Power BI is a business analysis service from Microsoft. It lets you connect and visualize data interactively via the unified platform. It is one of the most widely used data modeling tools today. In fact, using Power BI, especially the desktop version Power BI or Power BI Desktop, allows you to create your effective data models and reports with the various Power BI services thanks to its self-service support options. In this article, we'll show you step-by-step how to easily download and install Power BI on your computer.
How to download Power BI Desktop?
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to download and install the version of Power BI Desktop you’re interested in, using the download and installation steps listed below.
- To download Power BI, go to your browser and type in the following link.
From the page that appears, you can download Power BI Desktop.
- To check system requirements and installation file details, go to “Download options”.
- Clicking on the “Advanced download options” button takes you to the following page.
- Select a language to modify the entire page content in that language.
- Then click on the “Download” button after selecting the language.
- You will have two options for downloading the file: PBIDEsktop.msi and PBIDEsktop_x64.msi. PBIDEsktop_x64.msi is the file to download if you’re running a 64-bit operating system.
- You can choose the file you wish to install according to your operating system type and click on the “Next” button.
- Once you’ve clicked on the “Next” button, the installation file will begin downloading. Once the download is complete, save the installation file to your local drive.
How to install Power BI Desktop?
Power BI is a cloud-based modeling, analysis and visualization tool that displays most critical business data in a single view. You can keep an eye on how your business is performing with live dashboards, and generate interactive reports using Power BI Desktop. You can also access your data with the Power BI Mobile application. It’s free and easy to use.
Once you’ve downloaded Power BI onto your system, it’s time to install it. Below are the steps for installing Power BI.
- Browse to the Power BI installation file on your local drive and right-click on it to select the installation option.
- When you click on the installation option, a window appears in which you must click on the “Run” option to open this file.
- When you have executed the installation file and you see the configuration window displayed, click on the “Next” button.
- Accept the license agreement and click on the “Next” button to complete the installation.
- Accept the Power BI license agreement.
- Select the destination folder on your PC for saving the installation file and click Next.
- Click on “Install” to start the installation. You can click on “Back” to review or modify any of your installation settings.
- Click on the “Finish” button to finalize the installation process.
- When you open the Power BI shortcut on the desktop, it displays a welcome screen. Using this screen, you can launch various options related to obtaining data, enhancing current data models, generating reports and also publishing and sharing reports.
Power BI Desktop: what are the advantages?
Having Power BI installed on your computer will enable you to benefit from the advantages of this Business Intelligence tool.
- Different data sources: You can import data from different on-premise and cloud sources such as Excel, SharePoint, Dynamics 365, Azure SQL DB and Google Analytics.
- Data transformation: Power BI Desktop integrates the Power Query editor to organize, modify and combine information from different sources. Power Query handles the extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) of data.
- Interface: Easily manage information thanks to the program’s three accessible views.
Create reports: Create multi-page reports and visuals.
- Data: Find your tables and the information you use for the data model and transformation.
- Model: Manage relationships between tables in the data model, which you can further extend with DAX formulas.
Create interactive reports: Get graphs from the data fields you select, choose a visual type from over 100 available, or create your own based on the information you want to analyze. This will enable you to identify trends and make projections.
