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Microsoft Power BI Blog

Power BI is a business analytics service by Microsoft. It allows users to create interactive visualizations and business intelligence reports on data from various sources, including databases, cloud services, spreadsheets, and more. One of the key features of Power BI is its ability to connect to diverse data sources, such as Excel files, SQL Server, Oracle, Azure Cosmos DB, and even websites. This allows users to analyze and visualize data in various contexts and create comprehensive reports. Power BI provides various tools for data preparation, visualization, and analysis. It includes a suite of data transformation functions that make it easy to extract, transform, and load data from these sources directly into the Power BI application. Users can then create reports by using various visualizations such as charts, graphs, maps, and gauges, which can be arranged on dashboards. Power BI integrates well with other Microsoft products, such as Azure Stack, Access, Azure, and SQL Server, but it can also be integrated with other applications like Google Analytics, Salesforce, or SharePoint, among many others. Users can share their reports within their organizations using the Power BI Service, which offers various access levels for collaborative work. For instance, users can share direct links to reports, schedule automatic refresh of reports, or embed them in websites or SharePoint sites. The Power BI Community page is active and provides a forum for users to share knowledge, request new features, and find available resources. Power BI also regularly releases updates, new features, and bug fixes.
Microsoft Power BI Blog | Microsoft Power BI powerbi.microsoft.com
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RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Aug 19, 2024

Thread Of Notes

Modern Power BI architecture choices for reporting on Azure Databricks: A performance benchmark for Power BI storage modes

Power BI semantic models often use Azure Databricks, posing a critical choice of storage mode. This decision impacts cost, security, ease of development, and most importantly, report performance. Developers frequently rely on intuition rather than empirical evidence for this choice. A new white paper, "Modern Power BI Architecture Choices for Reporting on Azure Databricks," benchmarks four storage modes. These modes include Direct Lake on OneLake, Direct Lake on mirrored Unity Catalog tables, DirectQuery on a Databricks SQL warehouse, and a Composite Model combining DirectQuery with Import-mode aggregations. The study revealed no single best solution, but clear trends emerged. Direct Lake on OneLake generally performed well across various situations, especially for smaller to mid-sized volumes and typical repeated Power BI workloads. For extremely large datasets with billions of rows, a Composite Model with aggregations proved fastest and most consistent. However, the Composite Model's advantage is limited to queries resolved by aggregation tables, requiring careful alignment with user behavior. These findings are preliminary; detailed results vary by data volume, cache state, filter scenario, and query type. The white paper, released in June/July 2026, focuses on end-user query experience within Power BI and should guide individual testing.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Modern-Power-BI-architecture-choices-for-reporting-on-Azure/ba-p/5364286 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Sep 3

Direct Lake Calculated Columns (Preview)

Calculated columns are now available in preview for Direct Lake on OneLake semantic models, addressing a key user request. This feature allows the creation of derived columns directly within the semantic model using DAX. Previously, this required moving data to a different storage mode or pushing logic upstream. Direct Lake offers Import-like performance with near real-time data freshness by querying Delta tables. Common use cases include deriving values, concatenating fields, formatting dates, and personalizing content. Calculated columns in Direct Lake support an "Expression Context" property, evaluated at query time and respecting user security. This means they automatically adhere to row-level and object-level security. Unlike standard calculated columns, Direct Lake versions are evaluated within the user's security context. This prevents sensitive data from being exposed if the user lacks permissions. However, Direct Lake calculated columns cannot be used in relationships as they do not materialize. They also do not observe filter context, meaning their results are fixed per row. Measures should be used when dynamic results based on report interactions are needed. To start, open a Direct Lake on OneLake semantic model and create a calculated column.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Direct-Lake-Calculated-Columns-Preview/ba-p/5357159 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Aug 24

Upgrade Power BI Dataflows Gen1 to Fabric Dataflows Gen2 with the Upgrade Wizard (Preview)

