Beginners Guide To Power BI
Beginners Guide To Power BI
GUIDE TO POWER
BI
Concise, Practical, Jargon-
Free guide for Excel users to
develop their first Power BI
Report
Exercise Files &
Quiz Included
ALI NOORANI
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO POWER BI
CHAPTER 1
Introduction to Power BI
✔ What is Power BI
✔ Different Products of Power BI
❏ Power BI Desktop
❏ Power BI Service
❏ Power BI Report Server
❏ Power BI Mobile
✔ Competitive Advantages of
Power BI
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO POWER BI
What is Power BI
Power BI comprises a comprehensive suite of self-service Business Intelligence (BI) tools
designed to facilitate data analysis and the seamless dissemination of insights. Within the
Power BI ecosystem, several distinct products coexist, each possessing its unique capabilities
and constraints. These products include Power BI Desktop, Power BI Service, Power BI
Report Server, Power BI Embedded, and the Power BI Mobile App.
In this course, you will navigate through the different phases associated with the development
of a Business Intelligence (BI) solution. The accompanying flowchart below will serve as
your visual guide, assisting you in grasping the nuances as we progress in the course.
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO POWER BI
collecting data from multiple sources, transforming raw data into clean, workable data,
creating data models, and developing fine-looking reports. You cannot create dashboards on
Power BI Desktop.
Power BI Service:
The Power BI Service is built upon and protected by the Windows Azure Cloud platform.
With Power BI Service, you can share your reports and dashboard with your co-workers and
other stakeholders. It also allows you to create workspaces to collaborate on the development
of reports. Data flows allow for the transformation of the dataset. However, you can not make
(.pbix), excel files, and paginated reports (.RDL). It also has a web portal to display reports
and KPIs.
Power BI Mobile:
All the reports and dashboards created on Power BI Service or Desktop, whether on-premises
or in the cloud, become available in the Power BI Mobile Apps. These reports and dashboards
can be viewed on iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, or Apple Watch), Android, or Windows
devices. See the table below to distinguish between the capabilities and limitations of Power
Criteria Power BI Desktop Power BI Service
BI Desktop vs. Service.
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO POWER BI
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO POWER BI
✔ Power BI developers remain constantly engaged with the community and act upon bug
fixes, recommendations, and feedback remarkably fast.
✔ Microsoft Power BI offers one of the lowest per-user pricing options. Most of the
features are given out for free, and even a Pro License just costs $10 per month, which
is much cheaper than its competitors.
✔ Power BI can be integrated with Microsoft Teams, making it the most preferred option
for remote work.
✔ It’s easy to import data from SQL servers (on-premises and cloud), flat files, Spark
clusters, and almost all the popular online services.
Enrol now to our Power BI Essentials Course, To get an in-depth introduction to the
Microsoft Power BI Products and Services.
https://powerbitraining.com.au/power-bi-basic-training-course/
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CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED WITH POWER BI
CHAPTER 2
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CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED WITH POWER BI
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CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED WITH POWER BI
8. Enter your details for quantity. Then click on Add payment method and enter your
details.
9. Keep track of the new email address and wait a few minutes for the setup to
complete.
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CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED WITH POWER BI
4. Fill out the details required in the Create your account Section.
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CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED WITH POWER BI
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CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED WITH POWER BI
time you like. With Power BI Free, some of the features you get are as follows:
Power BI Pro:
Power BI Pro costs $10/user/month (AUD 15.21). It is also included in Office 365 Enterprise
E5. With Power BI Pro, some of the features you get are as follows:
Power BI Premium:
Power BI Premium costs $20/user/month (AUD 30.42). It is mainly used by businesses who
want Premium license services but don’t want to pay much; it offers most Premium services
except for unlimited distribution and multi-geo support. It is also included in Office 365
Enterprise E5. With Power BI Premium, some of the features you get are as follows:
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CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED WITH POWER BI
3. Choose the version of Power BI Desktop that matches your operating system (32-bit
or 64-bit).
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CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED WITH POWER BI
5. Click Next and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
6. Select Finish to run it.
7. On the startup screen, select Sign In and enter your Office365 Business Basic email
address and password.
