How To Export Data to Excel from Power BI

Discover the streamlined process of exporting data from Power BI to Excel, a common task for professionals who need to manipulate and analyze business intelligence in a familiar spreadsheet format. This guide provides you with clear, step-by-step instructions to efficiently move your reports and datasets from Power BI into Excel.

By the end of this page, you'll understand not only the how-to but also why Sourcetable offers a more intuitive approach for exporting data than the traditional Excel method.

Exporting Data to Excel from Power BI

Overview of Exporting Data

Power BI provides flexibility for users looking to export data to Excel. Users can export data directly from a dashboard or report visual. Export options include summarized data and underlying data, subject to admin and designer controls.

Permissions and Security

Data security is paramount in Power BI. Not all users have the ability to view or export all data. Restricted, hidden, or confidential data requires special permissions. Sensitivity labels help protect exported reports, and only authorized users can access protected files.

Export Limitations and Considerations

Exporting data to Excel can be subject to limitations. A maximum of 30,000 rows can be exported to a .csv file, while up to 150,000 rows can be exported to an .xlsx file. Some data may be disabled for export by an administrator or the report designer to prevent unauthorized access.

Export Process

To export data from Power BI to Excel, select the desired visualization, choose the export data option, and then select either summarized or underlying data. Keep in mind that exporting may be slow and the download speed varies with network bandwidth.

Compatibility and Export Quality

Be aware of compatibility issues, such as exporting underlying data not working with older versions of Power BI, or when tables lack unique keys. Custom visuals and R visuals are not supported for exports. Field aliases might revert to original names to avoid duplicates in Excel.

Excel vs Sourcetable: Streamlining Data Management

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Excel's robust functionality is well-known, but Sourcetable elevates spreadsheet management by enabling seamless data queries across multiple platforms. This feature positions Sourcetable as a superior choice for dynamic data analysis.

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