The Dataflows Upgrade Wizard now offers a guided preview for eligible workspaces to migrate Power BI Dataflows Gen1 to Fabric Dataflows Gen2. This wizard preserves essential dataflow properties and assesses items beforehand, clarifying the upgrade scope. While Power BI Dataflows Gen1 remains supported, new development is focused on Fabric Dataflows Gen2, enabling modernization at an organization's own pace. Fabric Dataflows Gen2 builds upon Power Query, adding capabilities for development, operations, and integration within Fabric. It supports numerous data destinations and integrates with Git for source control and deployment workflows. Performance enhancements like Fast Copy and Modern Evaluator are available, potentially reducing refresh times significantly. Copilot in Data Factory can assist with Dataflow Gen2 authoring using natural language. Users can initiate the upgrade by selecting a Dataflows Gen1 item and adding others from the same workspace. The upgraded item retains its ID, schedule, queries, and connections, with the original item being replaced. Before upgrading, the wizard assesses dataflows, indicating if they are ready, need attention, or are unavailable for upgrade. Post-upgrade, users must refresh data, rebind dependencies, complete any necessary actions, and update consumers to the modern connector.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Upgrade-Power-BI-Dataflows-Gen1-to-Fabric-Dataflows-Gen2-with/ba-p/5360422 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Aug 24

The AI Semantic Layer You Probably Already Have

Every Power BI report is powered by an underlying semantic model. This model translates raw data into meaningful business terms with defined metrics and relationships. It ensures consistency and trust in the numbers presented in reports. Power BI Desktop files inherently contain these semantic model definitions, which are separated from visuals upon publishing. Organizations often build these semantic models without explicitly calling them that.Large language models, while proficient in language, lack inherent business knowledge. Without context, AI can generate plausible but incorrect answers to business-specific questions. Microsoft Fabric's "Fabric IQ" addresses this by leveraging existing Power BI semantic models. It grounds AI in an organization's business language and definitions, preventing misinterpretations.Existing Power BI semantic models can directly feed Fabric IQ, making defined concepts available to AI agents and tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot. This integration allows AI to provide answers based on established business logic, not statistical guesses. Semantic models can incorporate synonyms and descriptions to further enhance AI's understanding and provide context from reports. Crucially, this AI integration does not require rebuilding existing Power BI models.By connecting AI to the same semantic models used for reporting, organizations ensure that both users and AI agents receive consistent numbers. This prevents discrepancies between AI-generated answers and dashboard figures, preserving trust in data. A poorly implemented AI rollout that produces different numbers than established reports is detrimental.Frontier Firms are those that embrace human-agent collaboration, with AI agents increasingly handling tasks previously done manually. Effectively, these agents need to understand specific business contexts, which Power BI semantic models already provide. The key task for organizations is to identify, certify, and curate their existing trusted semantic models. Promoting these curated models into Fabric IQ is a process of refinement, not extensive new construction. Companies that recognize and leverage their existing data assets, like Power BI semantic models, will lead in AI adoption.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/The-AI-Semantic-Layer-You-Probably-Already-Have/ba-p/5360197 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Aug 20

Power BI August 2026 Feature Summary

August 2026 brings significant Power BI updates across various features. Key enhancements include modern visual defaults and customizable themes, offering a polished and consistent report appearance. The date picker slicer visual now supports single-date selection and header icon clearing. Donut charts can display values in the center, with extensive formatting options. Reports within organizational apps now feature comment support, allowing for collaborative discussions with @mentions.Matrix visuals gain the ability to expand and collapse column headers, mirroring row header functionality. Report authors can now set the default freeze state for matrix row headers via the format pane. OneLake file URLs are now usable for report visuals and maps, simplifying image sourcing. Azure maps have seen improvements in shape-matching, filtered selection loading, and autozoom. Copilot and AI capabilities are enhanced with updated semantic model permissions for Fabric Apps and the ability to read visuals hidden by bookmarks.Power BI Desktop deprecates its old file picker experience, requiring updates to ensure continued OneDrive and SharePoint saving. Data connectivity features receive accessibility, dark mode, and usability upgrades. Mobile users can now rotate their view in the report footer and export data to Excel directly from the app. Embedded analytics sees enhancements for Power BI in SharePoint Online. Developer experiences are improved with faster PBIP development and instant reloads.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Power-BI-August-2026-Feature-Summary/ba-p/5348434 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Aug 20

