Creating a report on Powerbi.com now gives 'transform' power query option

[bsharma]

Hi all, 

I use Powerbi.com Service every semester.  But back in December 2025 I noticed a change in the way report is created from My Workspace. After I upload my dataset it now shows me two buttons 'Create Report' and 'Transform Data' ....earlier in November 2025 - Transform was only available in Power BI Desktop. 

Another thing I noticed when I click on 

Create Report -- it creates the semantic model and loads the data into a report but instead of showing actual column names as on the dataset it shows Column 1, Column 2 etc.  When I click on Transform then it creates a report with actual Column names as on the dataset. Seems like you have to go through Transform now!!!

What is the use of 'Create Report' then??

This is throwing me off - can anyone explain this?? or experienced this?

[Shravan133 · Accepted solution]

Power BI has been gradually:

• Moving more import and modeling functionality into the Service
• Introducing deeper semantic model editing, even allowing dataset editing directly in the browser (Premium/PPU features)
• Updating the “create from file” pipeline in My Workspace

One effect of these changes is that header detection is no longer assumed during the quick semantic‑model creation path.
This is likely why you now see the two buttons and different behaviors.

Think of it this way,

Create Report:

• For quick, simple uploads
• No transformation
• No guaranteed header detection
• Fast auto‑semantic‑model creation
• Intended for clean, well‑structured files (e.g., Excel tables)

Transform data:

• Opens Power Query
• Lets you clean/shape data
• Ensures headers are correctly applied
• Gives you control before semantic model is created
• Much closer to Desktop behavior

[bsharma]

Thank you so much for the explanation. Makes sense!!