligent Plant's Industrial App Store connector [video] [blog]
Azure Cost Management connector [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video channel describes and shows each of these updates. You can
also see the videos from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/rBPGH6eYlT0

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

February 2019 Update (2.66.5376.1681)


Our February updates made customers swoon and love all our new data connectors,
features, and analytics enhancements. Just like a box of chocolates, you never
know what you get... but with this February update, all changes were sweet and
downright delicious.

You can download the latest version of Power BI Desktop. If you're running
Windows 10, you can also get Power BI Desktop from the Windows Store. The
monthly versions are the same even though the version numbering may differ
between the two, regardless of which way you install Power BI Desktop . See
this article for more information.

The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.

The following updates are new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Reporting
Updates to the new filter pane (preview) [video] [blog]
Cross-highlight on a single point in line charts [video] [blog]
Word wrap on titles [video] [blog]
Update default visual interaction to cross-filter [video] [blog]
Rounded corners for visual borders [video] [blog]

Analytics
Key influencers visual (preview) [video] [blog]
Insights questions in Q&A [video] [blog]
Auto-generated suggested questions for Q&A explorer [video] [blog]
Improved Python & R script editor [video] [blog]

Power BI visuals
Ten new Power BI visuals, new Power BI visuals feature [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
Microsoft Graph Security [video] [blog]
Guidanz' BI Connector for OBIEE [video] [blog]
MarkLogic [video] [blog]
Kronos Workforce Dimensions [video] [blog]
SurveyMonkey [video] [blog]
Qubole Presto [video] [blog]
Quick Base [video] [blog]
Sagra Emigo [video] [blog]

Other
Improved Live connect and DirectQuery error messages [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video channel describes and shows each of these updates. You can
also see the videos from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/dMD25wfElLg

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

January 2019 Update


There was no Power BI Desktop release in January 2019 - we were all busy having
a happy holiday, spending time with friends and family.

December 2018 Update (2.65.5313.621)


Our December updates made sugar plums dance in our customers' heads, or at
least created compelling data-driven visuals of said sugar plums.

You can now download the latest version of Power BI Desktop. If you're running
Windows 10, you can also get Power BI Desktop from the Windows Store. The
monthly versions are the same even though the version numbering may differ
between the two, regardless of which way you install Power BI Desktop . See
this article for more information.

The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need an article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.

The following updates are new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Reporting
Smart guides for aligning objects on a page [video] [article] [blog]
ArcGIS Maps for Power BI updates [video] [article] [blog]
Fields list accessibility support [video] [article] [blog]
Set tab order for objects on a page [video] [article] [blog]
Tooltips for button visuals [video] [article] [blog]
Updated icons for Visual interactions [video] [article] [blog]

Analytics
Live connect support for Q&A (preview) [video] [blog]

Modeling
DAX formula bar updates [video] [article] [blog]
Data view accessibility support [video] [article] [blog]

Power BI visuals
One new custom visual [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
AtScale connector (Beta) [video] [blog]
Oracle Essbase connector (Beta) [video] [article] [blog]

Data preparation
Fuzzy merge - support for Top N best matches [video] [blog]

Other
High contrast support for all panes and report footer [video] [article] [blog]
Updated keyboard shortcut dialog [video] [article] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video channel describes and shows each of these updates. You can
also see the videos from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/AHNlkjRFdYI
NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

November 2018 Update (2.64.5285.582)


Our November updates were a bountiful harvest of new features and
functionality. So you could sit down with your family of data and analytics
enthusiasts, pass the potatoes, and dig in to our feast of updates.

The following updates are new to Power BI Desktop in November:

Reporting
Expand and collapse matrix row headers [video] [article] [blog]
Copy and paste between Desktop files [video] [article] [blog]
Updated filtering experience (preview) [video] [article] [blog]
Report accessibility improvements [video] [article] [blog]

Analytics
Color saturation on visuals upgraded to use conditional formatting [video]
[blog]
Follow-up questions in the Q&A explorer [video] [blog]

Modeling
New modeling view (preview) [video] [article] [blog]
Composite models now generally available [video] [article] [blog]
Modeling accessibility improvements [video] [article] [blog]
New DAX functions [video] [blog]

Power BI visuals
Five new Power BI visuals [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
Azure Developer Operations Server connector [video] [blog]
PDF Connector support for Start Page and End Page parameters [video]
[article] [blog]
Improved Azure Consumption Insights connector [video] [article] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video channel describes and shows each of these updates. You can
also see the videos from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/1xsXXoyTxfk?controls=0
NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

October 2018 Update (2.63.3272.40262)


Our October updates were spooky-good, frighteningly helpful, and sweeter than
an orange bucket full of candy.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in October:

Reporting
Search in filter cards [video] [article] [blog]
Accessibility improvements for authoring experiences [video] [article] [blog]
Performance improvements for ArcGIS Map [video] [blog]

Modeling
DAX editor improvements [video] [article] [blog]

Analytics
Composite models and aggregation support in the Power BI service (preview)
[video] [article - aggregations] [article - composite models] [blog]
Explain the increase for non-additive measures [video] [blog]

Power BI visuals
Five new Power BI visuals [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
Web by Example connector now generally available [video] [article] [blog]
SAP BW connector implementation v2 now generally available [video] [article]
[blog]
SAP BW Message Server Connector now generally available [video] [blog]
Vertica connector now generally available [video] [blog]
Dynamics NAV and Dynamics 365 business Central connectors now generally
available [video] [blog]
New Dynamics 365 business Central On-premises connector [video] [blog]

Data preparation
Data Profiling in Power Query Editor (preview) [video] [blog]
Fuzzy Matching options for Merge Queries (preview) [video] [blog]

Other areas
Control export data options for reports [video] [blog]
Transport layer security settings [video] [article] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video channel describes and shows each of these updates. You can
also see the videos from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/cT3L2VzgBRU

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

September 2018 Update (2.62.5222.582)


Our September updates were like settling in to an exciting new classroom.
Hopefully you found these updates as useful as a handful of just-sharpened No.
2 pencils.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Reporting
Dot plot layout support in scatter charts [video] [article] [blog]
Copy value and selection from table and matrix visuals [video] [blog]
Built-in report theme options [video] [article] [blog]
Report page tooltips generally available, new Card support [video] [article]
[blog]
Accessibility improvements for analytics and formatting pane support [video]
[blog]

