Power BI Desktop or Power BI App

Power BI
1

Hi All

Very curious to find out what your working preference would be:
Power BI App, or;
Power BI Desktop (Installed software from the downloaded file)

I’m using the App - just because of the auto updates, but would like to know whether you have found advantages using the Desktop version.

Thank you in anticipation and kind regards

Leon

2

@LeonW

There is no difference in developing reports between the two different methods of accessing Power BI Desktop as long as they are both up-to-date. The Microsoft Store version of Power BI Desktop gives you a hassle-free auto-update, versus the download link, gives you the flexibility to install it everywhere you want.

1 Like
3

Also, Microsoft releases additional versions throughout the month for bug fixes, so installing PowerBI Desktop via the Windows 10 Store ensures your on the latest released version automatically.

1 Like
4

Excellent - Thank you so much @Rajesh and @marcster_uk - most appreciated

5

@LeonW,

There is one important difference to be aware of - if you might have a need to roll back to a previous version of Power BI, that is easy to do with the direct download, but not with the app.

  • Brian
2 Likes
6

@BrianJ this is very true - but the good news is that you can have both the Windows Store version and the version that requires manual updates installed at the same time.

You just have to keep in mind which version you have open to prevent any potential problems with measure or feature availability

1 Like
7

@Heather,

Interesting - I didn’t know that. If you have both installed and just double click on a PBIX file, which version takes precedence?

  • Brian
1 Like
8

That is something I have not tested @BrianJ, my normal practice is to open the application, and then open the file from that.

And, I do not currently have a previous version of the program installed to test with. But this is something I found about a year ago when an update broke my Model view (it was completely blank). So I installed the previous version and then discovered that I had both the Windows Store version and the previous manual update version on my computer.

Both were usable, and the Windows Store version actually did continue to get the regular updates.

1 Like
9

I think its the last one that was installed that gets called when double-clicking a PBIX …
Greg

2 Likes
10

Thank you very much @BrianJ, @Heather and @Greg for the additional information.
Extremely valuable and thank you for sharing.
I really appreciate it.

Take care, Leon

2 Likes