Edit your Power BI projects anywhere and reload them instantly in Power BI Desktop (Preview)

Power BI Projects, or PBIP, allow for file-based reports and semantic models, supporting developer workflows like source control and automation. Previously, changes made outside Power BI Desktop required a restart to be visible. This update introduces automatic detection of external PBIP file modifications. When a PBIP file is altered, Power BI Desktop now prompts users to reload the updated project. Applying these external changes allows for an immediate refresh without needing to restart the application. This significantly streamlines the workflow between Power BI Desktop and external editing tools. Furthermore, Power BI Desktop now offers an "Open in VS Code" option for PBIP projects. This directly launches Visual Studio Code with the project loaded, providing instant access to project files. These enhancements facilitate the use of PBIP files with external tools and automation scripts. Users can now seamlessly edit project files in Visual Studio Code, update them via scripts, or work with AI development tools. Testing this feature involves opening a PBIP project, using the "Open in VS Code" option, making a change, and then applying it within Power BI Desktop. This new functionality creates a smoother, more integrated experience for developers working with Power BI Projects.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Edit-your-Power-BI-projects-anywhere-and-reload-them-instantly/ba-p/5359136 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Aug 18

Using Custom SQL Pools to balance performance and cost in Fabric Data Warehouse

Customers moving to allocation-based billing often ask how to control resource consumption for specific workloads. Custom SQL Pools offer a solution by providing workload isolation and governance, which directly impacts resource usage. These pools allow customers to intentionally trade off performance for a smaller resource footprint. For instance, a bursty reporting workload limited by a Custom SQL Pool might scale to fewer resources, run longer, but consume fewer billed resources. A real-world example involves an ETL process that was not latency-sensitive but needed controlled resource consumption. By restricting throughput, the ETL workload ran longer but consumed resources at a smoother rate. Custom SQL Pools are ideal for non-latency-sensitive workloads that can tolerate longer runtimes and compete for resources. They are particularly useful for ETL, background processing, and Power BI reporting to ensure predictable resource consumption. It's important to note that Custom SQL Pools are not direct spending limits or budget caps. Instead, they act as guardrails defining maximum resource access for each workload. Future enhancements include identity-based resource allocation and configurable built-in workload boundaries for greater flexibility. Ultimately, Custom SQL Pools empower customers with more explicit control over resource allocation and governance. The primary function is workload management, but in an allocation-based billing model, this indirectly helps manage consumption. If a workload can run longer, Custom SQL Pools can effectively reduce its resource consumption.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Using-Custom-SQL-Pools-to-balance-performance-and-cost-in-Fabric/ba-p/5359735 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Aug 17

TMDL View on the web: Edit semantic models as code in your browser (Preview)

TMDL View on the Web is a feature in Power BI that enables developers to view and edit semantic models as code directly in the browser using TMDL. It expands the Power BI web modelling experience by introducing a rich code editor for working with TMDL scripts—giving pro developers full transparency into the semantic model code and enabling more efficient workflows through code editing.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/TMDL-View-on-the-web-Edit-semantic-models-as-code-in-your/ba-p/5332653 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Aug 10

Deep dive into modern visual defaults and formatting your entire report (Preview)

Power BI's modern visual defaults and new Customize theme experience enable report authors to centrally manage colors, typography, visual styling, page settings, and filter pane formatting across an entire report, creating consistent, professional reports faster while preserving visual-specific customizations.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Deep-dive-into-modern-visual-defaults-and-formatting-your-entire/ba-p/5303513 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Jul 23

