How to use Power BI Rest API to export the Power BI Report in PDF format

[v-yiruan-msft]

Scenarios：

In Power BI Service, we can export reports in PDF format and easily create documents or slides based on Power BI Reports. Here is another way that allows us to use the Rest API call and export the Power BI Report in PDF. This method cannot be run in Pro and PPU, it is only suitable for implementation in premium workspace.

The specific operation is:

1. Call the Report – Export to File in Group Rest API and the prepared groupId and reportId, and issue the Post command to get the exportId.
2. Call the Reports-Get Export to File Status in Group Rest API and the prepared groupId, reportId and exportId to query the current status. If the session is successful, go to the third step, if it does not appear, follow the error message to repair.
3. Execute the Reports-Get File of Export to File in Group Rest API to get the Bearer code.
4. In the Postman software, get the Power BI Report in PDF format.

Tip: The position of groupId and reportId is in the URL:

Sample data:

Get data: Samples -- Human Resources Sample.

PBIX visual：

Expected result:

Successfully exported Power BI Report in PDF format through Rest API.

Step 1: Execute the first Rest API and issue the Post command to get the exportId.

            Go to the Report – Export to File in Group page.

            1). Enter the Report – Export to File in Group page

            2). Click Try It, copy the prepared groupId and reportId, and fill in format: "PDF" in the Body

           

            3). Click Run, generate the exportId we need, and save the exportId

           

            Notice:

            Introduction of the information in the Body column:

              "@odata.context": The content of the Post request sent

               "id": action ID of the operation

               "createdDateTime": the time when the operation was created

               "lastActionDateTime": the last time of the operation

               "reportId": report action ID

               "status": Status

               "percentComplete": complete percentage progress

               "expirationTime": the expiration time of operation   

Step 2: Execute the second Rest API to query the current status. If the session is successful, go to the third step.

            1). Enter the Reports-Get Export to File Status in Group interface

            2). Click Try It , copy and paste the prepared groupId, reportId and exportId into the right places

           

           3). Click Run and find that the message "status: Succeeded" appears, the session is successful.

           

Step 3: Execute the third Rest API, get the Bearer code, and experiment with PDF export.

            1). Enter the Reports-Get File of Export to File in Group interface

            2). Click Try It, copy and paste the prepared groupId, reportId and exportId into the right places

           

          3). Click Run, If the execution is successful, the Bearer code and Request URL will be obtained, then the experiment is a success.

           

Step 4: Enter the Postman software and get the PDF file of the Power BI Report.

           1). Go to Collections--PBI_API—click the ellipsis—click “Add request”

           

           2). On the new interface that appears, place the Request URL and change it to GET.

           

           3). Click Authorization, change the Type to Bearer Token, and place the Bearer code obtained in the Token column.

           

            4). Click Headers, copy and paste the prepared groupId, reportId and exportId into the right places.

           

           5). Click Send, the PBIX visual object is generated in the Body interface below, and click Save Response-Save to file.

           

           6). Generate PDF.

            

Note：

Postman is an API platform for building and using APIs. Postman simplifies each step of the API lifecycle and streamlines collaboration so you can create better APIs—faster.

Postman related information:

https://www.postman.com/

Web version of Postman:

https://identity.getpostman.com/signup?continue=https%3A%2F%2Fgo.postman.co%2Fbuild&_ga=2.103938564....

Download Postman：

https://www.postman.com/downloads/

Hope this article can help you solve similar problems.

Author: Yang Liu 

Reviewer: Ula Huang, Kerry Wang

[Anonymous]

Hi Team,

I am able to generate PPTX and PDF from the API but I am not able to pass the filter to the report while generating PPTX. I tried and showing all the steps below

I have Generated PPTX from the given link

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Community-Blog/How-to-use-Power-BI-Rest-API-to-export-the-Power-BI-...

# Passing Filters while generating PPTX

Step 1 - Get the exportId

https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/groups/56811d8e-a609-435e-853e-c813fb83b7rQ8/reports/f0b99643-194...

Step 2 - Get the Current Status If the session is successful

https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/groups/56811d8e-a609-435e-853e-c813fb83b7b8/reports/f0b99643-194d...

Step 3 - Download PPTX

https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/groups/56811d8e-a609-435e-853e-c813fb83b7b8/reports/f0b99643-194d...

With Regards

Bipin Kumar

8860191188

[Anonymous]

@v-yiruan-msft thank you for sharing this article, it is very easy to follow. I have been looking for this solution. I do understand that this API has a limitation and cannot be used with Pro or PPU workspace.

Is there any other API that can be used for exporting from PPU or Pro workspaces?

[MattWork]

Thanks for the article.  Got me started on doing the same.  Note if your trying to use Power Automate then there is a connector that handles all of the above: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-automate-power-bi-report-export

[husnainnourose]

hi i am looking to export sinlge or multiple visuals from my PowerBi embeded report.

more like on clicking any button on my source web page i can download any visual present in my report.But there is no much help available for this @v-yiruan-msft 

[ju_gi]

For Fabric I created a short python script to be ran as a notebook. It uses the great description from this article (Kudos @v-yiruan-msft) to download the paginated report in the specified format into the onelake: 

def download_paginated_report(group_id:str, report_id:str, file_format:str="PDF", target_path="/lakehouse/default/Files/report.pdf"):
    import requests
    import json
    import time

    token = mssparkutils.credentials.getToken('pbi')
    headers = {
        'Authorization': f'Bearer {token}',
        'Content-type': 'application/json'
    }

    payload = {
    "format": file_format
    }

    url = f"https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/groups/{group_id}/reports/{report_id}/ExportTo"

    response = requests.post(url, data=json.dumps(payload), headers=headers)

    export_id = response.json()["id"]

    timeout = 30
    counter = 0
    wait_time = 5
    while True:
        url = f"https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/groups/{group_id}/reports/{report_id}/exports/{export_id}"
        response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
        if response.json()["status"] == "Succeeded":
            break
        if counter > timeout:
            raise(TimeoutError("Request time out"))
        counter = counter + wait_time
        time.sleep(wait_time)

    url = f"https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/groups/{group_id}/reports/{report_id}/exports/{export_id}/file"

    r = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
    r.raise_for_status()

    with open(target_path, 'wb') as f:
        f.write(r.content)
    print(f"export saved as {target_path}")


download_paginated_report(group_id="eba40459-c146-4ea9-959e-d3f2dec00973", report_id="bcad0ddb-40fb-43b8-9fbb-c70f4164fcaf")

[YashikaAgrawal]

We need to migrate objects (dashboards/workspace/reports,apps etc) from 1 tenant to other. Can we use Power BI Rest APIs to download items. Please reply..