How to replace report created on Service with "save as copy"

[fcam123]

Hi everyone,

I have a report on the service for which I created several copies on there with the option Edit -> Save as copy. This is because I have a master report and then I needed several different versions with very small changes (new filters, certain pages hidden, certain hidden pages shown). I did it this way to make sure the reports share the same dataset. However, now I have had to make some important changes in visualizations and the dataset in the master report which I've published to the service with no issues. The problem arises when I want to update the copy reports (which do have the dataset changes but do not have the visual changes), because if I Edit -> Save as copy the master report, even when I name it exactly the same as one of the copies, it just creates a new copy report with the same name. I tried downloading the copy report and making the changes on Desktop, but when I try to publish -after PBI prompts whether I want to replace the report and I accept- it gives me an error saying "There is an existing report/dataset with the same name. Please delete or rename the existing dataset and retry" which is strange because that's the whole point of replacing the report. 
I really need the copy reports to keep their links and access because they are published embedded in different websites and I can't go through each of them and update them all. And making the changes on the visuals directly on the service for the copy reports would be a nightmare since you can't copy/paste visuals across different reports on there.

So how can I replace reports that were created on the service with the "save a copy" option?

[GilbertQ · Accepted solution]

Hi @fcam123 

As far as I am aware this is not possible currently. You can vote or create an idea at https://ideas.powerbi.com

I always recommend people create the reports using Power BI Desktop. Then upload this to the service. As with your example you would be able to open the PBIX files make the changes and upload without any issues.

That is the only way I can think of getting this to work for you.

[fcam123]

Thank you for your answer! I'll close this now.

In case it's any help to someone with a similar issue, here's what I did:
Unfortunately I had to delete the dashboards created with the Edit->Save as copy function on the service. Instead I copies the PBIX file and made the changes in there, then deleted all tables and connected to the dataset on the service. Last, I saved with a different name and published. Now there's the master report with the dataset and the other reports are connected to that dataset. 

[GilbertQ]

Hi @fcam123 

While I understand it is a bit painful to do this now I am certain later in time you will be happy to have done it  in this manner.