Analytics
Aggregations (preview) [video] [article] [blog]

Power BI visuals
Five new Power BI visuals [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
PDF file connector (preview) [video] [article] [blog]
SAP BW connector - support for measure properties [video] [blog]
Dataflows connector (beta) [article] [blog]

Data preparation
M Intellisense [video] [blog]
Add column from examples - support for text padding [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).
The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rzw2WyI09kY

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

August 2018 Update (2.61.5192.321)


Our August updates were august in their own right, and followed quickly on the
heels of July's big releases. Hopefully you found these updates like a sunny
day on the beach; dip your toes in, we think you'll find these updates feel
just right.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in August:

Modeling
Data categories for measures [video] [article] [blog]
Statistical DAX functions [video] [blog]

Reporting
Export to PDF, and print your reports [video] [article] [blog]
Create bookmark groups [video] [article] [blog]
Theming is generally available [video] [article] [blog]
Slicer restatement [video] [blog]

Analytics
Conditional formatting by values [video] [article] [blog]
Python integration [video] [blog]
Q&A improvements [video] [blog]

Power BI visuals
Five new Power BI visuals [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
Spark connector generally available [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/dgv5HhHxxe8
NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

July 2018 Update (2.60.5169.3201)


July's big updates were worthy of a fireworks show in their own right, with
long-requested data and reporting features that launch your visuals sky-high,
and burst with arcing displays of colorful insights.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in July:

Modeling
Composite models (Preview) [video] [article] [blog]
Many-to-many relationships (Preview) (associated with composite models)
[video] [article] [blog]
Storage mode (Preview) (associated with composite models) [video] [article]
[blog]

Reporting
New visual header with more flexibility and formatting [video] [article] [blog]
Wallpaper formatting [video] [article] [blog]
Theming update - more visual and page control (Preview) [video] [blog]
Tooltips for table and matrix [video] [blog]
Turn tooltips off for visuals [video] [blog]
Slicer accessibility [video] [blog]
Formatting pane improvements [video] [blog]
Stepped line support for line and combo charts [video] [blog]
Turn off combo chart data labels for individual series [video] [blog]
Sorting experience improvement [video] [blog]

Analytics
Distribution factor insights [video] [blog]

Power BI visuals
Power BI certified category [video] [blog]
Disabling specific organizational visuals [video] [blog]
Four new Power BI visuals [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
IBM DB2 DirectQuery connector (Preview) [video] [blog]
Improvements to Web By Example connector [video] [article] [blog]
SAP HANA - default values for variables in Variable Input experience [video]
[article] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.
Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mtig3rmIUe0

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

June 2018 Update (2.59.5135.101)


The sun was shining on June's updates, with features and improvements that
warmed up your reports and let you bask in the insights they provided.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in June:

Reporting
High contrast support for reports [video] [article] [blog]
Donut radius control [video] [blog]
Pie and donut detail labels position control [video] [blog]
Format data labels separately for each measure in a combo chart [video] [blog]
Longer phone reports [video] [blog]

Power BI visuals
Two new Power BI visuals [video] [blog]

Modeling
Filtering and sorting in data view [video] [article] [blog]
Improved locale filtering [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
SAP BusinessWarehouse connector improvements (new driver and improved
performance, plus improved support for hierarchy variables) [video] [article]
[blog]
Spark connector now supports Windows Authentication [video] [blog]
OData V4 connector enhancements [video] [blog]
ODBC connector improvements (folding support for Top Rows, ability to filter
navigation by DSN catalog) [video] [blog]

Other
National cloud selector [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/4VpGtWSrssE

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

May 2018 Update (2.58.5103.281)


May's updates were a blooming collection of features and improvements that we
hope spread sunshine on your reports, and made them blossom with beautiful
insights.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in May:

Reporting
Conditional formatting by a different field [video] [blog]
Advanced slicer syncing [video] [blog]
Log axis improvements [video] [blog]
Data label options for funnel chart [video] [blog]
Set line stroke width to zero [video] [blog]

Analytics
Measure drillthrough [video] [article] [blog]

Power BI Premium
Incremental refresh (preview) [video] [article] [blog]

Power BI visuals
Many new Power BI visuals [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
New From Web connector - by example data extraction (preview) [video]
[article] [blog]
Common Data Service for Apps connector (beta) [video] [blog]
Azure KustoDB connector (beta) [video] [blog]
Google BigQuery and Azure HDInsight Spark connectors now generally available
[video] [blog]
Adobe Analytics connector update - support for multiple domain logins
(preview) [video] [blog]
Visual Studio Team Services connector update - analytics views support
[video] [blog]
OLE DB connector update - support for alternate Windows credentials [video]
[blog]
SAP BW DirectQuery connector update - improved technical name support [video]
[blog]

Data preparation
Improvements to Add Column from Examples [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/-_GMCE1TLvQ

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

April 2018 Update (2.57.5068.501)


We're not fooling about how happy we were with April's updates to Power BI
Desktop . We showered the updates across a handful of areas, and hope they help
you grow your future reports with amazing, beautiful visuals.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in April:

Reporting
Q&A Explorer [video] [blog]
Buttons to trigger actions [video] [article] [blog]
Combo chart line styles [video] [blog]
Improved default sort for visuals [video] [blog]
Numeric slicer now generally available [video] [blog]

Analytics
Update your linguistic schema [video] [article] [blog]
New DAX function: COMBINEVALUES() [video] [blog]

Power BI visuals
Organizational visuals now generally available [video] [article] [blog]
Many new Power BI visuals [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
Adobe Analytics connector now generally available [video] [article] [blog]
SAP HANA connector improvement: Port selection [video] [article] [blog]
Dynamics 365 Business Central connector [video] [article] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.
Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/W_Nb73Od_AI

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

March 2018 Update ()


We were feeling lucky as a four-leaf clover about March's updates to Power BI
Desktop . The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in March:

Reporting
Report page tooltips [video] [blog]
Bookmarking is now generally available [video] [article] [blog]
Display units and precision control for Table and Matrix columns [video]
[article] [blog]
Turn off the visual header in Reading mode for a report [video] [blog]
Improved default visual placement [video] [blog]

Power BI visuals
Many new Power BI visuals [video] [article] [blog]

Data connectivity
Visual Studio Team Services connector improvements [video] [article] [blog]
SAP HANA connector enhancements [video] [article] [blog]
DirectQuery multidimensional support is now generally available
SSL certificate validation support
SAP BW DirectQuery now generally available [video] [article] [blog]
Azure Analysis Services connector now generally available [video] [article]
[blog]

Other
Improved error reporting [video] [article] [blog]
View previous errors you've encountered [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/kuI6MMzDh34

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

February 2018 Update (2.55.5010.521)


Our hearts were full of love for the updates to Power BI Desktop in February,
and we hope you found them just as sweet as a box of chocolates.