Power BI July 2026 Feature Summary

The July 2026 Power BI update introduces new capabilities across reporting, modeling, mobile, and embedded analytics. The update includes expanded modern visual defaults, conditional formatting improvements for line charts and legends, and new org app capabilities and APIs. The Power BI DataViz World Championships is also ongoing, with Round Two currently open and a wildcard finalist to be selected from standout submissions. Additionally, the European Microsoft Fabric and SQL Community Conference will take place in Barcelona, Spain, from September 28 to October 1, featuring exclusive content, live demos, and key announcements. The old file picker experience in Power BI Desktop has been deprecated, and users are advised to update to the latest version to continue using the functionality. The update also includes improvements to report page tab navigation, simplified title spacing for visuals, and support for bookmarks and storytelling in org apps. Furthermore, the LOOKUP function in visual calculations now supports INFERRED mode for associated columns, and org apps with audiences are now generally available. The update also brings modeling improvements, including the ability to add measure descriptions in line with triple-slash comments, and Model Options are now available in the Power BI Service. Overall, the July 2026 Power BI update aims to enhance the user experience and provide more features and capabilities for users to work with data and analytics. The update is designed to help users create more effective reports, visualize data, and make informed decisions.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Power-BI-July-2026-Feature-Summary/ba-p/5303533 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Jul 22

Bringing Power BI Insights to Every Copilot User

The future of Power BI and Copilot starts by meeting users where they already work. We’re bringing trusted Power BI answers into Microsoft 365 Copilot first, so people can ask questions of governed business data in the flow of work — then carrying that richer, more conversational experience back into the Power BI service itself.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Bringing-Power-BI-Insights-to-Every-Copilot-User/ba-p/5309360 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Jul 21

Microsoft named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms

We’re proud to share that Microsoft has once again been named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms for the nineteenth consecutive year.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Microsoft-named-a-Leader-in-the-2026-Gartner-Magic-Quadrant-for/ba-p/5262403 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Jul 3

Power BI Desktop Bridge (Preview)

Power BI Desktop Bridge offers a new way for external applications to interact directly with Power BI Desktop. It functions as a lightweight local server, creating a secure channel for tools and scripts. This allows agents to check the report's current state and detect unsaved changes. They can also trigger key actions, such as reloading files after edits are made. Furthermore, the bridge enables the capture of screenshots to validate visual changes in real-time. Previously, intelligent agents had limitations in interacting with Power BI Desktop directly. Now, they can read report states, edit files on disk, and instantly see changes after reloading. This allows for immediate iteration and improvement without manual handoffs. The Report Authoring Skill is a prime example, demonstrating how the bridge automates report creation and refinement. The Desktop Bridge is enabled by default in Power BI Desktop and can be managed in preview features. The Power BI Desktop Bridge CLI provides a simple way to start using its capabilities. Commands like manifest, status, reload, and screenshot-all offer practical ways to leverage the bridge. This technology is poised to revolutionize how users work with Power BI Desktop by enabling automation.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Power-BI-Desktop-Bridge-Preview/ba-p/5227769 community.fabric.microsoft.com
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RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Jun 30

Microsoft Entra ID single sign-on for the Starburst connector in Power BI (Preview)

When enabling Microsoft Entra ID single sign-on (SSo) for Starburst (Preview) report viewers querying semantic models in DirectQuery mode authenticate to Starburst with their own Entra ID identity, to Starburst's access policies — including row-level and column-level security rules — are evaluated against the actual end user rather than a fixed connection account.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Microsoft-Entra-ID-single-sign-on-for-the-Starburst-connector-in/ba-p/5193371 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Jun 18

Workspace outbound access protection for Power BI reports (Preview)

Workspace outbound access protection (OAP) is a workspace-level control in Microsoft Fabric that lets you constrain where the data inside a workspace can flow. With this preview, OAP support now extends to Power BI reports. The good news for report authors and admins: there's nothing new to configure on the report itself. Protection comes from a single, well-defined rule that the workspace enforces automatically as soon as you turn OAP on.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Workspace-outbound-access-protection-for-Power-BI-reports/ba-p/5193354 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Jun 17

Simplified Oracle connectivity in Power BI (Preview)

