Forum Discussion
Helper IIIPower BI App — User Still Sees “All” Audience Even Though Assigned Only to a Specific Audience
Hi Imagauthamam,
Thank you Zanqueta for your response to the query.
If users can still see dashboards they shouldn’t, even after configuring audiences and removing workspace access, it suggests that access is being granted from another part of the app’s security settings.
Here are a couple of things to double-check, as they may override audience-level restrictions:
App access roles (not workspace roles): If, when publishing the app, you selected “Specific individuals or groups” and added a security group or user here, they’ll see the default All view unless removed. This can provide extra visibility beyond what the audience list allows.
Direct access permissions on reports: If a report or dashboard was previously shared using “Share” → Grant direct access, that permission bypasses audience filtering and makes the item visible in the All view, which could explain why only certain dashboards are visible.
To test this:
Edit the app and go to the Audience section, selecting Audience A.
For each report, click Manage permissions.
Check if the user has Direct access to any restricted items.
If so, remove their access and re-publish the app. Once all direct access is removed, the user should only see content assigned to their audience, even though the All tab remains visible.
Publish an app in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
Apps in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft LearnThank you.
Super UserHi Imagauthamam, thank you for your quickly feedback.
While editing the app, you only see the audiences you have explicitly created (e.g., A, B, C), which is expected.
However, once the app is published, Power BI automatically generates a default audience called “All”, which includes all content within the app.
This “All” audience becomes visible to any user who has access to the app, unless they are explicitly excluded from it.
This is by design and serves as a default view for users who are not assigned to any custom audience.
Check the both sides and check the privileges assigned to each group (or user) can indeed have a direct impact on the visibility of audiences within a Power BI App
If the user is a member of the workspace where the app is published, they will have full access to all content, regardless of audience assignments.
Acording the PBI documentation:
App users in the Power BI service and in the Power BI mobile apps only see the content based on the access permissions for their respective audience groups. Users who have access to multiple audience groups see group tabs on the top bar to switch between different audience views easily. For example, if the user is part of both product team and sales team groups, they see three view tabs, as shown in the following image. By default, users see the All tab view, which is a consolidated view showing all content that they have access to. App users can browse different audience group tabs to see the content for each group.
Publish an app in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
If this response was helpful in any way, I’d gladly accept a 👍much like the joy of seeing a DAX measure work first time without needing another FILTER.
Please mark it as the correct solution. It helps other community members find their way faster (and saves them from another endless loop 🌀.
Helper IIIHi Zanqueta ,
Just a clarification on your comment:
This “All” audience becomes visible to any user who has access to the app, unless they are explicitly excluded from it.
I'm just failing to understand from where I need to remove those users.
Because "ALL" doesn't show up in the audience list
I ensured that users have access to their respective audience.
This is by design and serves as a default view for users who are not assigned to any custom audience. --even after assigning custom audience they are able to view All as well as corresponding custom audience
- Zanqueta
Hi Imagauthamam, If I'm not wrong. You cannot.
The “All” audience is an implicit and automatically generated audience created by Power BI at the time of publishing the app. It does not appear in the audience list during editing, but it acts as a default view for any user who has access to the app and is not restricted solely to a custom audience.Even if a user is assigned to a custom audience, they may still see the “All” audience if they have access to the app through other means, such as direct permissions or membership in a security groupReview How Users Are Granted Access to the App:- Navigate to the workspace where the app is published.
- Select Access and check whether the user or their group is listed as a member, contributor, or admin.If they are, they will have full access to the app, including the “All” audience.
- Imagauthamam
Hi Zanqueta ,
I checked at the workspace level. They don't have any workspace level access.
Probably let me check at the dataset and report level access- Zanqueta
Just to aditonal comment Imagauthamam,
By default, users see the All tab, which is a consolidated view showing all the content they have access to. App users can navigate through different audience group tabs to see the content for each group.
Note, the All tab will always appear, but it only shows the content that the user has.
Keep that in mind, okay?