Send Suscription via Pipeline/Api

[rampie]

Hi everyone,

Do any of you know if there's a way to trigger a Power BI report subscription via API or through a fabric pipeline?

The reason I ask is because, if something fails, you currently need to resend all the reports manually (PDFs or emails with the report link).

Also, if you need a subscription to run hourly, it would be much cleaner to schedule a pipeline to do that, rather than creating 24 separate subscriptions for each hour of the day.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Best regards,
Richard Ampie

[rohit1991 · Accepted solution]

Hi @rampie ,

You're raising a valid point — automating Power BI report subscriptions would greatly enhance control, especially in failure recovery or high-frequency scheduling scenarios. Unfortunately, Power BI currently does not support triggering report subscriptions directly via REST API or Fabric pipeline. Subscriptions are designed for static scheduling within the Power BI Service and aren't exposed through programmatic endpoints.

However, here are some alternative approaches you can consider:

• Use Power BI REST API + Export Report API: While you can't trigger subscriptions, you can use the Export To File API  to generate a PDF or PPT of a report. This can be embedded in a pipeline or logic app to simulate a subscription.

• Leverage Power Automate: Build a Power Automate flow that exports the report, saves it to OneDrive/SharePoint, and sends it via email. This can be triggered on demand or scheduled as needed.

• Fabric Data Pipeline Integration: While native integration is limited, you can call REST APIs from a Fabric pipeline using custom notebooks or web activity to export and distribute reports conditionally.

• Failure Recovery Logic: Design pipelines or automation flows with error-catching logic. On failure, trigger an export-and-send flow to distribute the report again.

This setup offers more flexibility than static subscriptions and helps centralize control within your data platform orchestration strategy. Let me know if you’d like a sample Power Automate or API script to get started.

[v-venuppu]

Hi @rampie ,

May I ask if you have resolved this issue? Please let us know if you have any further issues, we are happy to help.

Thank you.

[v-venuppu]

Hi @rampie ,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Fabric Community.

Thank you @Poojara_D12 @rohit1991 for the prompt response.

I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided and resolve the issue..?Please let us know if you need any further assistance.We are happy to help.

Thank you.

[Poojara_D12 · Accepted solution]

Hi @rampie 

Currently, Power BI does not support triggering report subscriptions (like PDF/email delivery) via API or Fabric pipelines, which is a limitation for organizations seeking automated and conditional report delivery. Subscriptions are designed to run on a fixed schedule, and there’s no native REST API or Fabric activity that can programmatically trigger or re-trigger a subscription outside its defined schedule. This becomes problematic in scenarios where you want reports to be resent after a failure (e.g., refresh failure) or dynamically based on business logic (e.g., only send when data meets certain conditions). Moreover, for high-frequency delivery like hourly emails, Power BI limits scheduling granularity, and creating multiple subscriptions manually can be inefficient and error-prone.

As a workaround, some organizations use Power Automate with paginated reports (which can be exported via API as PDF or Excel) or the Export To File REST API for standard Power BI reports. With this approach, a Fabric pipeline or Power Automate flow can trigger report exports after certain checks (like refresh completion or validation logic), and the resulting files can be emailed or uploaded to a shared location. While this doesn’t replicate the full functionality of native subscriptions (like personalized filters or distribution groups), it provides the flexibility and control needed for conditional or reactive delivery.

For now, Microsoft hasn't exposed subscription control via the API, so if this feature is critical, consider voting or tracking the related ideas on the Power BI Ideas forum. Meanwhile, building a custom delivery workflow using export APIs and automation tools is the most scalable alternative.

[rohit1991 · Accepted solution]

Hi @rampie ,

You're raising a valid point — automating Power BI report subscriptions would greatly enhance control, especially in failure recovery or high-frequency scheduling scenarios. Unfortunately, Power BI currently does not support triggering report subscriptions directly via REST API or Fabric pipeline. Subscriptions are designed for static scheduling within the Power BI Service and aren't exposed through programmatic endpoints.

However, here are some alternative approaches you can consider:

• Use Power BI REST API + Export Report API: While you can't trigger subscriptions, you can use the Export To File API  to generate a PDF or PPT of a report. This can be embedded in a pipeline or logic app to simulate a subscription.

• Leverage Power Automate: Build a Power Automate flow that exports the report, saves it to OneDrive/SharePoint, and sends it via email. This can be triggered on demand or scheduled as needed.

• Fabric Data Pipeline Integration: While native integration is limited, you can call REST APIs from a Fabric pipeline using custom notebooks or web activity to export and distribute reports conditionally.

• Failure Recovery Logic: Design pipelines or automation flows with error-catching logic. On failure, trigger an export-and-send flow to distribute the report again.

This setup offers more flexibility than static subscriptions and helps centralize control within your data platform orchestration strategy. Let me know if you’d like a sample Power Automate or API script to get started.