I was working on some documentation for a customer and I came across a very quick and easy way to create a copy of a report which also creates a connection to the shared dataset that I could then copy to another “New Workspace”

Before I found out this gem, I had to manually do this via PowerShell which worked really well, but I had to do a whole lot of extra work to find the GUID’s then test it and make sure it works. With this new method it makes it simple and quick. It is a WIN-WIN

You can follow along as I show you how to do it below.

The first thing to note is that you can only copy the reports with the shared datasets using the New App Workspace. You can already upgrade your workspaces to the preview if you are ready. More details on the Upgrade to the New App Workspaces can be found here: Announcing: Upgrade your classic workspaces to the new workspace experience public preview is rolling out

Copying a report to another App Workspace

In this example I am going to copy my report called UCI Cycling Rankings from my Sports App Workspace to my new App Workspace

As shown below this is what it looks like in my Sports App Workspace

I then click on the Save a Copy button

This then opens the Save a copy of this report dialogue opens and I get the opportunity to give the report the same name or different name. In my example I changed it to be UCI Cycling Rankings 2019

I could then select a destination workspace. As I explained before I could only see the New App Workspaces. I selected My Test

And then I clicked Save

I then got a notification letting me know that the report had been saved.

Confirming that the report had been created and the associated shared dataset.

I then went to my App Workspace My Test, and I could then see the copied report called UCI Rankings 2019

To make 100% sure that it was indeed using the shared dataset I clicked on Datasets and there I could confirm that it was using the shared dataset called UCI Rankings

NOTE: I could confirm this by looking at the icon and seeing that it is indeed the Shared Dataset Icon

Conclusion

When I found this out, I was so happy, because it makes it so quick and easy to copy reports with a shared dataset to another App Workspace.

I hope you found this useful and if you have any comments or suggestions please leave them in the comments below.

Another quick note is that this will be my last blog post of the year, thanks for reading and following me along the wonderful world of Power BI this year. I am going to have a good break, recharge the batteries and get ready for next year. I have no doubt that next year will be bigger and better!