8. You can now use Power BI Desktop.
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CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED WITH POWER BI
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CHAPTER 3: POWER BI DESKTOP NAVIGATION
CHAPTER 3
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CHAPTER 3: POWER BI DESKTOP NAVIGATION
1. Ribbon Menu
2. Tab Menu
3. Power Query Editor
4. Visualizations Section
5. Filters Page
6. Desktop/Mobile Layout
7. Report Pages
8. Zoom Control
We will discuss these in detail one by one in the next section.
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CHAPTER 3: POWER BI DESKTOP NAVIGATION
File: Once you are in the report view, in the upper left corner, you have the File menu
containing various options related to the file.
Home: The home tab in the ribbon menu consists of various sub-sections that provide
options to help you create and publish reports.
Insert: This tab of the ribbon menu contains all the options for adding new
components to the report.
Modelling: This tab of the ribbon menu contains all options related to data modelling.
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CHAPTER 3: POWER BI DESKTOP NAVIGATION
View: This tab of the ribbon menu contains options related to the user interface.
Optimise: This tab of the ribbon menu contains options to identify slow-performing
visuals and explore potential bottlenecks.
Help: – This tab of the ribbon menu contains multiple options for help.
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CHAPTER 3: POWER BI DESKTOP NAVIGATION
1. Report: This allows you to access the canvas to create your report using different
visual techniques.
2. Table View: This section visualizes all your datasets in tabular format.
3. Model View: You can see the tables' relationship here. You can also rearrange and
connect different tables to form a data model.
4. DAX Query View: It allows you to write and run DAX queries directly within Power
BI, giving you increased flexibility and control over your data model and
calculations.
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CHAPTER 3: POWER BI DESKTOP NAVIGATION
4. To add a pane, click on the + sign and then click on the pane toggle.
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CHAPTER 3: POWER BI DESKTOP NAVIGATION
✔ Data: This pane contains all the tables in your datasets/data models and their
respective fields/columns.
✔ Build a Visual: All visuals and their relevant configuration options are found in this
tab.
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CHAPTER 3: POWER BI DESKTOP NAVIGATION
✔ Sync Slicers: This helps ensure consistency and synchronization of slicers across
different report pages.
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CHAPTER 3: POWER BI DESKTOP NAVIGATION
✔ Performance Analyzer: It is used to analyze the time it takes for different visual
elements in your report to update when interacting with slicers, filters, or other
controls.
Filters Pane
In the Filters pane, you can configure new filters and update existing filters.
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CHAPTER 3: POWER BI DESKTOP NAVIGATION
1. Ribbon Menu: The Ribbon menu contains tabs with various options to help you in
data cleaning and transformation.
2. Queries Pane: This pane contains all the tables.
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CHAPTER 3: POWER BI DESKTOP NAVIGATION
4. Query Settings: All the steps performed on the data are recorded here during data
cleaning and transformation.
5. Row and Column Count: It shows the total rows and columns of the data based on
the current profile.
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CHAPTER 4: GETTING DATA FROM DATA SOURCES
CHAPTER 4
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CHAPTER 4: GETTING DATA FROM DATA SOURCES
File:
The file category contains different file types, including Excel, CSV, XML, PDF, Jason, etc.
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CHAPTER 4: GETTING DATA FROM DATA SOURCES
Azure:
Microsoft has its own Cloud Service called Azure. This category contains a long list of
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CHAPTER 4: GETTING DATA FROM DATA SOURCES
You can get the data from Microsoft Excel into Power BI by following the below-mentioned
steps.
1. Click on Excel Workbook in the Data section of the Home tab in the Ribbon.
2. Browse to the location where you saved the dataset on your computer to open it.
Wait for the processing to finish and the Navigator windows to appear.
Sometimes, you need to change the path of your source file. You just need to hit on Home Tab
>Transform data>Data Source Settings. Here, you can browse your desired file path. This
will update the source, and refreshing your report will show the impact as well.
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CHAPTER 5: DATA TRANSFORMATION
CHAPTER 5
Data Transformation
✓ Removing Blank Rows from the Top
✓ Using the First Row as a Header
✓ Removing Blank Columns and Choosing Relevant
Columns
✓ Renaming Column Names
✓ Understanding the Data Types
❏ Number Data Types
○ Decimal Number
○ Whole number
○ Date
○ Time
○ Boolean
✓ Removing Errors
✓ Removing Duplicates
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CHAPTER 5: DATA TRANSFORMATION
5. Click OK.
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CHAPTER 5: DATA TRANSFORMATION
The column names in the first row will be promoted to column header names.