The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video for this month from the beginning,
right inside this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image
found below the list of updates.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in February 2018:

Reporting
Multi-select data points across multiple pages [video] [article] [blog]
Sync slicers across multiple pages of a report [video] [article] [blog]
Numeric range slicer improvement - whole number snapping (Preview) [video]
[article] [blog]
Faster geocoding for Bing maps (web Preview) - up to 6x faster [video] [blog]
Overflow data labels for bar and column charts visuals [video] [blog]
Search the Formatting and Analytics panes [video] [article] [blog]

Power BI visuals
Organization Power BI visuals (Preview) [video] [article] [blog]

Analytics
Set a custom date table [video] [article] [blog]
Quick measures are now generally available [video] [article] [blog]

Data connectivity
Improvements to DirectQuery over SAP HANA (Preview) [video] [article] [blog]

Other
DirectQuery performance improvements [video] [article] [blog]
Open and save performance improvements [video] [blog]
Show items with no data improvements [video] [blog]
Persistent filters control for upcoming Power BI service feature [video]
[blog]
NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/KeVB5RwMzJo

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

January 2018 Update (2.54.4970.761)


We rang in the new year with a collection of updates to Power BI Desktop , and
our new year's resolution is to keep them coming.

The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video for this month from the beginning,
right inside this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image
found below the list of updates.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in January:

Reporting
Show and hide pages [video] [blog]
Control data label background color for Cartesian and maps visuals [video]
[blog]
Increase the area used for axis labels in charts [video] [blog]
Bar / column padding control [video] [blog]
Show dates as a hierarchy (preview) [video] [blog]
Add an anchor date for a relative date slicer [video] [blog]
Top N selection in Q&A [blog]
Many new Power BI visuals [video] [blog]

Analytics
Correlation coefficient quick measure [blog]

Data connectivity
Support for Azure Active Directory authentication for Azure SQL Database and
Data Warehouse connectors [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/W8Pp5wuCXJw

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

December 2017 Update (2.53.4954.481)


December brought a Ho-Ho-Whole lot of updates to Power BI Desktop , chock full
of features gifts for all business intelligence minded kids (and adults) to
enjoy.

The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in December:

Reporting
Q&A for report creation [video] [blog]
Cross-highlighting for bookmarks [video] [blog]
More bookmark flexibility [video] [blog]
Field properties pane and field descriptions[video] [blog]
Scatter visual from x- and y-axis groupings [video] [blog]
High density sampling for maps based on latitude and longitude [video] [blog]
Responsive slicers [video] [blog]
Recently released Power BI visuals [video] [blog]

Analytics
Drill filters other visuals [video] [blog]

Data connectivity
Adobe Analytics connector [video] [blog]
HDInsight Interactive Query connector [video] [blog]
Data.World connector [video] [blog]
SAP BW connector improvements [video] [blog]
IBM Netezza connector now generally available [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZPU8B-1BxjI

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

November 2017 Update (2.52.4921.202)


November brought a whole harvest worth of updates to Power BI Desktop .

The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.

The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in November:

Reporting
Rule-based conditional formatting for Table and Matrix visuals [video] [blog]
Cell alignment for Table and Matrix visuals [video] [blog]
Control visual ordering through the selection pane [video] [blog]
Lock objects on your report [video] [blog]
Esri Plus Subscription is available for ArcGIS Maps for Power BI [video]
[blog]
Report options for slow data sources [video] [blog]
Filtering performance improvements [video] [blog]
Recently released Power BI visuals [video] [blog]

Analytics
Cell-level formatting for multidimensional AS models for multi-row card
[video] [blog]

Data connectivity
Impala connector - support for Windows Authentication [video] [blog]

Other
Query editing - Add Column from Example improvements [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/sI3yRjdnJ7w

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

October 2017 Update (2.51.4885.543)


October brought a frighteningly compelling group of useful updates to Power BI
Desktop .

The links beside each update mean the following:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.

The following updates are new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Reporting:
Bookmarking (preview) [video] [blog] [article]
Selection pane and visual display controls [video] [blog] [article]
Bookmark links for shapes and images [video] [blog] [article]
Spotlight [video] [blog] [article]
Scatter and Bubble markers [video] [blog] [article]
Increase the number of data points displayed in Scatter visuals [video] [blog]

Analytics:
Quick measures for SSAS live connections [video] [blog] [article]
Sales from new customers quick measure [video] [blog] [article]
Cell-level formatting for multi-dimensional Analysis Services (AS) models
[video] [blog]

Data Connectivity:
Vertica connector (beta) [video] [blog] [article]
SAP BW connector - support for additional member properties [video] [blog]

Other:
Get Power BI Desktop from the Windows Store [video] [blog] [article]
Improved access to help content [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/jksjtR8GnBE

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

September 2017 Update (2.50.4859.502)


The following updates are new to Power BI Desktop in September:

Report View:
Drillthrough to another report page [video] [blog] [article]
Ribbon chart [video] [blog] [article]
Insights about Explain the increase / Explain the decrease [video] [blog]
[article]
Theming preview update - chart style controls [video] [blog] [article]
Accessibility improvements [video] [blog] [article]
Accessible See data [video] [blog] [article]
Keyboard shortcut helper dialog [video] [blog] [article]
High density scatter chart sampling [video] [blog] [article]
Gridline style control [video] [blog] [article]
New Power BI visuals [video] [blog]
Calendar by Tallan [video] [blog]
Enlighten Aquarium [video] [blog]
Visio visual (preview) [video] [blog]
Impact bubble chart [video] [blog]

Data Connectivity:
Azure Consumption Insights connector [video] [blog] [article]
Improvements to the Dynamics 365 for Financials connector [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/moTQJlnClJw

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

August 2017 Update (2.49.4831.222)


The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in August:

