Automate PDF Export

[Jamie_B_UK]

Morning!

I'm looking to user PowerApp/PowerAutomate to generate PDFs from a Power BI Report.

I don't have a Premium Capacity of any sort but have tried with PPU - no luck, the Flow fails saying I need dedicated capacity.

Although I've seen some posts that say you can run it on PPU, it's clear you can't - the flow fails for this reason.

My questions are:

-Do I have to get a full F64 SKU to get this functionality? Or would a lower SKU give me this ability?

-If I went 'pay as you go' on the licence, would I only get charged when someone triggers this flow (assuming nothing else allocated to the space) or because it's available all the time I will get charged for all the time.

Thanks,

Jamie.

[KiranHosakote]

Hi @Jamie_B_UK 

If you are open to using third-party solutions, BI Helper https://bihelper.tech may meet your requirement.

BI Helper is a popular and easy to use SaaS application that automates the generation and emailing of user-specific PDFs (with filters and slicers applied). It is secure, scalable and works with a Power BI Pro / PPU license (for the sender). It doesn't require Power Automate or any other add-ons. 

Your PDF / email recipients only need an email ID, any ID will do. 

[Martin_D]

Hi @Jamie_B_UK ,

I can only answer your second question for sure: If you keep pay as you go capacity running you will be charged. But you could modify your flow to first start your capacity, then export PDF, then shut down capacity. Depending on how often you need to export PDF files you can consider either this approach or keep it running during defined business hours and do all exports in this timeframe.
REST API to start/stop capacity: 
Resume: Capacities - Resume - REST API (Azure Power BI Embedded) | Microsoft Learn

Suspend: Capacities - Suspend - REST API (Azure Power BI Embedded) | Microsoft Learn

Regarding your first question, I'd just give it a try. If it doesnt work, try running the flow with a user with Pro license at least.

Kind regards,

Martin

[Jamie_B_UK]

@Martin_D 

Thanks for that - good idea, I hadn't thought about that - could easily bake into the flow.

I'll wait and see if anyone knows the lowest level needed.

[Martin_D · Accepted solution]

Hi @Jamie_B_UK ,
This post describes your use case without Premium, but it clearly says you need Pro and Embedded subscriptions for his approach. Export Paginated Reports automatically in a low-code way without Power BI Premium – PBI Guy (pbi-guy...
Kind regrads,

Martin