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CHAPTER 5: DATA TRANSFORMATION
Columns can also be removed by clicking on Manage Columns > Remove Columns
> Remove columns.
In addition, we don’t need columns Order Method Type and Urgent for our analysis,
so will remove them, too. The Choose Column option is another handy way to remove
irrelevant columns (especially when dealing with large queries).
4. Select Choose Columns > Choose Columns from the Home tab.
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CHAPTER 5: DATA TRANSFORMATION
6. Click OK.
7. Similarly, we will remove the blank columns from the Country Table.
8. Click on Country Table Query on the left pane.
9. Click on Column 3, Column 4 up to Column 9 headers while pressing the Shift key
to select the blank columns.
10. Click on Manage Columns > Remove Columns > Remove columns.
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CHAPTER 5: DATA TRANSFORMATION
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CHAPTER 5: DATA TRANSFORMATION
✔ Fixed Decimal Number: It has a fixed location of decimal occurrence, as it can only
have a maximum of four digits to the right. The maximum length of this type of
number is 19 digits. This type is ideally used for currency representation.
✔ Whole number: These numbers are a maximum of 19-digit long numbers with no
decimal separator. It can be represented as both positive and negative.
✔ Date: Only date is supported with no time. It is suitable for scenarios where Time has
no significance in the calculations.
✔ Time: Only time is supported with no date. It is suitable for scenarios where the Date
has no significance in the calculations.
Boolean:
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CHAPTER 5: DATA TRANSFORMATION
Removing Errors
Getting rid of erroneous values is also involved in the Data Transformation process. As you
can see, we have some errors in the Quantity Sold Column.
To remove errors:
1. Click on Sales Table Query on the left pane.
2. Right-click on the Quantity Sold column header.
3. Click on Remove Errors from the dropdown list.
Removing Duplicates
Duplicates are one of the common problems in datasets. So far, we have been working with
Sales Table. In this exercise, we will be working with Country Table. As you can see, Los
Angeles and Melbourne are duplicates.
You can cope with this issue by following the steps below.
1. Click on the Country column header, hold the Shift key, and click on the City
column header to select both.
2. Right-click on the City column header.
3. Click on Remove Duplicates.
Congratulations on completing the Data Transformation chapter! Ready to take your Power BI
skills to the next level? Check out our Power BI Essentials Course for a comprehensive
introduction to the world of Power BI:
https://powerbitraining.com.au/power-bi-basic-tra
ining-course/
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CHAPTER 6: INTRODUCTION TO DATA MODELING
CHAPTER 6
Introduction to Data Modeling
✔ Understanding Data Modeling
❏ Primary Keys (or a Unique
Identifier)
❏ Foreign Keys
✓ Cardinality and Cross Filter Direction
❏ Cardinality
○ Many to One (*:1)
○ One to One (1:1)
○ One to Many (1:*)
○ Many to Many (*:*)
✓ Deleting Relationships
✓ Creating New Relationships: Drag and Drop
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CHAPTER 6: INTRODUCTION TO DATA MODELING
have duplicates. In our case, the Product Code in the Sales Table will act as a Foreign Key
Tables having Primary keys are referred to as Dimension Tables or Lookup Tables. Tables
having foreign keys are referred to as Fact Tables or Data Tables. Usually, a data model has
a single Fact Table surrounded by multiple Dimension Tables.
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CHAPTER 6: INTRODUCTION TO DATA MODELING
Cardinalities in Power BI. The relation between tables is denoted by two symbols, the asterisk
(*) and 1, where the asterisk (*) represents many sides and 1 denotes a single side.
1. Many to One (*:1) – This means the column in a given table can have more than one
instance of a value, and the other related table has only one instance of a value.