Report View:
Show values on rows for matrix [video] [blog]
Color scales on font colors for table and matrix [video] [blog]
Custom subtotal settings per level of matrix [video] [blog]
Line styles and legend options [video] [blog]
Scatter chart performance improvements [video] [blog]
New Power BI visuals [video] [blog]
Dot Plot by MAQ Software [video] [blog]
Power KPI [video] [blog]
Funnel plot [video] [blog]
Beyondsoft Calendar [video] [blog]

Analytics & Modeling:


What if parameters [video] [blog]
New scatter chart analytics features [video] [blog]
Symmetry shading [video] [blog]
Ratio lines [video] [blog]
New quick measure: weighted average [video] [blog]

Data Connectivity:
Live connect to the Power BI service is generally available [video] [blog]
Google BigQuery connector (beta) [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ND8U0yXroaQ

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

July 2017 Update (2.48.4792.321)


The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in July:

Report View:
New table & matrix visuals are now generally available [video] [blog]
Renaming fields in visuals [video] [blog]
Power BI visuals store integration [video] [blog]
Relative date filters [video] [blog]
Responsive layout for visuals (preview) [video] [blog]
New waterfall chart option - breakdown [video] [blog]
Custom visual updates [video] [blog]
Drill down Choropleth [video] [blog]
Drill down Cartogram [video] [blog]
Drill down Player [video] [blog]
Certified Power BI visuals [blog]

Analytics & Modeling:


Quick measures from the community [video] [blog]
Star rating [video] [blog]
Concatenated list of values [video] [blog]
Bidirectional cross filtering for DirectQuery is now generally available
[video] [blog]

Data Connectivity:
Snowflake connector general availability [video] [blog]
Query Editing:
Add Column from Examples enhancements [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post references in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/4X96ow7FnSY

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

June 2017 Update (2.47.4766.542)


The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in June:

Report View:
Data bars for new table and matrix visuals (Preview) [video] [blog]
Markers on line, area, and combo visuals (Preview) [video] [blog]
Visual font family setting [video] [blog]
Horizontal image slicer [video] [blog]
Combo chart formatting updates [video] [blog]
Bing maps improvements [video] [article] [blog]
High density line sampling [video] [article] [blog]
Accessible reports [video] [article] [blog]

Data Connectivity:
Custom Data Connectors support [video] [blog]
Power BI service Live Connect to on-premises and push streaming datasets
[video] [blog]
Impala connector is now generally available [video] [blog]
Amazon Redshift connector is now generally available [video] [blog]
SAP BW connector - DirectQuery support [video] [blog]
IBM Netezza connector (beta) [video] [blog]

Query Editing:
Add Column from Examples enhancements [video] [article] [blog]
NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post referenced in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/YlNVE5dgcSI

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

May 2017 Update (2.46.4732.461)


The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in May:

Report View:
Relative date slicer (Preview) [video] [blog]
New table visual (Preview) [video] [blog]
Combo chart data label enhancements [video] [blog]
More URL support in table and matrix visuals [video] [blog]
mailto links in textbox [video] [blog]

Analytics:
Report level measures for live connections to Analysis Services tabular
models and Power BI service datasets [video] [blog]
Two new quick measures (Preview) [video] [blog]
Bin by count [video] [blog]

Data Connectivity:
Combine files - ability to reference First File as example [video] [blog]
New data connectors:
Dynamics 365 for Customer Insights [video] [blog]

Query Editing:
Two new transforms:
Extract text before/after/between delimiters [video] [blog]
Unpivot only selected columns [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post referenced in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/CKISVNHcHVA

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

April 2017 Update (2.45.4704.442)


The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in April 2017:

Report View:
Rename axis titles [video] [blog]
New matrix visual enhancements: column sorting, column resizing, and word
wrap (Preview) [video] [article] [blog]

Analytics:
Quick measures [video] [blog] [in-depth blog] [article]
Show value as [video] [blog]
Q&A in Spanish (Preview) [video] [blog]

Data Connectivity:
Connect to datasets in the Power BI service (Preview) [video] [article]
[blog]
New or enhanced data connectors:
Redshift Connector: beta support, and Publish to Power BI service
[video] [blog]
SAP HANA and BW: enhancements to parameter input experience [video]
[blog]

Query Editing:
Add Column from Example [video] [article] [blog] [another blog]
Split column (by delimiter/number of characters) into rows [video] [blog]
Group by: basic mode [video] [blog]
Go to column [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post referenced in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/AWMaIaI8G2Y

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

March 2017 Update (2.44.4675.422)


The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in March 2017:

Report View:
New matrix visual (Preview) [video] [article] [blog]
Numeric range slicer (Preview) [video] [article] [blog]
Data labels on pie and donut visuals - percent of total [video] [blog]
Cross-highlight using multiple series [video] [blog]
Textbox - ability to choose font color [video] [blog]
Report theming (Preview) [video] [article] [blog]

Analytics:
Clustering - now generally available [video] [blog]

Data Connectivity:
New or enhanced data connectors [video]:
Azure Analysis Services database (Beta) [blog]
Azure Data Lake Store - now generally available [blog]
DB2 connector - option to specify package collection [video] [blog]
Combine binaries - specify a sample file to use [video] [blog]

Query Editing improvements


Split column by delimiter - automatic detection of delimiter character
[video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post referenced in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/CaRTON3lJqw

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.
February 2017 Update (2.43.4647.541)
The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in February:

Report View:
Word wrap on matrix row headers [video] [blog]
X- and Y-axis font size control [video] [blog]
Cartesian chart minimum category width [video] [blog]
Line chart line thickness and join type controls [video] [blog]

Analytics:
Two new Quick Calcs: Percent of row total, and percent of column total
[video] [blog]

Data Connectivity:
New or enhanced data connectors [video]:
ODBC and OLE DB connectors - support for Select related tables [blog]
Enhanced Folder connector - support for combining binaries from the
Preview dialog [video] [blog]
Unified Text and CSV connectors [video] [blog]
New - PowerApps Common Data Service connector [blog]

Query Editing improvements


Quickly change a column's data type and locale with the new Using locale
option in the Column headers type menu [video] [blog]
Easily insert steps into existing queries, using the new Insert Step After
option [video] [blog]

Other improvements
Solutions Templates and Partner Showcase quick access [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post referenced in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/mn75-LOPxMA

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

January 2017 Update (2.42.4611.482)


The following updates are new to Power BI Desktop in January:
Report View:
Table and matrix conditional formatting improvement - blank formatting
[video] [blog]
New aggregations for string and dateTime columns [video] [blog]
Table header word wrap [video] [blog]
General Availability (GA) of Phone reports [video] [blog]

