Last Updated on April 25, 2024

Microsoft’s Power BI is a software package that provides access to a collection of tools and services which aim to help businesses analyze complex information and convert it into visual insights. Through visualization, different sectors can improve their data analysis and decision-making processes, all of which can lead to higher profitability. 

Anyone can learn how to get Power BI for free, and it’s also easy to take Power BI training to understand details such as calculated tables in Power BI. Most businesses benefit from Power BI, but most businesses also utilize Microsoft Excel, so they need to find a way to integrate these systems. Today, we are going to go over why this is the case and how anyone can accomplish this task.

Power BI and Its Role

Business intelligence plays a key role when it comes to providing actionable insights and aiding businesses in making tactical decisions. Custom visualizations and easy access to raw data are some of the key features that Power BI can provide to a company.

Why Export Power BI to Excel?

Microsoft Excel has been one of the most commonly-used tools at businesses of all sizes. It enables users to identify trends and organize data into meaningful categories. Excel can also perform many other functions, all of which help businesses better understand and structure their workflow.

Power BI is powerful in its ability to connect to numerous sources of data, but there is still a valuable use case for Excel. 

When it comes to storing or processing data, Excel can still be useful for creating reports or dashboards. Anyone interested in having the data behind the report, but who does not have Power BI installed, can also easily open it in Excel. Whenever something is exported as data to Excel, a copy of the data is created and stored in a file that can be opened by Excel.

Exporting Power BI to Excel

There are numerous Power BI files and data structures that can be exported, and we are going to go over each option individually.

First, there are Power BI dashboards. These allow users to place visualizations, reports, and tables within a single location. To export this type of data, users need to go to Power BI and log in with their accounts. Then, they can go to the dashboard and pick the data visualization from which they want to export the data. Here, they need to click on ‘More Options,’ and find the ‘Export to .csv’ option. All that’s left for users to do is open the .csv file in Excel.

However, users might want to export data from a Power BI Report. Reports can have more data per page and offer viewers different ways to filter, highlight, or slice the data.

To export this type of file, users need to access Power BI on their desktop device. They simply pick the data visualization that they want to export, click on settings, and click on ‘Export Data.’ 

Users can also copy Power BI tables within Excel directly. To do this, all users need to do is navigate to the Power BI desktop, select the table they want, and go to the data view option on the side panel. Here, they need to right-click, then click on ‘Copy Table.’ Afterward, they can create a new sheet in Excel and paste the content of the table by using the paste icon or the keyboard shortcuts ‘Ctrl + V.’

Final Thoughts

We have gone over just about everything users need to know when it comes to exporting Power BI to Excel. Using these tips, anyone that has Excel but does not have access to Power BI will still be able to view important data, and the data itself can be transferred more easily.

About The Author

Microsoft Certified Trainer and Consultant specializing in Office 365, Microsoft SharePoint, Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Office Development, and Crystal Reports. In Glenn's career as an independent consultant, he provided network design, implementation and administration, database development, support services and training for several firms in the greater Philadelphia area.

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