2. One-to-One (1:1) – One primary key from the dimension table will be linked to just
3. One to Many (1:*) – This means the column in one table has only one instance of a
particular value, and the other related table can have more than one instance of a
value.
requirements for unique values in tables. This setting indicates multiple records for
tables and is called Cross Filter Direction. There are two types:
1. Single – This is the default type. It means that filtering flows from the dimension
2. Both –This means filtering flows from the dimension table towards the fact table and
vice versa.
Cardinality: The one-to-many and many-to-one cardinality options are essentially the same
and the most common type.
Cross-filtering Direction: The “Both” Cross Filter Direction type is used in rather complex
data models and should be used cautiously as it may lead to unexpected results.
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CHAPTER 6: INTRODUCTION TO DATA MODELING
Deleting Relationships
Relationships between data sets are auto-detected by Power BI based on columns/field names
and values. However, sometimes, this guesswork by Power BI can be incorrect. Let us discuss
deleting and re-establishing the relationship to rectify the error.
1. Switch to the Model view tab from the left pane by clicking the Relationships icon in
the screenshot.
2. Right-click on the line connecting the two tables, select Delete, or press the delete
key on the keyboard.
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CHAPTER 6: INTRODUCTION TO DATA MODELING
A relationship line will appear connecting the Product Table and the Sales Table.
Well done on mastering Data Modeling! Ready for more advanced techniques? Explore our
Power BI Advanced Course and elevate your data modelling skills to new heights:
https://powerbitraining.com.au/power-bi-advanced-training-course/
Visit the following link to read blogs about Data Modelling:
https://www.powerbitraining.com.au/category/data-modeling
/
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CHAPTER 7: INTRODUCTION TO DAX
CHAPTER 7
Introduction to DAX
✔ What is DAX?
✔ What is DAX Query View?
✔ Defining Calculated Columns
✔ Defining Measures
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CHAPTER 7: INTRODUCTION TO DAX
What is DAX?
DAX stands for Data Analysis Expressions. DAX is a formula language, which means there
is one formula call with many parameters. This function call can also contain other function
calls as parameters.
DAX is used and applied in many Microsoft tools and platforms such as:
✔ Power BI
✔ Microsoft Power Pivot for Excel
✔ SSAS Tabular
All the DAX codes are typed in the formula bar below. A DAX expression consists of a
formula followed by a measure or a column reference. The measure/column tool additionally
provides all the information related to the measure or column.
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CHAPTER 7: INTRODUCTION TO DAX
Select the DAX Query View icon on the left to open DAX Query View in Power BI Desktop.
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CHAPTER 7: INTRODUCTION TO DAX
Let’s get Product Cost in the Sales Table from the Product Table.
3. Type the following DAX formula in Formula Bar.
Let’s Create a Revenue column by multiplying the Quantity Sold by the Sale Price.
4. Right-click on the Sales Table.
5. Click on New Column.
6. Type the following DAX formula in Formula Bar.
Let’s create a Total Cost column by multiplying Quantity Sold by Product Cost.
7. Right-click on the Sales Table.
8. Click on New Column.
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CHAPTER 7: INTRODUCTION TO DAX
All the three columns, i.e., Total Cost (CC) column, Revenue (CC) column and the Product
Cost (CC) column have been created, giving values for which row of the table.
Calculated Columns have a distinct icon, as seen in the screenshot, to differentiate them
from other data entities.
Notice that each of the columns has been formatted using Column Tools.
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CHAPTER 7: INTRODUCTION TO DAX
Defining Measures
Measures are lightweight alternatives to Calculated Columns. The reason is that they do not
appear in the dataset; hence, they do not occupy any physical memory. Measures are only
calculated when used within a visual; this property takes your data model's efficiency to the
next level.
Let’s Calculate Profit by subtracting Product Cost from Revenue
1. Right-click on the Sales Table.
2. Click on New Measure.
Calculated Measures have a distinct icon as seen in the screenshot to differentiate them from
other data entities.
Want to delve deeper into the world of DAX functions and calculations? Enroll in our
DAX Essentials Course for a deeper understanding:
https://powerbitraining.com.au/dax-course/
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CHAPTER 8: DATA VISUALIZATION
CHAPTER 8
Data Visualization
✔ Creating a Card Visual
✔ Creating an Area Chart
✔ Creating a Bubble Map Visual
✔ Creating a Donut Chart
✔ Creating a Stacked Bar Chart
✔ Creating a Slicer
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CHAPTER 8: DATA VISUALIZATION
Or
3. You can also access the visuals in the Insert section of the Home tab in the Ribbon
Menu.
