How to Install Power BI: A Simple Step by Step Guide
1. Download Power BI Desktop
Start with Power BI Desktop the free reporting and analysis tool.
• Go to Power BI website: either go to the official Power BI site or search for Power BI Desktop on your Windows PC in the Microsoft Store.
• Download Installer: Click the Download Free button on the website, which will download the setup file.
Alternatively, search for Power BI Desktop on the Microsoft Store and hit the Install button.
The software is free for all, and most users should find it works perfectly on their Windows computers.
2. Installation of Power BI Desktop
Having downloaded the installer, the next thing would be to install Power BI on that computer.
• Run the Installer: Find the setup file you recently downloaded (called something like PBIDesktopSetup.exe) and double-click on it to install.
• Setup Steps: The rest of the installation will be guided by a wizard window for which the steps below are defined.
1.Accept the Terms: First, accept the license agreement.
2.Choose Installation Path: Keep the default installation path or choose a different one.
3.Finish Installation: Click Install and it should take a few minutes.
• Run Power BI: Once the installation is complete, a Finish button appears. Click that in order to run Power BI Desktop by searching in the Start Menu or your computer.
3.Signing into Power BI
Once Power BI has been installed, it must be signed into account with all features offered by cloud apps.
•Sign-in Screen: Sign-in screen will be the very first thing that will appear on opening Power BI Desktop.
oMicrosoft Account: If there's a Microsoft Account, it's likely an Outlook or Office 365.
oWork or School Account: If the company uses Power BI, then you will need to sign in using the work or school account.
You can access other services such as Power BI Service, where you can share reports and collaborate, by signing in to Power BI.
4.Connect to Your Data
Now you're able to start pulling data into Power BI for analysis, because you've signed in. Power BI connects to many different sources across its wide range of different data sources.
•Get Data: Go to your Home tab and click Get Data. All sources, such as Excel to SQL Server to Web and so on, will now be displayed in a pull-down list of sources.
•Select Your Data Source: For this test case, assume you are to get data from an Excel file:
1.Select Excel from the list.
2.Select your desired file by browsing on your computer.
3.It will preview the data and let you know which tables or sheets you want to load, Power BI will show you a preview of the data on that file.
Now just hit Load with having data so that it will be imported directly to Power BI.
5.Start Creating Reports
Your data has been uploaded into Power BI; so creating reports and visualizations based on that information now begins.
•Choose a Visualization: Choose the requirement on different sides for example: bar charts, pie charts, tables, etc. Choose the one that suits you best.
•Drag and Drop Data Fields: Pull the important data fields from your chart (sales, dates, etc.) into the right section in the visualization pane.
oFor instance, if it is a bar chart, then drag a Category field in Axis and a Sale field in the Values section.
•Customize Your Visuals: After your chart is done, you can change colors, sizes, labels, etc. to create a better understanding according to your comments.
Experimenting with different types of visuals with Power BI until you find one that fits best with your report is quite simple.