# Publish a Power BI report and share it > Publish a report from Power BI Desktop to My workspace, open it at app.powerbi.com, and share it with colleagues. What you can do on a free licence and when you need Power BI Pro. > > Source: https://docs.officeniaga.com/m365-powerbi-publish-share/ When your report is ready in Power BI Desktop, select **Publish** and choose **My workspace**. The report is uploaded to the Power BI service, where you can open it at [app.powerbi.com](https://app.powerbi.com) and share it with colleagues. You can publish to **My workspace** on the free licence, but sharing needs Power BI Pro, for you and for the people you share with. We tested these steps on 27 September 2026 with Power BI Desktop on Windows 11, the sample report "Laporan Jualan" from [build your first report](/m365-powerbi-desktop-first-report/), and an account on the free licence. ## Before you start You need three things before you publish: - A saved report in Power BI Desktop. See [build your first report](/m365-powerbi-desktop-first-report/). - A work or school account. Gmail and other personal addresses are not accepted. - A Power BI licence. The free licence (**Microsoft Fabric free**) is enough to publish to **My workspace**, and you can sign up for it on the way. To share, you need **Power BI Pro**. See [which licence you need](/m365-powerbi-what-is/). ## Publish from Power BI Desktop Publishing uploads a copy of your report and its data to the Power BI service. The file on your computer stays as it is. 1. Open your report in Power BI Desktop and save it. 2. On the **Home** tab, select **Publish**. You can also select **File** → **Publish** → **Publish to Power BI**. *(Screenshot: Power BI Desktop Home tab with the Publish button highlighted, and the Laporan Jualan report on the page)* 3. If you are not signed in, Power BI asks for your email. Type your work email and select **Continue**, then sign in with your password and two-step verification as usual. If Microsoft asks **Sign in to all apps and websites on this device?**, select **No, this app only** on a shared computer. *(Screenshot: Enter your email address box shown after selecting Publish, with the Email field highlighted)* If your account already has a Power BI licence, go straight to [choose where to publish](#choose-where-to-publish). ## If Power BI asks you to sign up If your account has never used Power BI, Microsoft first asks you to sign up for the free licence. Power BI Desktop shows **Check your browser to complete the Power BI sign up process**. *(Screenshot: Power BI Desktop sign-in box with the message Check your browser to complete the Power BI sign up process highlighted)* The sign-up takes three short steps in your browser: 1. On the page **You've selected Microsoft Fabric free**, check it shows your work account, and select **Continue**. *(Screenshot: Microsoft Fabric free sign-up page showing the signed-in work account and the Continue button highlighted)* 2. Under **Create your account**, choose Malaysia in **Country or Region**, and fill in **Job title**, **Company name** and **Business phone number**. Type the phone number with its area code, such as 03-8873 3816. The two tick boxes are for marketing emails from Microsoft and its partners: you can leave them unticked. Select **Get Started**. *(Screenshot: Create your account form with Malaysia, a job title, company name and phone number filled in, both marketing boxes unticked and Get Started highlighted)* 3. Microsoft shows **Thanks for signing up for Microsoft Fabric free** and your username. Select **Get Started** to open Power BI in your browser. *(Screenshot: Confirmation details step saying Thanks for signing up for Microsoft Fabric free, with Get Started highlighted)* This sign-up is free, does not ask for payment and does not start a trial. When you finish, go back to Power BI Desktop and select **Publish** again. If Microsoft says sign-up is not allowed, your admin has turned self sign-up off. Ask your admin, or Office Niaga, to give you a licence instead. ## Choose where to publish Once you are signed in with a licence, Power BI asks where to put the report. 1. In **Publish to Power BI**, under **Select a destination**, select **My workspace**, then **Select**. If you have Pro and your company has shared workspaces, you can choose one of those instead. *(Screenshot: Publish to Power BI box with My workspace selected and the Select button highlighted)* 2. When publishing finishes, Power BI shows **Success!