Connecting Power BI to Oracle has historically meant extra provider installations and data gateway deployment — even for cloud-hosted databases. Two new Preview capabilities change that. Power BI Desktop now includes a bundled Oracle Managed ODP.NET provider, and the Power BI service supports direct cloud connections without the need for a data gateway to Oracle data sources such as Oracle Autonomous Database.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Simplified-Oracle-connectivity-in-Power-BI-Preview/ba-p/5193366 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Jun 15

Migrating from embedded ODBC drivers to ADBC in Power BI and Fabric

If you use connectors like Databricks, Snowflake, or BigQuery in Power BI or Fabric, there’s an important change coming. Microsoft is moving from embedded ODBC drivers to ADBC, which affects how connections are established and managed. This post explains what’s changing, who’s impacted, and the steps you can take now to prepare.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Migrating-from-embedded-ODBC-drivers-to-ADBC-in-Power-BI-and/ba-p/5195167 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Jun 15

Power BI June 2026 Feature Summary

This month, we’re continuing to focus on making every day work a little easier—whether that’s building reports, modeling data, or just getting answers faster. You’ll see progress across Copilot and newer AI-driven experiences, along with a set of practical updates to reporting that help reduce repetitive work.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Power-BI-June-2026-Feature-Summary/ba-p/5193264 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Jun 9

AI-Powered Power BI reporting: From design to deployment with agent skills (Preview)

AI powered Power BI reporting skills is a collection of multiple skills that enables AI agents to automate report creation, from designing pages to publishing to Fabric. Now available through the Power BI authoring plugin  in Skills for Fabric —a first-party catalog of agent skills for Microsoft Fabric optimized for GitHub Copilot CLI—this capability allows agents to author reports through natural language, write schema-correct PBIR files, reload Power BI Desktop, capture screenshots, and iteratively refine reports for a seamless, end-to-end authoring experience.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/AI-Powered-Power-BI-reporting-From-design-to-deployment-with/ba-p/5190703 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Jun 8

Building in the Agentic Era with Power BI and Fabric

Microsoft Build 2026 marks a major shift in how developers build data experiences with AI agents. Today we're announcing two capabilities that bring agentic analytics to the forefront: Agent Skills for Power BI, which let developers prompt an AI agent to build and refine semantic models and reports, and Fabric Apps for Semantic Models, which enable AI agents to build and deploy Fabric-native web apps on semantic models. Both capabilities will accelerate the time it takes to go from raw data to a polished analytics solution with just natural language prompts.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Building-in-the-Agentic-Era-with-Power-BI-and-Fabric/ba-p/5190754 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Jun 2

Power BI May 2026 Feature Summary

Author: Katie Murray, Senior Program Manager - Power BI continues to evolve with updates that make it easier to explore data, generate insights, and build more polished reports. This month’s release brings improvements across Copilot and AI experiences, reporting and modeling enhancements, new data connectivity flows, and updates to visualizations—helping you move faster from data to decisions.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Power-BI-May-2026-Feature-Summary/ba-p/5182174 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • May 20

Outbound Access Protection for semantic models (Preview)

Author: Kay Unkroth, Principl Program Manager - Outbound Access Protection (OAP) is a workspace-level network security and governance feature that blocks outbound traffic from a workspace by default and lets you allow only the destinations you explicitly trust. With this preview, you can now extend OAP to semantic models. Power BI reports aren't part of this preview yet; report support is coming in a separate announcement soon.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Outbound-Access-Protection-for-semantic-models-Preview/ba-p/5184917 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • May 19

Power BI May 2026 Feature Summary

Welcome to the May Power BI update! Power BI continues to evolve with updates that make it easier to explore data, generate insights, and build more polished reports. This month’s release brings improvements across Copilot and AI experiences, reporting and modeling enhancements, new data connectivity flows, and updates to visualizations—helping you move faster from data to decisions.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Power-BI-May-2026-Feature-Summary/ba-p/5180905 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • May 12

Modern Visual Tooltips in Power BI (Generally Available)