Data Connectors:
New or enhanced data connectors [video]:
Visual Studio Team Services connector (Beta) [video] [blog]
Enhanced SQL Server connector - support for SQL Failover option [video]
[blog]

Query Editing improvements


New transform: extract values from a nested list [video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post referenced in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/C1-f0T8vZ7M

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

November 2016 Update (2.41.4581.301)


The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in November:

Report View:
Hierarchical axis [video] [blog]
Axis label and title color control [video] [blog]
Matrix conditional formatting [video] [blog]
Table and matrix column formatting [video] [blog]
Drop-down slicer [video] [blog]
Mobile reports scrolling [video] [blog]

Analytics
Clustering (preview) [video] [blog]
Forecasting (now in the Power BI service ) [blog]
Groups (now on the ribbon) [video] [blog]

Data Connectors:
New data connectors [video]:
Spark DirectQuery [video] [blog]
OData connector improvements [video] [blog]
Enhanced combine binaries experience [video] [blog]
Azure Analysis Services [video] [blog]

Query Editing improvements


Improved function authoring experience [video] [blog]
Support for percentage data type [video] [blog]
Added Maximize and Restore buttons in Navigator and Query Dependencies
[video] [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post referenced in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/kERJ_WOLuLk

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

October 2016 Update (2.40.4554.361)


The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in October:

Report View:
Improved date axis range formatting [video]
Date slicer [blog] [video]
Report gridlines and snap to grid (Preview) [article] [blog] [video]
Data label improvements [blog] [video]
Map formatting options [blog] [video]
Improved date axis range formatting [blog]

Analytics
Grouping [blog] [video]
Binning [blog] [video]
Top-N filter [blog] [video]
Include/exclude data points [blog] [video]
R-powered Power BI visuals[blog]

Data Connectors:
New data connectors [video]:
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Financials (Beta) [blog]
OLE DB [blog]
Mixpanel [blog]

Query Editing improvements


Support for table parameters in the Invoke Function dialog [blog] [video]

Other improvements
Diagnostics information in the About dialog [blog] [video]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post referenced in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/UXEYSvgvMaQ

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

September 2016 Update (2.39.4526.362)


The following updates were new to Power BI Desktop in September:

Report View:
ArcGIS Maps for Power BI (Preview) [blog] [video]
Mobile report layout (Preview) [blog] [video]
Updated drill behavior [article] [blog] [video]

Analytics
Forecasting (Preview) [article] [blog] [video]
Use your own R IDE [blog] [video]

Data Connectors:
New data connectors:
Snowflake connector DirectQuery support [blog]
ProjectPlace connector [article] [blog]
Improvements to existing connectors:
Oracle connector - improved Navigator previews performance [blog]
OData connector - support for Select Related Tables option [blog]
SAP Business Warehouse and SAP HANA connectors - enhancements to
parameter input interface [article] [blog]
Web connector - support for specifying HTTP request headers within the
dialog [blog] [video]
Query Editor improvements:
Query Dependencies view [blog] [video]
Show Errors experience [blog]
Query Editor ribbon support for scalar values [blog]
Add function invocation column [blog]
Expand & Aggregate columns - support for Load More values [blog]
New transform - convert Table Column to a list [blog]
Key boarding - support for smart typing in drop-down menus [blog]

Other improvements
In-product links to the Power BI Community [blog] [video]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post referenced in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/pcUr6E8g_KI

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

August 2016 Update (2.38.4491.282)


August introduced a full harvest of new features for Power BI Desktop:

[video] excerpts play in a new browser tab, when the feature is being
discussed.
Some features have an [article] that provides more detail.
Most features are explained in the monthly update [blog] post.
Lastly, some features are self-explanatory and don't need and article or
video.

You can also watch the Latest Updates video from the beginning, right inside
this article, by clicking on the play icon on the video image found below the
list of updates.

The following updates are new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Report View:
Drill down (or back up) on line charts [blog] [video]
Continuous axis for the Date axis [blog] [video]
General availability of Inline Hierarchies [article] [blog] [video]
Predefined matrix styles (similar to table formatting in Excel) [blog]
[video]
Reorder fields, in charts and tooltips [blog] [video]
Color formatting for KPI visuals [blog] [video]

Analytics (New!)
The all-new Analytics pane [article] [blog] [video]
Dynamic reference lines [blog] [video]

Data Connectors:
New data connectors:
Snowflake connector (Preview) [blog]
Improvements to existing connectors:
Impala connector - DirectQuery support [article] [blog]
Web connector - Web page previews [blog] [video]
General availability for the SAP Business Warehouse connector [article]
[blog]

Query Editor improvements:


Option to Merge/Append as New Query [blog] [video]

Other improvements
Auto-recover Desktop files [blog] [video]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features (this is
the same blog post referenced in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/0VvG7Eqoke8

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

July 2016 Update (2.37.4464.321)


You can always download the latest version of Power BI Desktop.

July brought another great collection of new features and highly anticipated
data connectors to Power BI Desktop. The following enhancements were new to
Power BI Desktop in July:

Report View:
Predefined table styles [blog] [video]
Shape Maps update - use custom maps [article] [blog] [video]

Data Connectors:
New data connectors:
Amazon Redshift [article] [blog]
Impala [article] [blog]
Improvements to existing connectors:
Web connector - support for specifying a connection timeout [blog]
CSV and Text - support for fixed-width delimited files [blog]
Improvements and changes to the SAP Business Warehouse connector
[article] [blog]

Query Editor improvements:


Use R script in Query Editor [article] [blog]
Query parameter enhancements:
List query output as allowed values for a parameter [blog]
Overwrite existing user-defined functions [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these features (this is the
same blog post referenced in the list above).

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/g8ccfjffWmw

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

June 2016 Update (2.36.4434.362)


You can always download the latest version of Power BI Desktop.

June provided a shining collection of interesting updates for Power BI Desktop.

