Forum Discussion
Cannot retrieve Contacts from API
It seems to not be possible.
I have submitted it as an idea to the ideas forum: https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Fabric-Ideas/Add-Contacts-and-Endorsement-as-fields-to-Admin-REPORTS-API/idi-p/5151362
Hi stephan_
I am not completely certain, but based on the 403 error and the message “API is not accessible for application”, this behaviour is expected for this specific endpoint.
The endpoint
GET /v1.0/myorg/reports/{reportId}/contacts
does not support application-only authentication (service principal / client credentials). It requires a delegated user context, meaning it works only when authenticated with a user account and not with a service principal.
This is not a missing permission issue. Even with permissions such as Tenant.ReadWrite.All, Report.Read.All, and Workspace.Read.All, the endpoint remains inaccessible because it is not designed to work with application tokens. The error message clearly indicates that the API is restricted to user-based authentication.
In addition, Microsoft has not published an official Power BI REST API to retrieve the report contact list configured in the Power BI Service user interface. This confirms that the endpoint is either internal or UI-related and therefore unsuitable for automation with service principals.
Recommended Alternatives
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Governance and access control
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Use Admin APIs such as Get Report Users as Admin or tenant scan endpoints.
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These APIs are supported with service principals and provide information about who has access to reports, which is usually sufficient for governance and ownership tracking.
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Operational workaround
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Maintain report contact ownership in an external metadata store (for example, SharePoint, Dataverse, or SQL).
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Populate this store using supported REST APIs (such as listing reports per workspace) and manage contacts as governed metadata rather than relying on the UI contact list.
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I found the URL by modifying the URL found in this StackOverflow post: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/76102839/powerbi-api-getting-all-reports-contact-owner-i-can-only-see-the-infos-or-wo#:~:text=I%20was%20able%20to%20get,reportId/contacts%22%20-Method%20Get
I think Microsoft changed this API to make it not accessible by SPNs. Very disappointing they do not provide a way to retrieve Workspace / Report contacts
Hi stephan_ ,
Thanks for sharing the reference and your observation.I understand why this feels like a change in behavior. Based on what you’re seeing, it does appear that access to this endpoint using service principals may be restricted now. Since this isn’t a documented Power BI REST API, its behavior can change, which could explain why it might have worked earlier in some cases.
At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be a supported way to retrieve the report or workspace contact details via SPNs.
If this is something critical for your scenario and as already suggested by tharunkumarRTK you may consider sharing it in the Fabric Ideas forum so the product team can review it.
Please reach out for further assistance.
Thank you.Hi stephan_ ,
Just wanted to kindly follow up regarding your query. If you need any further assistance, please reach out.Additionally if you have submitted this as an idea in Ideas Forum please share the idea link here so that others with similar requirement can upvote it which increases visibility.
Thank you.
