Do you use Desktop to create reports you plan to publish to Power BI service?

[OneWithQuestion]

I always wondered about this.

Desktop seems to have a few more features...but if you intend for your audience to use the web service to view your reports and dashboards....do you publish everything from desktop to the service or do you build your reports in the powerbi service/website?

Thanks!

[tringuyenminh92]

Hi @OneWithQuestion,

My advice is using Power BI Desktop to design firstly cause there are some complex actions that only be done by Desktop

• Tranforms in Query Editor by Power Query
• Calculation - DAX
• Testing RLS permission
• Etc ^_^

So Power BI service is used for view/sharing and simple modified of reports.

With new feature: downloading pbix file from PBI Service (https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-preview-of-download-power-bi-desktop-files-from-...), now we clearly have good process in collaboration:

Designing & Publish PBIX in PowerBI Desktop -> Using/Sharing in PBI Service -> Modify in PBI Service or Download PBIX + Re-Publish

[OneWithQuestion]

What about visualizations? Desktop seems to bave fratures that service does not? Do th9se transfer to service?

[tringuyenminh92]

With visualization, they are same. In PBI service, you click Edit Mode and you could change your visualization and Ctr + S to save.

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-service-go-from-reading-view-to-editing-vi...

[OneWithQuestion]

So when Desktop announces new enhancements those visualizations will work when you deploy it to the Power BI service?

I was just never really clear on that.

Thanks!

[v-sihou-msft · Accepted solution]

@OneWithQuestion

With my experience, I prefer designing everything within Power BI dekstop then publish onto Power BI Service since sometimes we need to do transformation or design within Query Editor. For new released features and enhancements, they will be updated onto Power BI Service as well. Those visualizations can work in your deployed reports. And you can easily "Edit Report" on Power BI Service to modify your visualizations.

Regards,

Simon Hou

[SMBM]

The problem I run in to here is that if you have to republish your dataset from Desktop, then the report will be reverted to whatever you have built in Desktop as well, so those visual modifications you do in Service get lost.