Move Visuals Between Reports

2018-01-15 Mike Carlo Report Visualization Tips
Copy Visuals Between Reports
Copy Visuals Between Reports

There are cases when working with Power BI files, that you would want to transfer a visual from one report to another report.  While this feature is not available within the Power BI desktop program as of today, this is available within the PowerBI.com service.

To copy a visual from one report to another, both reports need to be located with the PowerBI.com service.

Navigate to the report where you want to copy the visual from.  In this example I have created two reports, Sample 1 and Sample 2.  I will copy a table visual from Report Sample 1 and paste it into Report Sample 2.  Once you have opened the report Click the Edit report button on the top navigation bar.  This will change the report into edit mode and provide additional options.

Navigate to Sample 1 Report
Navigate to Sample 1 Report

Select the visual you wish to copy and press CTRL + C, to copy the visual.  Next click on the new report Sample 2, in our example, where you want to paste the visual.

Select Sample 2 Report
Select Sample 2 Report

Again, click the Edit report on the report (Sample 2) where the visual is being placed.

Edit Sample 2 Report
Edit Sample 2 Report

Finally, click anywhere on the white space within the report page and press CTRL + V to paste the visual into the new report.

Paste Visual to Sample 2 Report
Paste Visual to Sample 2 Report

That is it.  You have successfully moved a visual from one report to another.

Points to Consider:

  1. Both the Copy From report and the Copy To reports need to be in the PowerBI.com service.
  2. Once you have copied the visual over to the new report you can download the report by clicking File, then selecting Download report (Preview).  You can only download reports from PowerBI.com, if the report was originally authored by the Power BI Desktop program.  If the report is made using the PowerBI.com service, the download report option will be grayed out.
  3. When coping from one report to another, you have to use the same tab in either internet explorer or chrome.  For this demo I used google chrome and was able to copy and paste the visual between report pages.

I hope you enjoyed this little trick.  Please share it with someone else that might find this valuable.

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33 Comments

  1. Thank you SO MUCH!
    I am juggling with 4 reports with different data security level and always had to redo the visuals. This was my only pain point in Power BI. Well, not anymore!!!

      • Does it works even if the data source of one report(pbix file 1) is in different Azure AS cube and the other report(pbix file 2) in another Azure AS cube?

        • This should work as long as the AS cubes have the same column names. Visuals are bound to table and column names. Thus, moving visuals between reports will work as long assuming all the used columns in the visuals are in both models.

  2. Hi,
    i tried to copy the visuals from one report to other report but i cant paste the visual in the second report.i can only copy the visuals between pages but not between reports.
    FYI,both of my reports are developed in power bi desktop and deployed to power bi service.
    Can you please confirm if i am missing something here?

    • copying between reports will only work within the PowerBI.com Service. This feature has not been enabled on the Power BI Desktop program.

  3. Just checking in to see if this is an option that is still available as of today 6/6/2018. I am asking because I successfully used this technique to separate the dataset from a report last month but I just repeated the process and it is not working for me today. Was the functionality removed? I just verified that I can’t copy/paste to the original report, multiple browsers on different machines, etc. Anybody still able to to this successfully?

    • I was just able to confirm this is still working within the service.

      Here are my steps to reproduce.
      1. Open up report that you want to copy from.
      2. Edit Report
      3. Select visual
      4. Open up left nav bar
      5. Click on new report in the REPORTS section of the window
      6. Edit new report
      7. Paste visual into New report
      8. Save new report with visual from old report.

  4. hello Mike,

    The feature is not working for me.
    I follow the steps you have noticed before but it does not work :/

    • A couple other people are having the same issue, it is due to how you navigate between pages, you must use the left navigation bar for this to work.

  5. Does not work for me as of 7/6/2018.
    Following your steps exactly, I can still only copy within the same report.

  6. I just got this to work!
    You MUST choose the report by navigating the left navigation bar.
    If you choose the report from the list that displays the middle panel, it does not work!

  7. I performed the test and did not work, even the two reports having the same data sources, when I copy the graph of the report a and lap in report B, in report B does not appear the chart. What appears is an error message and the “Fix this” button. Is there any step that is missing to perform?

    • You will want to look in the fields window of the visual as see what field is broken. Once you remove that broken field the visual should show information.

  8. I tried all the steps, using the left navigation bar. Could that be because the reports are in different Workspaces?

    • I have done some testing on this case, and I believe this only works between reports in the same workspace. Spanning workspaces does not work, from my experience.

  10. OMG… i finally got this to work… like everyone said.. you have to use the left navigation links.. within the same tab to move this content.
    Still some work to move content.. but not as bad as doing from scratch.
    Thanks.

  11. Copying and pasting worked for me, but when I try to save the report I get the following error code. Anyone else have this issue?

    Something went wrong
    Unable to save the report
    Please try again later or contact support. If you contact support, please provide these details.

    Status code401

    Version13.0.7302.183

  12. Thanks Mike, this worked for me except it would not copy ‘graphics’ embedded in the report I was copying across.

    The grapics are just JPG files I use on my report rather than Power BI visualisations. I was able to recreate them by embedding the graphic again from the original source.

  13. Hi, I am in similar situation where I’m looking to copy visuals between reports. In my scenario i have the same columns names but different table names. Is this the reason I’m getting an error which says “Something’s wrong with one or more fields”?

    • Since the writing of this article, the feature to copy objects between PBIX files has been released. Unless the model matches exactly, there will be updates you need to make to the copied visual in order for it to work. So the error that something is wrong is common and a direct result of the mis-match. To resolve you just need to replace the fields in the visual with the new field and remove the broken one.

  14. Is there a way to copy a “page” to another power bi report file like you can in Excel where you’re able to copy a “sheet” to another excel book? thanks

  15. I just cannot get this to work. Both reports are in the same workspace, and I have accessed them from the left-panel list. Cntl-C/Cntl-V does nothing. Very frustrating.

    • Good news Charles. Since the writing of that post you can now copy visuals back and forth in the Power BI Desktop itself. This wasn’t supported previously, hopefully that gives you a bit better answer as opposed to hot swapping visuals in the PBI Service the changes can be in your core PBIX files.

  16. Hi All

    Very helpful tips.
    I am not sure how to copy entire page from one Power BI to another. Not worried about source files. This is just to maintain same front page.
    Thank you in advance

    Bob

    • Sadly, at this time there is no way to copy an entire page. I would suggest making a PBIT (Template File) of the starting page. This way every time you start a project you open the template rather than start a blank report. This could save you some time when building new reports.

  17. I am using the left pane for both my reports that were both created within the POWER BI service. I’ve tried steps above, but still nothing pastes, any ideas?

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