** with a link, such as **Open 'Laporan Jualan.pbix' in Power BI**. Select the link to open the report in your browser, or select **Got it** to close the box. *(Screenshot: Publishing to Power BI box showing Success! with the Open Laporan Jualan.pbix in Power BI link highlighted)* ## Open the report in the Power BI service The Power BI service is where you view published reports in a browser. Your own reports are in **My workspace**. 1. Go to [app.powerbi.com](https://app.powerbi.com) and sign in with your work email. 2. Select **My workspace** on the left. Your report is listed twice: once as a **Report** and once as a **Semantic model**. *(Screenshot: My workspace listing Laporan Jualan twice, as a Report and as a Semantic model, both highlighted)* 3. Select the **Report** to open it. Charts work as in Desktop: hover over a bar to see its value, or select it to filter the other visuals. *(Screenshot: Laporan Jualan report open in the Power BI service with the monthly sales column chart, the 335K total card and the Share button highlighted)* The semantic model holds the report's data. Leave it in the workspace: the report needs it. ## Share the report Sharing sends colleagues a link to the report. They open it in their browser, or in the Power BI phone app, and always see the latest version you published. To share, open the report and select **Share** at the top. ### On the free licence On the free licence, **Share** does not open the sharing box. Power BI shows **Upgrade to a paid Power BI license** instead, which says that sharing your reports with others is a paid feature. *(Screenshot: Upgrade to a paid Power BI license box with Buy now and Try free buttons, and the X close button highlighted)* The box offers two buttons: - **Buy now** takes you to buy Pro directly from Microsoft. - **Try free** starts a 60-day Power BI trial. To buy Pro through Office Niaga instead, close the box with the **X** and WhatsApp us. Your admin then assigns the licence: see [assign a Power BI Pro licence](/m365-powerbi-assign-licence/). On the free licence you also cannot publish to shared workspaces: only **My workspace** is available to you. ### With Power BI Pro With Pro, **Share** opens the **Send link** box. Microsoft describes these steps: 1. Choose who the link works for: **People in your organization**, **Specific people** or **People with existing access**. 2. For **Specific people**, type their names or email addresses. 3. Copy the link, or send it straight from the box by email, Outlook, PowerPoint or Teams. In the link settings, **Reshare** lets the people you share with pass the report on to others, and **Build** lets them make their own reports from your data. Microsoft includes **Reshare** by default, so untick it if you do not want the report passed on. The people you share with need a licence too. Microsoft says recipients "also need a Power BI Pro or PPU license, unless the content is in a Premium or Fabric capacity". Only Premium capacity and Fabric capacity F64 or larger let colleagues on a free licence view shared reports. Microsoft describes these steps in [publish from Power BI Desktop](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/create-reports/desktop-upload-desktop-files) and [share reports and dashboards](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-share-dashboards). ## Still stuck WhatsApp our support team at [+60 16-916 3324](https://wa.me/60169163324). ## Common issues ### Power BI Desktop says to check my browser to complete the Power BI sign up process. Your account has no Power BI licence yet. Finish the Microsoft Fabric free sign-up in the browser window that opened, then select Publish in Power BI Desktop again. If the sign-up is blocked, your admin has turned self sign-up off: ask them, or Office Niaga, for a licence. ### I selected Share and Power BI says Upgrade to a paid Power BI license. That is the limit of the free licence: sharing needs Power BI Pro. Close the box with the X. To buy Pro through Office Niaga, WhatsApp us, and your admin then assigns the licence. See assign a Power BI Pro licence (/m365-powerbi-assign-licence/). ### My colleague opened the link but cannot see the report. The person you share with also needs Power BI Pro or Premium Per User, unless the report is in a workspace on Premium capacity or on Fabric capacity F64 or larger. ### Does sharing a report share the Excel file too? No. People see the report and can interact with it, but they do not get your .pbix or Excel file. The report shows the data as it was when you last published or refreshed it.