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Power BI Apps: Publish a Finished Set of Reports

By , Power BI & Data Analytics trainer LinkedIn Published: Last updated:

A Power BI app is a packaged set of reports from one workspace, with simple navigation, for a named audience. Readers open the app. They do not need permission to edit the workspace. When you change a page, you update the app so they see the new version.

Friends! A workspace full of drafts, old test reports, and the real FreshBasket sales page confuses managers. Why an app? It is the shop window: only the finished pages. How? We create an app, include the sales report, name the audience, and later click Update app. The Mumbai card they trust is still 150, on a page you chose.

Quick answer

Vertical path:

  1. Finish the report in the team workspace first.
  2. Create app. Pick the reports and the pages people should see.
  3. Set navigation names in plain language: Sales, not Page 1.
  4. Choose an audience (a group of readers).
  5. Publish the app. Readers find it under Apps.
  6. After you edit the report, choose Update app or they keep the old pages.
Workspace = workshop
App = the front door for readers

What the reader gets

Place What they see Mumbai number
Workspace as a Member Drafts and the real report 150, plus your experiments
App audience The pages you included 150 on the official page
  1. The data is the same semantic model.
  2. The app does not create a second copy of the sales rows.
  3. Hiding a draft from the app is not the same as security on rows. Row-level security still decides whether Pune sees 40 only. The app decides which pages exist in the window.
  4. A test page filtered to one store should not be in the app unless that filter is the point.

What do I need before this guide?

Before and after (look at the tables first)

Before app Workspace list includes a test page.

Before - Workshop list. Too much clutter

After app App shows only the official sales page.

After - App front door. Update app after edits

How to publish the app

App is the front door App is the front door. Workspace = workshop (drafts too) App = finished Sales page Audience = the readers Mumbai card on the official page: 150 App is the front door Workspace = workshop (drafts too) App = finished Sales page Audience = the readers Mumbai card on the official page: 150

An app is the front door: finished reports only. The workspace stays the workshop.

  1. Open the FreshBasket workspace. Clean the list: the official report is obvious.
  2. Choose Create app.
  3. Setup: name it FreshBasket Sales. Add a one-line description.
  4. Content: include the sales report. Leave practice files out.
  5. Navigation: rename pages so a manager knows where to click.
  6. Audience: add the readers’ security group. You can have more than one audience later, with different content. Start with one.
  7. Publish the app. Open it yourself from Apps, not from the workspace, so you see what they see.
Update the app Update the app. Edit the report in the workspace. Check the number. Update app. Readers keep the old page until you do. Update the app Edit the report in the workspace. Check the number. Update app. Readers keep the old page until you do.

After you edit the report, choose Update app or readers keep the old pages.

When the report changes:

  1. Edit the report in the workspace.
  2. Check Mumbai still reads 150, or the new true number.
  3. Return to the app and choose Update app.
  4. Tell the audience that you updated it. The link stays the same.

Permissions: people who build the app need a role that can publish it (Member or Admin). Viewers of the app are not workspace editors. That split is the reason the app exists.

  1. A share link is fine for one report and a few people. The next guide covers the link.
  2. An app is better when several reports belong together and you will update them for a whole group.
  3. Neither one replaces row-level security. Both can still show every city if the person is allowed to see every city.
  4. Do not email the PBIX as a substitute for the app. The file on disk will not refresh with the workspace.

Mistakes and calm fixes

Symptom Likely cause Fix
Readers see an old page You edited the report and did not update the app Update app
Readers see draft reports Those reports were included Remove them and update
“I cannot create an app” Contributor, or no app permission A Member or Admin publishes it
Audience sees every city Expected, if no row security Set security for viewers; the app is not a city filter

Ravindra Bagale's Tip

Interview line: “I distribute finished reports with an app and an audience. The workspace stays the workshop. I update the app after I change the pages.” Got it?

Practice task

  1. Create an app from a practice workspace.
  2. Include one report. Exclude a second “test” report.
  3. Open the app as a reader would.
  4. Change a title in the workspace report.
  5. Update the app and confirm the title changed in the app.

Learn it properly

Course lessons:

Related: Workspaces · Share a report

Got it? The app is the front door. Update it when the report changes. Next: a dashboard is not the same thing as a report. Let us go ahead.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Power BI app?

A packaged set of reports from one workspace, with navigation, for an audience.

App versus workspace access?

The app is for readers. Workspace roles are for people who build.

Why do readers see an old page?

The report changed and the app was not updated.

Does an app copy the data?

No. It shows reports on the same semantic model.

Does an app hide other cities?

No. That is row-level security. The app only chooses pages.

Course lessons?

Apps and sharing, and Sharing and distribution, in the Service chapters.