Power BI has updated its visual tooltips, enhancing report interaction across all platforms. These new tooltips feature a built-in actions footer, allowing users to drill down and through data directly. This streamlines workflows and makes data exploration more intuitive within the Power BI environment. Report authors can enable or disable the actions footer for each visual through the format pane. The updated tooltips automatically adopt the report's theme colors, ensuring visual consistency. Users can customize colors, fonts, and transparency to match branding needs. Theme customization updates all tooltips, while individual visual modifications only affect that specific visual. Existing reports retain their original tooltip style until the author updates them. New reports will default to using the modern tooltip experience. These updated tooltips provide faster insight discovery for report consumers. Custom styling and the actions footer improves report creation and data analysis. The documentation provides further details on creating and customizing these new tooltips.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Modern-Visual-Tooltips-in-Power-BI-Generally-Available/ba-p/5173946 community.fabric.microsoft.com
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RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Apr 30

Deep dive into composite semantic models with Direct Lake and import tables

Power BI now supports composite semantic models combining Direct Lake and import tables, offering increased flexibility. This allows users to integrate data from various sources, including OneLake, SQL databases, and Excel files via Power Query. Direct Lake tables can now be combined with import tables, even from the same data source. This update introduces new buttons within the Power BI web modeling interface for easily adding tables. Users can create these composite models through the Fabric portal, workspace pages, or the Lakehouse and Power BI Desktop. The refresh feature updates import table data and synchronizes Direct Lake table schemas. Users can then perform tasks like renaming, adding relationships and measures. The document provides a detailed example of creating a model. It demonstrates how to create SQL based Deliveries and Calendar tables and a CSV with targets. Finally, this guide shows how to connect to the various tables and create relationships. Users can seamlessly continue semantic modeling in the web or switch to Power BI Desktop for live editing.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Deep-dive-into-composite-semantic-models-with-Direct-Lake-and/ba-p/5173943 community.fabric.microsoft.com
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RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Apr 30

Power BI April 2026 Feature Summary

The April 2026 Power BI update focuses on enhancements in various areas, including Copilot and AI, reporting, and visuals. Copilot on mobile now supports in-report conversations, open-ended questions, and AI-generated visualizations. Reporting features introduce a base theme switcher, canvas size presets, and updated table/matrix styles. Fixed-size options are available for card, button slicer, and list slicer visuals, controlling item dimensions precisely. The card visual now offers category interactivity and formatting updates. The Azure Maps visual synchronizes map style selections between the visual and the format pane. Preview visuals are clearly identified in the Visualizations pane. The Narrative visual now defaults to Copilot mode for licensed users and has an increased character limit.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Power-BI-April-2026-Feature-Summary/ba-p/5173904 community.fabric.microsoft.com
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RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Apr 22

Power BI April 2026 Feature Summary

Welcome to the April Power BI update! Power BI’s April 2026 update is here, bringing continued improvements across Copilot and AI, reporting, visuals, and modeling. This release includes more flexibility when working with layouts and visuals, expanded Copilot experiences—especially on mobile—and several preview features that continue to enhance performance and authoring workflows. You’ll also find … Continue reading “Power BI April 2026 Feature Summary”
https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-april-2026-feature-summary/ powerbi.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Apr 22

Translytical Task Flows (Generally Available)

Translytical task flows enhance Power BI reports, enabling users to update data, add notes, and trigger external actions directly within the report. Report consumers become active participants, avoiding the need to switch between applications to complete workflows. These flows connect Power BI to Fabric User Data Functions, executing actions based on user interactions within the report. Key capabilities include adding, updating, and deleting data, along with calling external APIs to trigger actions in other systems. These features allow for data annotation, workflow automation, and AI-assisted decision-making directly within Power BI. User Data Functions currently connect to Fabric SQL databases, warehouses, and lakehouses, providing the data write-back capabilities. Constructing a task flow involves storing data, developing a User Data Function, creating a Power BI semantic model, and building an interactive report. Copilot in Microsoft Fabric and GitHub Copilot accelerate the development process for task flows. Task flows transform Power BI from an analytical tool to an action platform, reducing the time between identifying opportunities and taking action. The documentation and ideas forum provide further information for users to harness.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Translytical-Task-Flows-Generally-Available/ba-p/5173907 community.fabric.microsoft.com
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RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Apr 20

