How does Power BI Desktop work?

As a free BI tool, Power BI Desktop is extremely accessible to every user. Still, it is understandable that as a new user you don't immediately know where to start. That's why in this blog we explain how Power BI Desktop works and share a number of handy tips and links.

The difference between Power BI Desktop and the Power BI service

Before we explain how to get started with Power BI Desktop, it is useful to first outline the differences between Power BI Desktop and the Power BI service. As you can see in the image below, the two services have a number of similarities, but also a number of differences.

The biggest difference between the two is that Power BI Desktop is a full program that you install on your computer. The Power BI service, on the other hand, is a cloud-based service that you open from your browser. In addition, Power BI Desktop has a Query Editor and the Power BI service does not, which means you can connect to more data sources with Power BI Desktop than with the Power BI service. You can also model this data in Power BI Desktop, which again is not possible in the Power BI service. Power BI Desktop is therefore often used to create reports, which can then be distributed and shared via the Power BI service. That said, reports can be edited in both Power BI Desktop and the Power BI service.

For more information about the differences between Power BI Desktop and the Power BI service, take a look at the Microsoft page.

#1 Getting started with Power BI Desktop

When you launch Power BI Desktop for the first time, a welcome screen opens. From this window you can get your data straight away, view recent sources, open recent reports, open other reports and select other links.

Once Power BI Desktop has started, you will see the screen below. On the left-hand side you can choose from three views: Report, Data and Relationships. The current view is indicated by a yellow bar on the left. By default, the view is always set to Report. Power BI also includes the Power Query Editor, which opens in a separate window. This lets you create queries and transform data.

#2 Connecting to data

Now that you have installed Power BI Desktop, you can start connecting to your data. To get an overview of all the data sources available in Power BI Desktop, go to Get data > More on the Home tab in Power BI Desktop. In the Get data window you can then browse through all the data sources. Below, we show you step by step how to connect to various web data sources.

In this example, you are an American data analyst working for a sunglasses retailer. You want to help your colleagues focus only on the markets with the most hours of sunshine. The website ‘Best and worst states for retirement’ contains interesting data on this topic.

To add this data to Power BI Desktop, first select the option Get data > Web on the Home tab to connect to a web data source.

Next, paste the link to the page into the URL field in the From Web dialog box and then press OK. A new window called Access Web content may open; if so, press Connect to use anonymous access.

Once you have followed these steps, Power BI's query functionality gets to work and connects to the web resource. The Navigator window then shows exactly what was found on the web page. In this case, that is a table called ‘Ranking of best and worst states or retirement’ and a document. The table is the most interesting part, so select it to see a preview. You can now choose Load to load the table, or Transform data to make changes to the table before loading it.

When you then select Transform data, the Power Query Editor launches and shows a representative view of the table. On the right-hand side you will find the Query Settings pane.

#3 Creating reports

Once you have finished loading your data, it's time to turn it into a report. You do this in the Report view. From this window you can create visualisations and reports. The Report view contains six main areas:

1. The ribbon at the top, which displays general tasks related to reports and visualisations
2. The canvas area in the middle, where you create and arrange visualisations
3. The Pages tab at the bottom, where you can select or add report pages
4. The Filters pane, where you can filter data visualisations
5. The Visualizations pane, where you can add, change or customise visualisations. You can also apply drillthrough from this pane
6. The Fields pane, which shows the fields available in your queries. You can drag these fields onto the canvas, to the Filters pane or to the Visualizations pane to create or modify visualisations.

If you want to expand (or collapse) the Filters, Visualizations and Fields panes, you can do so by selecting the arrows at the top of the panes.

If you want to create a visualisation quickly and easily, select any field in the list of fields and drag it from the Fields list onto the canvas. Power BI then recognises the data itself and adds a matching visual. In the example in the image below, this was geolocation data. In the Visualizations pane you can view the information about the visualisation and change it there as well. Below, we walk you through the various options.

1. Here you can see the different visualisations available; clicking a different icon changes the visualisation. You can also create a new visualisation from this pane by selecting an icon without an existing visualisation being selected.
2. With the Fields option in the Visualizations pane you can drag data fields to Legend and other field wells in the pane
3. With the Format option you can apply formatting and other controls to the visualisations

#4 Sharing your work

Once you have finished creating your first Power BI Desktop report, you will of course want to share it with your colleagues. There are several ways to do this. First of all, you can share the .pbix file with your colleagues in any way you like. You can upload the .pbix file to the Power BI service, or you can publish it directly from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI service. To publish or upload your reports to the Power BI service, you do need a Power BI account.

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

You may now be asked to sign in with your Power BI account or to select a destination. Once publishing has succeeded, you will see the screen below. From this screen you can also go straight to your report by clicking the link. You can also find your work in the Power BI service (app.powerbi.com) under My workspace > Reports.

Want to learn more about Power BI?

In this blog we have explained the basics of Power BI Desktop. Would you like to experience it in practice? Then sign up for our free Power BI Basics training for end users. In 2.5 hours, one of our trainers will explain the fundamentals of Power BI. If you would like to learn more about the technical side, we also offer a Power BI self-study, in which you discover step by step how to build a Power BI report yourself.

Power BI self-studyPower BI Basics training

The content of this blog is inspired by a Microsoft web page; for more information, visit the page.