Forum Discussion
Super UserCopilot Smart Narrative not rendering in "App owns data" embed, despite docs listing it as supported
I'm embedding a Power BI report using the App owns data ("embed for your customer's application") model. Everything in the report renders correctly, including a custom narrative visual — but the Copilot-powered Smart Narrative visual does not work in the embedded view. It works fine in Power BI Desktop and in the Power BI service (in-app).
According to the current Microsoft doc "Create a narrative visual with Copilot for Power BI"), App owns data is now listed as "Yes (preview)" for Copilot narrative support — this appears to have changed sometime around May 2026 from previously being unsupported.
My setup:
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Embed model: App owns data (service principal / master user, no viewer sign-in)
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Workspace: [Premium P2
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Capacity region: USA
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Copilot enabled at tenant level: Yes
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Data boundary/region setting: US
Let me know your thoughts.
That "Yes (preview)" line is carrying a lot of weight. In practice the Copilot narrative visual still doesn't render reliably in an app-owns-data embed, even with the docs flipped to supported, so you're probably not doing anything wrong in your config..
The likely reason lines up with your symptoms: Copilot features lean on a signed-in user identity and generally don't run under service principal auth. In Desktop and in-app you've got a real user behind it, so the visual works. In your embed the only identity is the SP (or master user), so the Copilot visual has nothing to run against and silently fails to render, while everything else in the report comes through fine.
If you're on pure service principal, a master-user setup is worth testing, since that's at least a real licensed user identity.
We ran into this exact wall at DataTako and ended up building our own narrative layer around it, so the text still renders for embedded viewers instead of depending on the Copilot visual. Happy to share how we approached it if you'd rather not wait on the preview to stabilise.
2 Replies
- DataTako
Resolver IV
That "Yes (preview)" line is carrying a lot of weight. In practice the Copilot narrative visual still doesn't render reliably in an app-owns-data embed, even with the docs flipped to supported, so you're probably not doing anything wrong in your config..
The likely reason lines up with your symptoms: Copilot features lean on a signed-in user identity and generally don't run under service principal auth. In Desktop and in-app you've got a real user behind it, so the visual works. In your embed the only identity is the SP (or master user), so the Copilot visual has nothing to run against and silently fails to render, while everything else in the report comes through fine.
If you're on pure service principal, a master-user setup is worth testing, since that's at least a real licensed user identity.
We ran into this exact wall at DataTako and ended up building our own narrative layer around it, so the text still renders for embedded viewers instead of depending on the Copilot visual. Happy to share how we approached it if you'd rather not wait on the preview to stabilise.
v-sathmakuriCommunity Support
Thank you anilgavhane for the prompt response.
Hi DataTako ,
Thank you for reaching out to fabric community.
Could you please review the suggestions provided above and let us know if you have any further questions.
Thanks!!