Workspaces

A workspace is where Power BI content lives once it leaves Desktop and is published to the Service.

Power BI Desktop
       |
       | Publish
       |
   Workspace

Reports, dashboards, datasets, and dataflows are all organized inside workspaces.

What a Workspace Contains

Workspace
   |
   +-- Datasets
   |
   +-- Reports
   |
   +-- Dashboards
   |
   +-- Dataflows

A single dataset published to a workspace can be reused by multiple reports, avoiding duplicate copies of the same data.

Workspace Roles

Access to a workspace is controlled by roles, assigned per user or security group.

Admins can also delete the workspace and change its settings, including who else is an Admin.

Viewer

Viewers can open reports and dashboards, interact with slicers and filters, and use bookmarks — but cannot change the underlying content.

Viewer
  |
  | can
  |
Interact with reports (read-only)

Viewer is the appropriate role for most report consumers.

Contributor

Contributors can create and edit content inside the workspace, including publishing updated reports from Desktop.

Contributor
  |
  | can
  |
Edit and publish content

Contributors cannot manage who else has access to the workspace.

Member and Admin

Members and Admins can additionally manage workspace access, adding or removing other users and changing their roles.

Admin
  |
  | can
  |
Manage workspace settings and access

Admin is typically reserved for whoever owns the workspace or leads the team responsible for it.

Workspaces vs. My Workspace

Every user also has a personal My Workspace, separate from shared team workspaces.

My Workspace
   |
   | personal, not shared
   |
   Only visible to you

My Workspace is useful for individual exploration, but content there cannot be shared with a team the way content in a proper workspace can.

Apps

A workspace can be published as an App, giving consumers a clean, read-only view of selected content without exposing the workspace's editing environment.

Workspace (editing)
       |
       | Publish app
       |
   App (consumption)

Apps are the recommended way to distribute finished reports to a broad audience, since they hide in-progress work and workspace management controls.

Premium and Shared Capacity

Workspaces run on either shared capacity or a Premium/Fabric capacity.

Larger organizations typically assign important workspaces to a dedicated capacity for predictable performance.

Best Practices

• Use one workspace per team or project, not one giant shared workspace for everything.
• Assign the least-privileged role that still lets someone do their job (most people should be Viewers).
• Publish an App for broad distribution instead of giving report consumers direct workspace access.
• Use security groups instead of adding individual users one at a time.
• Reserve Admin for a small number of trusted owners.

Common Mistakes

Everyone Is a Contributor

Giving every consumer Contributor access means anyone can accidentally modify a shared report. Most users only need Viewer access.

One Workspace for the Entire Organization

A single workspace holding every team's reports makes permissions difficult to manage and increases the risk of someone seeing data they shouldn't.

Sharing the Workspace Instead of an App

Giving report consumers direct workspace access exposes in-progress content and management settings. Publishing an App keeps the editing environment separate from what consumers see.

Workspace Checklist

Before rolling out a workspace to a team:

• Roles are assigned based on least privilege.
• Broad distribution goes through a published App, not direct workspace access.
• The workspace is assigned to appropriate capacity for its refresh and size needs.
• Security groups are used instead of individually added users where possible.
• Only trusted owners have the Admin role.

Next Steps

Continue exploring the Power BI Service:

• Dashboards
• Refresh
• Row-Level Security