# Install Power BI Desktop and build your first report > Install the free Power BI Desktop app, load an Excel file, build a column chart of sales by month and a total sales card, and save the report as a .pbix file. > > Source: https://docs.officeniaga.com/m365-powerbi-desktop-first-report/ Power BI Desktop is Microsoft's free Windows app for building reports. In this guide you install it, load a sales spreadsheet, and build a simple report with a column chart of sales by month and a card showing total sales. The whole report is saved on your computer as one `.pbix` file. We tested these steps on 27 September 2026 in Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft Store on Windows 11, with a sample file of fictional sales, "Contoh - Jualan.xlsx". It has four columns: **Month**, **Product**, **Region** and **Sales (RM)**. ## Install Power BI Desktop Microsoft offers two ways to install Power BI Desktop. We recommend the Microsoft Store, because Windows then keeps the app up to date for you and you do not need admin rights on the computer. 1. Open the **Microsoft Store** app on Windows and search for **Power BI Desktop**. 2. Check the publisher is **Microsoft Corporation**, then select **Get**. *(Screenshot: Microsoft Store page for Power BI Desktop by Microsoft Corporation with the Get button highlighted)* 3. When the download finishes (it is about 900 MB), select **Open**. If your company does not allow the Microsoft Store, download the installer from Microsoft's [Get Power BI Desktop](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/fundamentals/desktop-get-the-desktop) page instead. Microsoft releases a new version every month, and the downloaded version does not update itself. ## Sign in Power BI Desktop asks you to sign in when you select **Sign in** at the top right. Signing in is needed to publish reports, not to build them. 1. Select **Sign in** at the top right. 2. Type your work email in **Email** and select **Continue**. *(Screenshot: Enter your email address box with a work email typed and Continue highlighted)* 3. Type your password and complete two-step verification, as you do for Microsoft 365. 4. If Microsoft asks **Sign in to all apps and websites on this device?**, select **No, this app only** on a shared computer. If Power BI Desktop then says **Check your browser to complete the Power BI sign up process**, your account has no Power BI licence yet. Select **Cancel** and carry on: you can build and save reports without signing in. See [publish and share a report](/m365-powerbi-publish-share/) for what to do next. ## Load your Excel file Keep your data in an Excel table with one header row, as in our sample file. Power BI reads the column names from that row. 1. On the **Home** tab, select **Get data**. In the **Get Data** box, select **Excel Workbook**, then **Connect**. The **Excel workbook** button on the **Home** tab does the same in one step. *(Screenshot: Get Data box with Excel Workbook and the Connect button highlighted)* 2. Find your file, select it, and select **Open**. *(Screenshot: Open window with Contoh - Jualan.xlsx selected and the Open button highlighted)* 3. In **Navigator**, tick the table (the icon with a blue header row). The preview on the right shows your data. Check the columns and figures look right. 4. Select **Load**. *(Screenshot: Navigator with the Jualan1 table ticked, a preview of the sales data, and the Load button highlighted)* When loading finishes, your table and its columns appear in the **Data** pane on the right. ## Add a column chart of sales by month A column chart shows one bar for each month, so you can see at a glance whether sales are growing. 1. In the **Visualizations** pane, select **Clustered column chart**. An empty chart appears on the page. *(Screenshot: Visualizations pane with the Clustered column chart icon highlighted and its name shown)* 2. With the chart selected, tick **Month** and **Sales (RM)** in the **Data** pane. 3. Power BI splits dates into **Year**, **Quarter**, **Month** and **Day**, and shows only the year at first. In the **X-axis** box, select the **X** next to **Year**, **Quarter** and **Day** to remove them. Leave **Month**. *(Screenshot: Month and Sales ticked in the Data pane, with Year, Quarter and Day highlighted in the X-axis box)* 4. The chart now shows one bar for each month, January to June. Drag the corner of the chart to make it bigger. *(Screenshot: Column chart of Sum of Sales (RM) by Month from January to June, with Month highlighted in the X-axis box)* Power BI adds up the sales for each month and titles the chart **Sum of Sales (RM) by Month**. ## Add a card for total sales A card shows one big number. It is a good way to put the total at the top of a report. 1. Select an empty part of the page, so the chart is no longer selected. 2. In the **Visualizations** pane, select **Card**. *(Screenshot: Visualizations pane with the Card icon highlighted and its name shown)* 3. Tick **Sales (RM)** in the **Data** pane. The card shows the total for all months, such as **335K**. 4. Drag the card to where you want it, and drag its edges to resize it. *(Screenshot: Finished report with the monthly sales column chart on the left and the total sales card on the right)* ## Save the report Save your report as a `.pbix` file. It holds the report pages and a copy of the data, so you can open it again later or publish it. 1. Select **Save** (the disk icon) at the top left, or press **Ctrl** + **S**. *(Screenshot: Power BI Desktop title bar with the Save icon at the top left highlighted)* 2. In the **Save this file** box, type a name in **Name**, such as "Laporan Jualan". Power BI adds `.pbix` for you. 3. Check **Recent locations** shows the folder you want, such as **Documents**, and select **Save**. *(Screenshot: Save this file box with Laporan Jualan typed in Name, Documents under Recent locations, and the Save button highlighted)* To save in a different folder, select **More options...** in the box, then **Browse this device**. The name at the top of the window changes to your file name. Next time, press **Ctrl** + **S** or select **Save** again. ## Next step To open the report in a browser or share it with colleagues, [publish it to the Power BI service](/m365-powerbi-publish-share/). Sharing needs Power BI Pro; see [which licence you need](/m365-powerbi-what-is/). ## Still stuck WhatsApp our support team at [+60 16-916 3324](https://wa.me/60169163324). ## Common issues ### My chart shows one bar labelled 2026 instead of one bar per month. Power BI groups dates by Year first. In the X-axis box, remove Year, Quarter and Day with the X next to each, and keep Month. ### Navigator shows my file twice, once with a table icon and once with a sheet icon. The table icon is the Excel table and the sheet icon is the whole worksheet. Tick the table: it contains only your data, with the header row already set. ### After I sign in, Power BI Desktop says to check my browser to complete the sign-up. Your account does not have a Power BI licence yet. You can select Cancel and keep building reports without signing in. You only need to sign in to publish. See publish and share a report (/m365-powerbi-publish-share/). ### I changed the Excel file. Why doesn't the report change? Power BI keeps a copy of the data. Select Refresh on the Home tab to load the latest figures from the Excel file.