4. Drag the Total Cost (CC) value from the Sales Table to the Field area.
5. Click on Total Cost (CC) in the Sales Table.
Column tools open.
6. Click “$” and type 2 in the text area in the Formatting section.
7. Click on the Format pane icon from the pane switcher to access the Format options.
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CHAPTER 8: DATA VISUALIZATION
Callout
Value
The filters Pane on the right side configures visual, page, and report-level filters.
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CHAPTER 8: DATA VISUALIZATION
2. Drag the Year, Quarter, and Month from the Transaction Date Hierarchy from the
Sales Table to the X-Axis field.
3. Drag Revenue (CC) and Profit (CM) from the Sales Table to the Y-Axis field.
4. Click on the Format pane icon from the pane switcher to access the Format options.
Shadow On Legend On
Legend
Do you know the secret to that green shade? Transparency, even when the
backgrounds are set to white! Want to master more design secrets and create visually
stunning reports? Join our Power BI Report Design Course today:
https://powerbitraining.com.au/power-bi-report-design-course/
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CHAPTER 8: DATA VISUALIZATION
2. Drag Retailer City from the Sales Table to the Location field.
3. Drag Total Cost (CC) from the Sales Table to the Bubble Size field.
4. Click on the Format pane icon from the pane switcher to access the Format options.
Title
Title Text Total Cost by Map Map Style Grayscale
Retailer City Settings
Title Font Black Bubble Size 15
Color Bubbles
Title Text 14 Colors #117865
Size
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Title Centre Category Category On
Alignment Labels Labels
CHAPTER 8: DATA VISUALIZATION
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CHAPTER 8: DATA VISUALIZATION
Hovering with the mouse over the Donut Chart will display a tooltip with more information
including the percentage.
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CHAPTER 8: DATA VISUALIZATION
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Title On Title Divider #117865
Title Color
CHAPTER 8: DATA VISUALIZATION
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CHAPTER 8: DATA VISUALIZATION
Creating a Slicer
Slicer is an alternate way of filtering that narrows the other visualizations in a report. Unlike
filters, the slicers are present as a visual on the report.
To create a Slicer:
1. Click on Slicer visualization in the Build a Visual pane.
4. Click on the Format pane icon from the pane switcher to access the Format options.
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CHAPTER 8: DATA VISUALIZATION
Ready to design stunning Power BI reports that captivate your audience? The report's colors
and theme are aligned with our company’s standards. Ready to master more design secrets,
including theme adjustments? Join our Power BI Report Design Course today:
https://powerbitraining.com.au/power-bi-report-design-course/
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CHAPTER 9: PUBLISH AND SHARE
CHAPTER 9
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CHAPTER 9: PUBLISH AND SHARE
Or
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CHAPTER 9: PUBLISH AND SHARE
5. You can also click on Publish in the Home tab in the Ribbon Menu to publish your
report.
A confirmation dialogue box will appear once your report has been published on the
web.
You can now share the link to your report by visiting the Power BI app on the web.
To understand the visuals in more depth, download the Crash Course file from the following
link and access the complete Power BI report:
https://www.powerbitraining.com.au/powerbidesktopcrashcoursedownloads/
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CHAPTER 9: PUBLISH AND SHARE
In the Report tab, a list of all the Published Reports can be seen.
3. Click on Share icon in front of CrashCourse-AMZ.
4. In the given field enter the Email address of the person you want to share the Report
with.
5. You can include a message as well for the recipient.
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POWER BI QUIZ
https://www.powerbitraining.com.au/power-bi-crash-course-quiz/
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COMPANY INFORMATION
https://powerbitraining.com.au/
https://amzconsulting.com.au/
● Power BI Consulting
● Power BI Public Training
● Power BI Corporate Training
Ali Asghar
Products:
Noorani,
● Power BI Essentials
Founder, AMZ
Consulting Pty Ltd ● Power BI Report Design
https://www.linkedin.c
o ● Power BI Advanced
m/in/trainernoorani/
● Email: info@amzconsulting.com.au
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