Forum Discussion
Sharing Reports Externally
Hi scpowerbi1996,
There are various ways to share reports with external users. Hosting reports in premium capacity does reduce a lot of barriers to sharing the reports externally.
- Power BI App - Since you already have premium capacity, you can share your reports via Power BI App with external customers.
- SharePoint Online Integration: You can embed the reports using the Power BI web part for SharePoint Online. However, the clients accessing these reports must be part of your organization's Azure AD or have guest accounts set up. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-embed-report-spo
- Guest Access: Since you are already using Premium Capacity, you can leverage Azure AD B2B (Business-to-Business) guest sharing. Add the client as a guest in your Azure AD, granting them report access. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/enterprise/service-admin-azure-ad-b2b
- Publish to Web: You can also enable the "Publish to web" feature for publicly accessible reports, but this is not secure, so it isn't recommended for client-sensitive data. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-publish-to-web
- Power BI Embedded: For more flexibility, you can use Power BI Embedded, which allows embedding reports in custom applications (or sites) and provides more control over permissions and sharing options. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/developer/embedded/embed-customer-app
There are considerations when you are sharing reports externally, like enabling certain settings in Power BI Admin Portal to allow sharing outside organization, Row Level Security, adding the user as a guest in AD, etc. but I am assuming these will be handled.
Usually sharing reports via Power BI App with external customers is the way to go, or using Power BI Embedded along with Premium Capacity.
If you want to explore any of the options in detail or need any help, do let me know!
Hi scpowerbi1996,
There are various ways to share reports with external users. Hosting reports in premium capacity does reduce a lot of barriers to sharing the reports externally.
- Power BI App - Since you already have premium capacity, you can share your reports via Power BI App with external customers.
- SharePoint Online Integration: You can embed the reports using the Power BI web part for SharePoint Online. However, the clients accessing these reports must be part of your organization's Azure AD or have guest accounts set up. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-embed-report-spo
- Guest Access: Since you are already using Premium Capacity, you can leverage Azure AD B2B (Business-to-Business) guest sharing. Add the client as a guest in your Azure AD, granting them report access. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/enterprise/service-admin-azure-ad-b2b
- Publish to Web: You can also enable the "Publish to web" feature for publicly accessible reports, but this is not secure, so it isn't recommended for client-sensitive data. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-publish-to-web
- Power BI Embedded: For more flexibility, you can use Power BI Embedded, which allows embedding reports in custom applications (or sites) and provides more control over permissions and sharing options. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/developer/embedded/embed-customer-app
There are considerations when you are sharing reports externally, like enabling certain settings in Power BI Admin Portal to allow sharing outside organization, Row Level Security, adding the user as a guest in AD, etc. but I am assuming these will be handled.
Usually sharing reports via Power BI App with external customers is the way to go, or using Power BI Embedded along with Premium Capacity.
If you want to explore any of the options in detail or need any help, do let me know!
Hi Bipin-Lala , thank you so much for your very detailed explanation. It seems we will have to rethink how we share our reports as we were leaning towards to sharepoint online option but distributing them via Power BI App seems like a better option. I don't have a great understanding of how to share a report via Power BI App, could you give me some info on this ? Am I right in understanding we can do this and share with an external client without them needing a paid licence ? How does the security work for this option ? Is there a limit to the amount of apps that can be created and shared ? Thank you so much for your thoughts on this.
Also, just to be clear, no matter what option we go with, am I correct in saying that we will need to enable the settings in the Admin portal to share outside organization, row level security and adding the guest as a user in AD in order to share the reports ?
Hi scpowerbi1996,
Yes, you can share your reports via the Power BI App, especially when using Power BI Premium, which allows external users to access reports without needing a license.
- You can collate multiple reports together in a Power BI App and share them with external clients. That's the advantage of the Power BI App, you can add any report to the app and users already accessing the app will be able to access newly added reports as well.
- There's no limit on the number of apps you can create or share
- External users will be able to access the app if added as guest users in your Azure AD/ Entra. Have a look at this case study explained in Microsoft Documentation - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/guidance/whitepaper-azure-b2b-power-bi#case-study-building-a-bi-portal-using-power-bi--microsoft-entra-b2b--step-by-step-instructions
In order to share reports with external users -
- External share settings need to be enabled in the Admin Portal. For exact settings, refer to this - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/enterprise/service-admin-azure-ad-b2b#admin-info-for-b2b-collaboration
- External users should be added as guests in Azure AD
- If you have row-level security enabled for any of the reports, make sure you are across all it's considerations for external users - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/guidance/whitepaper-azure-b2b-power-bi#data-security-for-external-partners
I would suggest you go through the case study I mentioned above as it explains many of the things you are trying to achieve. If you still have any questions, I would be happy to help!