Translytical Task Flows (Generally Available)

Translytical task flows take interactive Power BI reports to the next level where users can update records, add annotations, and trigger actions in external systems—all without leaving the report. With translytical task flows, report consumers become active participants. Instead of viewing data and then switching to another application to take action, users can complete their … Continue reading “Translytical Task Flows (Generally Available)”
https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/translytical-task-flows-generally-available/ powerbi.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Apr 20

Dataflows: Thank you for eight years of Gen1—and why Gen2 is the future

Dataflows Gen1 will remain functional but is in legacy state and won't receive new features. Dataflows Gen2 is the future, offering improved performance, flexibility, and cost efficiency over Gen1. Premium customers should prioritize Gen2 adoption, especially for new and evolving workloads, while Pro and PPU users can continue using Gen1 for now. GCC support for Gen2 will precede Gen1 retirement milestones for Premium users. New administrative controls are being developed to enable granular Fabric features, including selective Gen2 activation. Gen2 builds upon the same Power Query experience as Gen1, offering broader destination support including Fabric Lakehouse and Snowflake. It provides AI-powered features like Copilot, and richer diagnostics for improved troubleshooting. Gen2's tiered pricing model aims to optimize compute costs for users. The recommendation is to begin planning Gen1 to Gen2 upgrades using methods like "Save as Dataflow Gen2".
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Dataflows-Thank-you-for-eight-years-of-Gen1-and-why-Gen2-is-the/ba-p/5173910 community.fabric.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Apr 2

Dataflows: Thank you for eight years of Gen1—and why Gen2 is the future

For more than eight years, customers have relied on Power BI Dataflows (Gen1) as a core part of their analytics solutions. We’re grateful for the trust you placed in the Power Query experience to build reusable, low-code data preparation pipelines that power reports, semantic models, and downstream analytics. Now, we’re sharing an update on the … Continue reading “Dataflows: Thank you for eight years of Gen1—and why Gen2 is the future”
https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/dataflows-thank-you-for-eight-years-of-gen1-and-why-gen2-is-the-future/ powerbi.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Apr 2

Chat with Copilot inside a report on the Power BI mobile app (Preview)

The Power BI mobile app now features an enhanced in-report Copilot, offering a full conversational chat experience. This update allows users to summarize, inquire about, and analyze report data directly from their phones and tablets. Previously limited to summaries and predefined prompts, the Copilot now mirrors the chat-based capabilities found in the Power BI service. Users can generate summaries, ask questions, and explore data through follow-up inquiries within the mobile app. The Copilot analyzes report content, providing insights and often including interactive visualizations alongside text responses. Tapping on visuals allows for detailed exploration and interaction with the data. When summarizing, the Copilot provides a summary with citations that link to the corresponding visuals in focus mode. Users can copy responses or share insights directly from the visual pane. Voice support, including dictation and read-aloud features, is available on iPhones and iPads. This new chat experience enhances data analysis on the go and aids in preparing for discussions around specific reports. The feature is available for reports meeting Copilot requirements, accessible through a button in the header. The developers encourage user feedback to improve the Copilot's future releases.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Chat-with-Copilot-inside-a-report-on-the-Power-BI-mobile-app/ba-p/5173913 community.fabric.microsoft.com
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RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Mar 30

Chat with Copilot inside a report on the Power BI mobile app (Preview)

If you haven’t already, check out Arun Ulag’s hero blog “FabCon and SQLCon 2026: Unifying databases and Fabric on a single, complete platform” for a complete look at all of our FabCon and SQLCon announcements across both Fabric and our database offerings.  The next evolution of in-report Copilot on the mobile app is now available … Continue reading “Chat with Copilot inside a report on the Power BI mobile app (Preview)”
https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/chat-with-copilot-inside-a-report-on-the-power-bi-mobile-app-preview/ powerbi.microsoft.com
RSS Hunter RSS Hunter • Mar 30