Report View:
New visual - Shape Maps [video] [article]
Searchable slicers [video] [blog]
Configurable line chart labels [video] [blog]
New sign-in entry points [video] [blog]

Data Access:
Row Level Security [blog] [article]

Data Connectors:
New data connector: [blog]
Azure Enterprise
Enhanced SAP BW and HANA connectors: [blog]
Allow multi-select of values for Variables/Parameters
Support for Hierarchies in SAP BW
Enhanced OData connector - imports Open Type columns [blog]
Enhanced Access DB connector - button to Select Related Tables in
Navigator dialog [blog]

Data Connectors:
Templates - option to Load or Edit [blog]
Query parameter enhancements: [blog]
Option to always allow Parameter specification
Create new parameter directly in context
Option to generate Step Names in English [blog]
Descriptions for Query Steps [video] [blog]
New Data Transformations: [blog]
Extract Week Day and Month Name from a DateTime column
Merging dates and Times into a DateTime column
Extract Time.Start/End of Hour/Minute/Second

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features.

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/sZsL2l6oS4A

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

May 2016 Update (2.35.4399.381)


You can always download the latest version of Power BI Desktop.

May brought another large collection of compelling updates for Power BI


Desktop:

Report View:
Customizable tooltips [video] [article]
Conditional formatting in tables [video] [article]
Publish to Pyramid server [blog]
Scrolling loads more data in charts [video] [blog]
Keyboard nudging for visuals [blog]

Analytics
Quick Calcs - % of grand total [blog]

Data Connectivity:
New data connectors: [blog]
Informix
comScore Digital Analytix
Troux
Planview Enterprise
Improved DB2 connector [blog]
Text/CSV connector exposes editable settings in preview dialog [blog]
Improved relational database connectors with Display Schema information
Data Source Settings enhancements [blog]
Advanced Filter Rows dialog mode [blog]
Inline Input controls for Function invocation within Query Editor [blog]
Query Parameters: [blog]
Ability to convert queries to parameters (and vice versa)
Support for URL parameterization and multi-part URLs in Web connector
Support for parameterization in Conditional Columns dialog
Ability to Save As a Power BI Template [blog]
Support for reordering Query Steps using drag-and-drop [blog]
Date picker support in Conditional Columns dialog input Date fields [blog]
New context menu entry to create new queries from the Queries pane [blog]

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features.

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/KnDs4amt9-c

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

April 2016 Update (2.34.4372.322)


You can always download the latest version of Power BI Desktop.

In April, we showered our great Power BI customers with another collection of


compelling updates for Power BI Desktop. The following enhancements are new to
Power BI Desktop this month:
Report View:
Additional styles on a table, matrix, and multi-row card
Trend lines on single visuals
New drill action - See Records
Map auto-zoom during drill/filter
In-line hierarchy labels for expanded view (Preview - see the article)

Data Modeling:
Modeling operations are no longer blocked while visuals are refreshing
Time Intelligence with built-in date hierarchy fields (Preview)
Data model synonyms

Data Connectivity:
Query Parameters
Power BI Template files
New Online Services category in Get Data dialog
New Connectors:
SharePoint Folder
Webtrends
SparkPost
tyGraph
Conditional Columns
DirectQuery - Specify DirectQuery vs. Import mode in data source dialogs
Column type indicator in Query Editor preview column headers
Reorder Queries and Query Groups using Drag & Drop gestures
Query Management menu in the ribbon

NOTE
You can also check out all the data sources available to Power BI Desktop; our list is always
growing, so check back often.

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features.

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/7IFZTYJR3Gk

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

March 2016 Update (2.33.4337.281)


You can now download the latest version of Power BI Desktop.

March brings all sorts of renewal and freshness, including another round of
Power BI Desktop additions. The following enhancements are new to Power BI
Desktop this month:

Report View:
Publish reports to a Group Space in the Power BI service
Reports with KPI trends now respect Do Not Summarize model settings from SSAS
MD
Data Point warnings are now non-intrusive

Data Modeling:
You can now change the data type of a column when using DirectQuery mode
Ability to assume Referential Integrity on relationships (for those imported,
and created) in DirectQuery
DirectQuery for Oracle and Teradata is now part of Power BI Desktop (no long
a preview feature)

Data Connectivity:
A new SAP BW Connector (preview feature)
Support for Command Timeout in the user interface (UI)
There's a setting available to disable Privacy Level prompts at the machine
level (including a registry key)
Query Group Management enhancements:
Expand/Collapse All
Retain Query Group expansion state
New Transformations:
Remove Blanks using the Column Filter menu
Convert Duration values to Years
Keep Duplicates
Support for whitespace and line feeds in Query Editor preview
Include hints for sample input values in the Change Type with Locale dialog
Enhancements to the Navigator window:
Add schema information to navigation hierarchy for ODBC sources
Ability to disable preview from Navigator
Technical name support
Load: Auto-step to disambiguate conflicting column names (case-insensitive
comparison)
You can now rename queries directly from the Queries pane

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features.

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/eAayYDF9QzY

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

February 2016 Update (2.32.4307.362)


You can now download the latest version of Power BI Desktop.

We're leaping ahead with more updates this month! February brings 29 days to
the month (it's a leap year), and with it, 29 improvements to this monthly
update of Power BI Desktop. The following enhancements are new to Power BI
Desktop this month:

Report View:
See Data Behind a Visual (including Export Data to CSV)
Map improvements - plot map with latitude/longitude only
KPI consumption release support (including navigation hierarchy support and
KPI trend for SSAS MD)
SSAS Exploration Mode: Support for Display folders in the Fields pane
Ribbon layout improvements: Contextual ribbon tab for Report Tools
New KPI visual
Get reports opened to the same page that was visible when they were saved
Edit Query option in table context menu in the Fields pane (Report & Data
views)
Duplicate Page from the ribbon

Data Modeling:
Ability to define hierarchies
Performance Improvement: Table & Column rename optimizations

Data Connectivity:
DirectQuery support for Oracle and Teradata
DirectQuery support for creating Calculated Columns
Support for publishing Analysis Services Live reports
JSON File connector
SQL Sentry connector
Support for jagged CSV files
Exchange Connector - OAuth support
SharePoint List Connector - URL validation
Database Connectors - ability to disable Navigation Columns in Query previews
(Performance optimization)
Web Connector - fine-grained scoping of Credentials
Enter Data dialog UX enhancements
SAP HANA - Support for single sign-on with Windows Authentication (Power BI
Desktop only)
SAP HANA - Support for Field labels
Alphabetical sort of columns in Choose Columns builder
Improved performance of renaming/removing/reordering columns
Virtualized Preview in Query Editor
Visual indicator for unloaded queries in Query Editor
1-click Percentage transform

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features.

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/J5gZ65Wexh4

NOTE
You might also be interested in learning what's new in the Power BI service, and also check out
what's new in the mobile apps for Power BI.

