Inserting images from company sharepoint folder to Power BI Report Builder (Not Working)

[anonymous18]

I am trying to insert images into a Report Builder report, the img source is a URL to a SharePoint folder but when the report is run no image appears. I have tried running the report (non-locally) hosted in a power bi workspace but that didn't work either.

My settings:
In Report Builder I have the imagebox properties set to 'external' and the field expression does pull in the correct URL (I copied the expression into the tooltip to check if the URL was correct). If that URL is put into my browser the image loads in there with no issue.

What I've tried:
- I've tested the report with a random image URL from the web and that works fine.

- Tested hard coding the URL directly into the expression field but no luck there.

- Followed MS guide :Add an external image to a paginated report (Report Builder) which didn't work since I do not want anyone with the SharePoint link to be able to access it.

- I've tried converting the images in to Base64 formats and storing those but I can't do that because the datasource for the report is an MS List table and the character limit on those cells is too small to store image Base64 strings. I support I could split the Base64 string across multiple columns but unsure how to do this.

I'm guessing the problem comes due to authentication issues between report builder and SharePoint but I don't know for sure.

Any help or alternative method advice would be greatly appreciated!

[v-binbinyu-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @anonymous18 ,

• When the report is run in Report Builder or Report Designer, preview uses the credentials of the user to display the image.
• When the report is run on the report server, the image in the report may not be displayed if the server credentials are not sufficient to access the image. In that case, contact your system administrator.
• When the report is run in the Power BI service, the image must be publicly available and not require authentication or additional sign-in to locate the image via external URL.

For more details, you can read related document: Specifying paths to external items in a paginated report - Microsoft Report Builder & Power BI Repor...

Best regards,
Community Support Team_ Binbin Yu
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.