Licencing vs collaborative forms between Power BI Pro and Power BI Desktop

Hi melindapsy ,

Hope all is going well.

Power BI Desktop users can indeed prepare data models and reports (.pbix files) and share them via OneDrive or SharePoint.

As a Power BI Pro user, you can access these .pbix files, upload them to the Power BI service, and integrate them into your project.

This workflow allows basic level collaboration between Power BI Desktop and Pro users.

Thinking another way is a possible solution by creating different Microsoft 365 accounts (Home/Personal version) and purchasing Power BI Pro licenses for the required members (3 people in total).

This approach will ensure that all members have the necessary permissions to fully collaborate in the Power BI service, including sharing and co-authoring content.

In summary, either ensure that all team members who need to collaborate on the Power BI service have a Power BI Pro license to effectively share and co-author content. When sharing .pbix files either via OneDrive or SharePoint, consider data governance and security policies, especially when working with data from multiple universities.

For more details about collaboration features in Power BI, see the following documentation:

Share Power BI reports and dashboards with coworkers and others - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Ways to collaborate and share in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

If you have other questions, please contact me at any time.

Best Regards,
Yang
Community Support Team

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