How to create a report quickly in Power BI Service?

Do you want to create a quick report in Power BI? The latest Power BI version has made it possible to create a quick report using data from the web and existing published datasets in Power BI Service. So, now you do need to download the Power BI Desktop software into your PC and directly make a report using the Power BI service.

So let`s see how can you quickly make a report in Power BI Service.

Step 1: Open app.powerbi.com which is Power BI Service, enter your Microsoft id and password

Step 2: Once you have opened Power BI Service, click on Create button on the left panel and then click on “Paste or manually enter data” or “Select a published data set”.

Using “Paste or manually enter data”, You can copy the dataset from any web portal or any structured source such as excel, csv etc. and using “Select a published data set” , you can use a existing dataset to create a quick report in Power BI Service.

Step 3: You can now paste the data in the copied from the Web or any excel file.  

From my experience, it`s better to copy data from structured data sources such as excel or CSV, etc. Since the quick report feature is in preview so I found some difficulty in pasting the data copied from a web portal. So you may face the same difficulty as well.

Step 4: You can use the first row as headers using the option available and then press on Create button.

You get “the first row as headers” and “use header as the first row” so you can use any of the options as per the data you have pasted. Once you press the “Create Button” a report will be automatically created which on which you have very little control. You can not select any visual of your choice but can include any field which you want to include in the visualization.

Step 5: Automatically Report will be created quickly using the data pasted. 

Summarize Option

Quick Report offers an option to change the calculation between Maximum, Minimum, Sum, Average, etc using  Summarize Pane.

How to open Report with Full Access?

Once you save your report and again open it by a user having edit access then the report will open with full access.

Report with full access is similar to report having field pane and visualization pane. Please see the below screenshot for seeing a report with full access, you must have noticed that report is similar to Power BI desktop view thus we get additional pane for making any further changes into the report.

There a limitation that if you use the edit option mentioned above then you can not get the summarize pane for making quick report. 

Data Limitation

1. When you use the Paste or manually enter the data option, then there is no way to update the data. You have only one option to create a new quick report.
2. If you want to paste the data from an excel or CSV file then you have only one option to copy and paste the data. A file upload option is still in progress and will be available soon.
3. When pasting the data into Enter Data window, the size of data you can paste is 512KB.
4. The table name cannot be longer than 80 characters while the column name cannot be longer than 512 characters.

Conclusion

It`s a very simple and efficient process to create a quick report in Power BI Service, which means you do not require Power BI Desktop installed on your machine. So, Try the Quick Report feature in Power BI Service for analyzing any web or excel data quickly.

Please let me know in the comment box whether the article is helpful or not. Type “Yes” if it helped or “No” if you think it was a waste of time. Also, please provide some valuable feedback.