Workspaces & Distribution

Getting your reports to users

Workspaces

A workspace is a shared container for Power BI content:

Workspace Type	Purpose
My workspace	Personal — only you can see it. Good for development.
Standard workspace	Shared — team collaboration. Requires Pro or PPU licence.
Premium workspace	Backed by Premium or Fabric capacity — enables large semantic models, paginated reports, Copilot.

Creating a workspace:

1. In the Power BI service → Workspaces → Create a workspace
2. Name it, add a description, and configure settings
3. Assign users to roles

Riley at Coastal Fresh (🛒) creates workspaces by function:

• Coastal Fresh - Sales — sales reports and datasets
• Coastal Fresh - Operations — inventory and supply chain
• Coastal Fresh - Executive — C-suite dashboards

Publishing content

From Power BI Desktop: File → Publish → select target workspace

What gets published:

• The .pbix file → creates/updates a report AND a semantic model in the workspace
• If a semantic model with the same name exists, it’s replaced
• Reports connected to that model update automatically

Nadia at Prism Agency (📊) publishes client reports to separate workspaces per client — keeping data isolated and access controlled.

Apps

Apps package workspace content for distribution:

Feature	Workspace	App
Who sees it	Workspace members only	Anyone you grant app access to
Can edit?	Yes (based on role)	No — read-only
Organisation	All workspace content visible	Curated — you choose what to include
Navigation	Standard workspace nav	Custom navigation with sections
Access control	Workspace roles	App-level permissions (separate from workspace)

Creating an app:

1. In the workspace → Create app
2. Set up the app name, description, and logo
3. Choose which reports/dashboards to include
4. Define navigation sections
5. Set audience access (specific users, groups, or entire org)
6. Publish the app

💡 Exam tip: app vs workspace sharing

The exam tests “choose a distribution method.” Key rules:

• App: Best for broad distribution to consumers who shouldn’t edit. Curated, professional.
• Workspace access: Best for team collaboration where members need to edit or build on content.
• Direct sharing: Best for ad-hoc sharing with specific people (link or email). Limited to Pro users.
• Publish to web: Public embed — no authentication. Use only for public data. Never for internal data.
• Embed in Teams/SharePoint: Adds reports to existing collaboration tools.

If the scenario says “distribute to 500 sales reps who just need to view” → app. If it says “share with 3 colleagues who need to build on your work” → workspace access.

Distribution methods compared

Choose the method that matches your audience size and security needs

Method	Audience	Security	Best For
Power BI App	Defined users/groups	App-level permissions	Broad distribution to consumers
Workspace access	Team members	Workspace roles	Collaboration and co-authoring
Direct sharing (link)	Specific individuals	Per-item permissions	Ad-hoc sharing with colleagues (recipients need Pro/PPU, or content in Premium capacity)
Publish to web	Anyone on the internet	No authentication	Public data embeds only
Embed in Teams/SharePoint	Teams/SharePoint users	Inherits org permissions	Contextual reporting in existing tools

Knowledge check

Question

What's the difference between a workspace and an app?

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Answer

A workspace is where content is created and managed (team collaboration). An app is a packaged, read-only distribution of selected workspace content for consumers.

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Question

When should you use 'Publish to web' vs an app?

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Answer

Publish to web creates a public embed with NO authentication — anyone can see it. Only use for public data. For internal data, always use an app or direct sharing with authentication.

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Question

How do you publish content from Power BI Desktop to the service?

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Answer

File → Publish → select the target workspace. This creates or updates both a report and a semantic model in the workspace.

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Knowledge Check

Riley needs to distribute sales dashboards to 200 regional managers who only need to view reports. What's the best distribution method?

AAdd all 200 managers to the workspace as ContributorsBCreate a Power BI app and grant access to the managers' security groupCShare individual report links with each managerDPublish to web and email the link

Check Answer

Knowledge Check

Nadia publishes a report to the 'Prism Agency - Clients' workspace. She wants clients to see a curated set of reports without accessing the full workspace. What should she create?

AAdd clients as Viewers to the workspaceBCreate a Power BI app from the workspace with custom navigationCShare each report individually via email linksDMove the reports to each client's personal workspace

Check Answer

🎬 Video coming soon

Next up: Dashboards, Alerts and Subscriptions — pin visuals, set up alerts, and schedule email deliveries.