January 2016 Update (2.31.4280.361)


You can now download the latest version of Power BI Desktop.

Ring in the new year with another collection of improvements and enhancements
to Power BI Desktop. The following enhancements are new to Power BI Desktop
this month:

Report View:
Add borders to a visual
Add an image background to a visual

Data Connectivity:
DirectQuery: you can now create measures when using DirectQuery mode
You can now refresh data for individual tables from the Field List (in
Report view and Data view), rather than (and in addition to) just being able
to refresh all from the ribbon
General Availability (GA) for SQL Server Analysis Services Multidimensional
models Exploration mode (no longer a preview feature)
Enhancements to hierarchy support
General Availability (GA) for the SAP HANA connector (no longer a preview
feature)
Ability to append multiple tables within a single Append operation
Option to disable data previews to download in the background (performance
optimization)

Other Improvements:
Support for Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) browser
Performance improvements for report rendering, cross-highlighting, and
otherwise
Improvements to R integration in Power BI Desktop

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features.

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ek8dwi33-24

December 2015 Update (2.30.4246.181)


December is a month for giving, and the Power BI team is following suit with
more updates, features, and more functionality in this month's Power BI Desktop
update. The following enhancements are new to Power BI Desktop this month:

Report Authoring:
Formatting Pane and Ribbon:

Format data labels per category services


Change the number of decimal places shown in visuals
Change text size in visuals
Ability to layout visuals accurately: alignment, distribute, size,
position
Set styles across multiple visuals through Format Painter
Optimized Home ribbon layout
Enhancements to Visualizations:

Visual cue for sort state in Table visual


New visual: Stacked Area chart
Smart tooltips for Area and Line charts on hover
Ability to create reference line/region for a Cartesian visual
Improved data labels for Pie and Scatter charts
R Visuals integration in Power BI Desktop (Preview feature)

Suggested table-to-table relationships when trying to create visuals


involving two tables which are not related

Data Modeling:
Relationships View
Zooming slider
Fit Zoom to screen
Reset layout
Ability to zoom in CTRL+(mouse selection range)

Data Connectivity:
SSAS Multidimensional support - hierarchies support
Stripe Connector
Smartsheet Connector
Enter Data : paste or enter data to create a table
DirectQuery improvements: support for all data types of T-SQL and SAP HANA,
resulting in performance improvements
ODBC Connector: support for selecting User/System DSNs
CSV Connector: ability to specify Column Delimiter in the Source dialog

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features.

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/iW5VH8iIyfE

November 2015 Update (2.29.4217.221)


You can now download the latest version of Power BI Desktop.

Another month, another big collection of new features and improvements for
Power BI Desktop. Improvements range from new data connectors to new modeling
capabilities. Here are 26 new features and improvements:
Report Authoring:
Play Axis for Scatter Chart
Horizontal Slicers
Slicer Selection Behaviors (single vs. multi-select)
Control Z-order
Background Colors for Slides
Interactions between Visuals - Subview (tile by)
Duplicate Pages
Support for KPIs and Images in Tables, Matrices and Cards
Better Tooltips on Area Charts & Line Charts
Ability to change Text size in Cards & Tables/Matrix
Improved tooltips and labels in Field Well and Formatting panes
Ability to see Categories with no data
Improved Default Sort behaviors for visuals
Ability to control Axis Scale display units
Visuals Refresh Optimizations when applying basic modeling operations

Data Modeling:
Basic Automatic Date Features

Data Connectivity:
SSAS Multidimensional support
SAP Hana
R Script
DirectQuery for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Azure Data Lake
Marketo

Data Transformations:
Improved Function Invocation experience
Option to set Credentials at Server vs. Database level
Add Prefix/Suffix to a Text column

Other Improvements:
New Documentation Website, now also including localized content

Want more information about these updates? Take a look at the blog post, where
you can get more detailed information about each of these new features.

The following video describes and shows each of these updates. You can also see
the video from the blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ErHvpkyQjSg

October 2015 Update (2.28.4190.122)


October brings another large collection of updates to Power BI Desktop:

Report Authoring:
Custom Visualizations
Insert Visual from the Ribbon
Improved Default Sorting
Tooltips & Data Labels on Funnel Charts
Slicer Improvements:
Ability to Sort items
Ability to change Font Size
Additional Formatting Options for Gauges
Data Point Label layout improvements
KPI Consumption (Preview Feature)

Data Modeling:
Semi-Select support for DAX formulas in Data view

Data Connectivity:
Azure Document DB connector
Mailchimp connector
DirectQuery for SQL Server and Azure SQL Database (Preview Feature)

Data Transformations:
Filter by "not earliest/latest date"
Filter by "is in previous N minutes/hours/seconds"
Copy/Paste Queries between Power BI Desktop and Excel
Support for Special Characters in Split Column
Refresh Previews in Merge Queries dialog
Monospaced font for Query Editor Preview

Other Improvements:
Refresh Single Table (vs. All) from Report & Data Views
Option to enable Preview features
In-Product Ratings experience

You can view a video of all these updates, too.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jbocn1ZNkxM
For more information, check out the blog announcement that describes more
details about each update.

September 2015 Update (2.27.4163.351)


The following massive collection of 44 features has been added to this update:

Report Authoring
Report-level filters
Drill Up/Down for column and scatter charts
New Page Size and Page View options
Support for inserting Shapes in the Report canvas
Fields pane improvements
Search Box to make it easier to find fields by name
"Expand/Collapse All" to improve navigation when there are multiple
tables in the Fields pane
Field well cardinality support, drag-replace for buckets with 1 item
Additional Data Labels formatting options
Chart Cartesian Axis Improvements:
X-Axis label direction (horizontal / diagonal)
Support for Logarithmic & Linear scales for values in Y-axis
Display Text for hyperlinks in text boxes
Improvements to existing visualizations: Table, Matrix, Slicer,
Scatter Chart, Single Cards, Combo Charts and Gauges
Support for displaying Color Saturation values in tooltips
Ability to resize images and apply additional formatting options

Data Modeling
Calculated Tables.
Relationships view:
Create relationships via drag/drop between two tables in the diagram.
Delete relationships in relationship view by selecting and hitting the
Delete key.
Rename/delete tables and columns
Data view:
Copy Table contents to clipboard.
Field Summarization:
Support for additional operations in the Fields pane: median, standard
deviation, and variance
Default summarization: Users can now customize the default summarization
operation for any given field in their model

