New to Power Bi - Created a Report...Now what?

[Txtcher]

I have used the power query editor in Excel for a few years now, but recently had Power Bi installed.  I understand the fundamentals to create a report, but then what?  From reading here:  Ways to collaborate...  it looks like I cannot simply publish the report to a workspace and send a link to individuals within my organization to view the report if those individuals do not also have a Power Bi Pro license.  So, that's not feasible.  What are my options now?  How do I share the reports with people in my organization who do not have Power BI?  Am I left with having to embed the report into a SharePoint site?  Our users are used to Excel files, so I can't see embeding the report into a SharePoint page being a popular solution.  

Can someone give me a link that explains report sharing better than the one linked above?  

[nandic · Accepted solution]

@Txtcher if users should only see data (in csv, pdf, xlsx format), without filtering and any interactions, you can subscribe to specific report, report will be sent to your email in specified format and then you can have email rule set to forward this email.
It will cost nothing 🙂

But when it comes to regular Power BI, yes, license is needed if you want to share reports with others.
Power BI desktop app is free where you can build reports with all features, but pricing starts when you want to share it 🙂

[Txtcher]

Oh!  That sounds great.  Now I just have to figure out how to subscribe to a report.  But the auto forward of the email would not be practical because then that limits the distribution to only myself.  I wonder if there is a way to use Power Automate to send the report after it is published?  Back to the drawing board of more research.

Thanks for the 2nd response.  It was very helpful.

[v-nuoc-msft]

Hi @Txtcher 

@nandic Thank you very much for your prompt reply. Allow me to add a few things.

You might consider publishing the report to the web.

This option allows Power BI reports to be published to the Internet.

While anyone on the Internet can view the report without a Power BI license.

However, it is important to note that for security reasons, this method can only be used for publicly shared content, not for internal sharing.

Publish to web from Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

If your organization uses SharePoint Online, you can embed Power BI reports in SharePoint pages.

Embedding reports in SharePoint Online does not automatically grant users permission to view the reports. Viewers need appropriate permissions to view the content.

Embed a report web part in SharePoint Online - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Regards,

Nono Chen

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[Txtcher]

I work for a state government.  Sharing reports on the internet is absolutely not an acceptable solution.

And, as I stated in my op, embedding the report on SharePoint will not be a popular solution for our staff that are used to recieving Excel files.  I am so disappointed that publishing them is not a viable option because of the necessity for all recipients to also have a Pro license.  

[nandic]

@Txtcher to share reports with other colleagues, you need to have PRO license and publish the report to Power BI Service portal, in specific workspace.
Then you add other users to this workspace. They also need to have PRO license to view and interact with reports.

How you and them ssign to Power BI Service portal?
Just go to link https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-bi and sign up with you work email.
Each user will login with their work email.
Each user has 60 days free trial.
Based on email domain (@companyname.com) you will all sign up for same portal.

You need to publish to workspace which is not "My Workspace" in order to share reports with others.

Later there are a lot of options how to share data, how to share reports, workspace vs app, but for now, this is basics.

Cheers,
Nemanja Andic

[Txtcher]

Yes, I did state in my original post that I had discovered I can only share published reports with other users who also have pro license.  Because I work for a state agency, the report recipients will definitely not have a pro license.  In no way could the expense of every one in the agency having a pro license be justified just to share a report built with free software.

Having users sign up for a free 60 day trial is not a solution.  It expires.

So it looks like I have installed a useless bit of software that is great at creating reports, but I can't share them.  Kinda defeats the purpose. 😑