Forum Discussion
Power BI Data Source credentials
I'm creating a report using SharePoint. I have a question about setting data source credentials in the Power BI Portal.
1. I see five authentication methods: Anonymous, Basic, OAuth2, Service Principal, and Workspace ID. What do they mean?
2. I'd like to know the meaning of four privacy level settings: None, Private, Organizational, and Public.
I've tried searching for information, but I can't find any relevant data, so I'm asking.
Thank you.
Hi ericjo,
Refer below table, hope this helps to understand:-
Privacy Level Description Use Case None No data isolation. Power BI can freely combine this source with others. Use for trusted, internal sources when you don’t need strict boundaries. Private Data is highly restricted — cannot be combined with other sources. Use for confidential data like HR or finance databases. Organizational Data is within your company’s domain — can be combined with other organizational sources. Use for SharePoint, internal SQL, etc. Public Data is freely shareable — can be combined with anything. Use for open data sources, like public APIs or websites. 🌟 I hope this solution helps you unlock your Power BI potential! If you found it helpful, click 'Mark as Solution' to guide others toward the answers they need.
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🎖 As a proud SuperUser and Microsoft Partner, we’re here to empower your data journey and the Power BI Community at large.
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5 Replies
Hi ericjo,
Refer below table, hope this helps to understand:-
Privacy Level Description Use Case None No data isolation. Power BI can freely combine this source with others. Use for trusted, internal sources when you don’t need strict boundaries. Private Data is highly restricted — cannot be combined with other sources. Use for confidential data like HR or finance databases. Organizational Data is within your company’s domain — can be combined with other organizational sources. Use for SharePoint, internal SQL, etc. Public Data is freely shareable — can be combined with anything. Use for open data sources, like public APIs or websites. 🌟 I hope this solution helps you unlock your Power BI potential! If you found it helpful, click 'Mark as Solution' to guide others toward the answers they need.
💡 Love the effort? Drop the kudos! Your appreciation fuels community spirit and innovation.
🎖 As a proud SuperUser and Microsoft Partner, we’re here to empower your data journey and the Power BI Community at large.
🔗 Curious to explore more? [Discover here].
Let’s keep building smarter solutions together!Thank you for your information, but since it only answers one of two questions,
I can't accept it as the solution. Is there a separate answer for question 1?Hi ericjo,
Refer below table for Question no. 1
Method Description Common Use Notes Anonymous No credentials required Public APIs / files Not for SharePoint Basic Username password (Like we have credentials for SQL Database) Legacy systems Rarely used for M365 OAuth2 Login with Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online / OneDrive Recommended Service Principal Azure Active Directory app Automation Requires setup Workspace Identity Managed identity for Fabric workspace Fabric to Fabric New in Fabric
Hey ericjo ,
I did some digging and you were right the documentation for authentication types were all over the place.
For your first question, here are a few docs you can refer to (some are from Power Query or Power Apps docs but the concept is mostly similar in the platform)- This should cover Anonymous, Basic, OAuth2: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/custom-connectors/connection-parameters
- Service principal is basically a robot user that is used in automating things. I have used them to just authenticate to workspaces and automatically deploy reports in a CICD framework. This should be a good read about it: https://medium.com/@kinsun_67689/creating-an-azure-app-or-service-principal-to-call-power-bi-rest-api-c8d604c00720
- This is for the workspace identity: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/security/workspace-identity
Well for privacy level, there was luckily a comprehensive doc:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-query/privacy-levels
Hope it helps!
Hi ericjo ,
I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided by grazitti_sapna grazitti_sapna . Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.
Thank you and continue using Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.