Data Connectivity
Support for on-premises Spark distributions
Support for SharePoint lists from non-English sites
Exchange connector - Enhanced support, now allowing connections to multiple
mailboxes
Excel Workbook Connector - Automatic Column Type detection when importing
.XLS files
"Select Related Tables" option when connecting to database sources
Enhanced Active Directory connector credentials, allowing alternate Windows
Credentials
Improved Function Invocation experience when loading functions from a data
source (such as a database)
"Import Excel Workbook Contents" feature released last month now also
supports external connections to Analysis Services tabular models
New option to "Delete All" entries in the Data Source Settings dialog
Option to "Enable Relationship Import during Refresh operations"

Data Transformations and Query Editor Improvements


Copy to clipboard (available for cells/columns/tables)
Filter date columns by earliest/latest date (dynamic filter)
Extract min/max date/time value from a column
Replace Values - Provision for specifying special characters
"Detect Column Types" option to trigger type detection on demand
"Refresh All Previews" to refresh all Query Editor previews with a single
click
Performance Improvements:
Choose Columns dialog: Faster user experience for dealing with wide
tables
Auto-filter & Expand/Aggregate popups: Faster for large number of
values/fields

The following video covers these features in more detail.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jm44dLXdarQ
For more information about this update, check out the blog announcement that
describes more details about each update.

August 2015 Update (2.26.4128.403)


The following features have been added to this update:

Overall Improvements:

Import Excel Power BI artifacts (Data Model, Queries, Power View) into a
new Power BI Desktop file

HDInsight Spark connector

Azure SQL Data Warehouse connector

Support for custom MDX/DAQ queries when importing data from SSAS

Live Analysis Services Connections: ability to change the database from


Edit Queries dialog

Navigator dialog improvements:

Resizable Navigator dialog

Ability to multi-select items in Navigator (CTRL+click, SHIFT+click, etc.)

Query Editor improvements:

Query Group creation/deletion improvements (multi-select, etc.)

Ability to Split Query (i.e., refactor common base steps into a new query)

Query Icons to reflect type of query in Queries navigator pane

Data Modeling improvements:

Resizing of columns in Data View

Moving Measures from one table to another

Take a look at the following video for more details about this update:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/2v7LUD7MJaw

July 2015 Update (2.25.4095.554)


The following features have been added in this update:

New Data Connectors : appFigures, Quickbooks Online, Zendesk, GitHub,


Twilio, and SweetIQ.

New Transformations : Extract First/Last/Range of characters from a Text


Column; Option to specify Join Type in the Merge Queries dialog; Ability
to customize Quote Style in Split Column by Delimiter dialog.

Report Authoring Improvements : New visualizations (Area Chart,


Waterfall, Donut & Matrix); New visual formatting and customization
options (labels, titles, background, legend, colors, etc.); Insert Textbox
and Picture in your report; Support for hyperlinks in reports and report
tables; Undo/Redo actions.

Direct Report Exploration over Analysis Services Tabular Models.

Data Modeling: New Data View & Relationships views.

Publish reports to PowerBI.com, directly from Power BI Desktop.

Support for opening Recent Files in Start Page and "File -> Open" menu.

Support for Exchange UPN Credentials in the Exchange connector.

In addition to all these new features, we're also making Power BI Desktop
available in 42 different languages. Get the full list of languages and
install the one you want from our official download page.

Take a look at the following video for more details:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/JCaCcdMnsyM

May 2015 Update (2.23.4036.161)


The following features have been added in this update:

Modeling Features

Calculated Columns

Data Categorization

Sort By Another Column

Improved DAX Formula Editor: Function Help and Prototype

Get Data & Query

New ODBC Tables connector (Beta)

Improved to the Excel Workbook connector: better column type inference


and faster load for data previews

New Text Column Filters - Does Not Begin With and Does Not End With

Enhanced Privacy Levels dialog

Take a look at the following video for details:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/LS0zMfup1pQ

April 2015 Update (2.22.4009.122)


You can now download the latest version of Power BI Desktop.

The following features have been added in this update:


Modeling Features

Initial support for DAX Measures

New DAX functions

Data Types & Formatting options in Report view

Rename & Delete fields in Report view

Get Data & Query

OData V4 support

Support for Custom ADFS Authentication Services

Updated Facebook connector due to Facebook API changes

Unified Options dialog

Option to disable Native Database query prompts

Support for Fixed Decimal Number type

Alternate Windows Credentials

Remove Blank Rows

Median Operation available for Group By and Aggregate Column

Convert DateTimeZone value to Local Time

Performance Improvements

Faster load of medium & large datasets by about 20%

Improved time to open an existing PBIX file by about 50%

You can watch the following video for details:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/FuL8agVKrcg

March 2015 Update (2.21.3975.261)


The following features have been added in this update:

Google Analytics connector

Additional operators for date filtering in Query view

Automatic Model Relationship Detection

Enhanced Add Relationship dialog

Report Pages Re-ordering (drag & drop)

~40-50% Performance Improvement filling database tables without


filters/transforms

Lots of bug fixes

You can watch the following video for more details:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/xJTcGro08TI
February 2015 Update (2.20.3945.102)
The following features have been added or improved in this update:

Performance improvements
Dynamics CRM Online connector

NOTE
Currently, only URLs within the crm.microsoft.com domain are accepted by this dialog.
This does not include non-production tenants. We'll fix this issue in our March update.
The temporary workaround is to connect to this feed using "From OData".*

Navigator Dialog improvements


Better preview experience for multi-dimensional sources (Analysis
Services and SAP BusinessObjects)
Show Selected Items option
Improved Search capabilities in the Navigator tree
New Transformations
Age and Subtract operations for Date/Time columns
Aggregate Columns: Option to disable new columns' prefix
Field List improvements
Expand/Collapse tables
Hide/Unhide fields
Optimized layout (spacing, margins, and fonts)
Report Pages Navigation - Key boarding support
Lots of bug fixes

https://www.youtube.com/embed/-bZFeS1S1wU
January 2015 Update (2.19.3923.101)

This month we've made a number of improvements and bug fixes under the covers.
Please try out the new version and continue to send us feedback if you find any
issues!
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date at the top of the Privacy Statement is updated with every revision. We
encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Statement to be informed of
how Microsoft is helping to protect your information.

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