How to use Microsoft Copilot in Power BI

Prerequisites for accessing Copilot in Power BI

To access Copilot in Power BI, you first need to have access to an instance of Power BI. Power BI is available as a desktop app, as a mobile app or via a browser.

Hardware and software requirements

If you use Power BI in a browser, you must run the most up-to-date version of Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Safari or Firefox. With Chrome, you must also run Windows 10 version 1703 or later.

Power BI mobile app works with the Android 8.0 operating system or later and iOS/iPadOS 16.4 or later.

Power BI desktop has the following minimum requirements:

• Windows 10 or later.
• .NET 4.7.2 or later.
• Microsoft Edge version 120 or later.
• At least 2 GB of available RAM.
• A display that can support at least 1440x900 or 1600x900 (16:9) resolution. You must also set display settings to 100% zoom.
• A 1 GHz 64-bit CPU or better.
• The latest version of WebView 2 installed.
  • It should install automatically with Power BI, but if you're missing it, download WebView 2.exe here.

Before you can run Copilot, you must sign in and enable Copilot in Microsoft Fabric. You need a paid SKU of Microsoft Fabric with an F64, P1 or higher license. They are the only paid SKUs that support Copilot at the time of writing; Microsoft does not offer free trials of Copilot within Fabric and Power BI. Free trials for Copilot for other applications won't work in Fabric or Power BI. Your F64 or P1 capacity must also be in one of the available regions. If you do not have access to Microsoft Fabric in your region, you can't use Copilot in Power BI.

If you use the Power BI service, read or write access to the workspace on F64 or Premium capacity is required. If you use Power BI Desktop, you will need write access to a workspace on F64 or Power BI Premium in the Power BI service where you plan to publish reports.

Microsoft best practices recommend using the most up-to-date version of Power BI. If you have limited GPU capacity, Copilot might not work as well.

How to enable Copilot in Power BI

You might not be able to access Power BI right away. First, you or your administrator must enable it.

To do so, you must enable the tenant switch in Microsoft Fabric. Within Fabric, you'll find a new tenant setting group called Copilot and Azure OpenAI Service (preview). Use the toggle button on this page to enable Copilot. Before toggling it on, look at the Apply to: section below the button.

You can choose to enable Copilot for the entire organization or "specific security groups," which limits who can use Copilot if your organization has strict role permissions or data protections.

After applying the new settings, you can access Copilot in Power BI. Some regions have Copilot disabled by default. Double-check that Copilot works for your intended users.

In the tenant group setting, "Preview mode" means Microsoft is still rolling out the feature to all paid users and improving its capabilities. If you don't see the option to enable Copilot, it might not be available to you yet. It should appear automatically in Fabric when it is available.

To access Copilot in Power BI, open the Copilot pane by clicking the button in your Power BI toolbar, which gives you the ability to do the following:

• Suggest content for reports. In the Copilot pane, ask "suggest content for new report" to generate a report outline and topic ideas. Copilot can break down each item in the outline with suggested pages for further exploration.
• Create a report page. Copilot can generate a report page if you give it a prompt based on your data. For example, you can input "create a report page to analyze inventory levels each month over the last quarter." Copilot will then generate a report page that you can edit using regular Power BI tools.
• Summarize reports. If you don't have time to read an entire report, ask Copilot to "summarize this report" or "provide key takeaways from this report" to receive a digestible summary. You can also ask questions about the report, such as "what data was used to create this visual?"
• Generate narrative visuals of a report. Input "create a narrative about this report" to have Copilot generate a more in-depth summary of the entire report. Narratives can include or exclude certain visuals or pages and receive a tailored narrative visual that meets your exact specifications with minimal work.
• Summarize semantic models. Simply ask Copilot to "summarize a model" to receive an automatic description of data and insights in a model. Copilot can also add descriptions to semantic model measures by request, which can help provide context to others who might use or reference the model in the future.
• Suggest synonyms. If you're creating a Q&A visual, you can add synonyms for data in your model by asking Copilot to "suggest and apply synonyms for Q&A tables and columns." It can help the Q&A visual better understand natural language, providing better answers to users.

Benefits of Copilot in Power BI

Copilot's integration with Power BI can provide several benefits:

• Quicker insights. A short prompt can generate a report in seconds. Copilot pulls in data sources across the organization, compiles and compares data sets, and analyzes results. Automatic and instantaneous analysis fuels immediate insights.
• Improved decision-making. Copilot does most of the manual work of assembling reports, so you can spend more time analyzing insights and developing next steps. The result is quicker and more informed data-based decision-making.
• Better collaboration. Copilot's ability to create digestible summaries of report data can enable users of all skill levels -- including business users and data scientists -- to better understand insights and communicate about reports in plain language.
• Democratized data. Users of all skill levels can generate high-quality reports on their own. Self-service capabilities can democratize the use of data, empowering users to ask questions and learn from data that's relevant to them, instead of waiting on data experts for assistance.

Jacob Roundy is a freelance writer and editor, specializing in a variety of technology topics, including data centers and sustainability.