Version Control in Power BI

Plan and Implement a Data Analytics Environment with Microsoft Fabric

Shahzad Mian

Content Developer, DataCamp

Refresh: .pbix files limitations

  • Power BI Desktop files are saved as .pbix
  • Binary files, compressed
  • Version control can't see what changed between versions!

Binary file not showing in git diff

Plan and Implement a Data Analytics Environment with Microsoft Fabric

The solution: Power BI Projects

  • Compatible with Power BI Deskop
  • Folder structure with textual files
  • Easier to track and compare in Git

Folder with pbip file

Plan and Implement a Data Analytics Environment with Microsoft Fabric

The solution: Power BI Projects

Example of Power BI report vs Project JSON

Plan and Implement a Data Analytics Environment with Microsoft Fabric

How to export to .pbip

Save as options in Power BI Desktop

Preview options in Power BI Desktop

Plan and Implement a Data Analytics Environment with Microsoft Fabric

Example of .pbip comparison

Visual diff available in version control

Plan and Implement a Data Analytics Environment with Microsoft Fabric

More Power BI file types!

Power BI Templates (.pbit): the structure

  • Contains the layout, visuals, measures
  • Does not contain actual data!

Power BI Data Sources (.pbids): the data

  • Contains the data and a pre-configured connection
  • Does not contain the report structure

Save as options in Power BI Desktop

Plan and Implement a Data Analytics Environment with Microsoft Fabric

Overview of Power BI file types

Name File Format Data Visuals Git Compatibility
Power BI Report .pbix Yes Yes No
Power BI Project .pbip Yes Yes Yes
Power BI Template .pbit No Yes Yes
Power BI Data Source .pbids Yes No Yes
Plan and Implement a Data Analytics Environment with Microsoft Fabric

Let's practice!

Plan and Implement a Data Analytics Environment with Microsoft Fabric

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