Safely Share .pbix file with confidential data

Power Query
1

Hi ALL(),

As part of a study, I will need to share a .pbix file with third parties, and the source data (.txt files) contains confidential information.

I want the source data to remain as .txt file, so importing it to excel beforehand and encrypt the data in Excel is not an option.

My idea is to get the data from the .txt files through Power Query. Do all my transformations and encrypt all the confidential information in Power Query. Then load the cleansed data into the model with no single confidential information left. And finally, build my reports on top of it.

Now, the question :

If I share such a .pbix file with a third-party, will he be able to open the Query Editor and see all the applied steps all the way up to the source data? Considering that they won’t have the .txt source data files saved on their computer?

According to what I’ve observed so far, is that when you try to open the query editor from a .pbix file where the source data is not located on your local drive you get an Error Message prompting you to update the Data Source Settings, as you can see below:

data source missing
data source missing1797×707 155 KB

As a result, you will not be able to see how the data was like at the time of import. And this is the exact behaviour that I want to get from Power Query when sharing my .pbix files.

And now, the next question :

Is my understanding correct? Is it safe for me to proceed as described above so that I can safely share my .pbix files?

Thank you ALL() for your inputs.

Kr,

DiBest

2

Hi @DiBest Yes, your understanding is correct. If you are sharing your .PBIX file with 3rd Party User without the source Text file, then they can only see the final output.

Only thing is they can see all the Applied steps and if they are not complex, source file can be Redesigned to some extent except few steps like Remove columns.

Thanks
Ankit Jain

3

You might want to look at just sharing a template version of the original PBIX file.

1 Like
4

Hi @ankit,
Thank you for confirming my understanding.

Hi @Nick_M

You might want to look at just sharing a template version of the original PBIX file.

It sounds interesting. How would I do that?

Thanks
DiBest

5

When you save the file (Save As in Desktop) choose Template and you will get a PBIT file with only metadata in it. No actual data is stored in a PBIT file

2 Likes
6

Hi @DiBest @Nick_M
For sharing template, 3rd Party shall have access to underlying source. As this is a text file that is not feasible from security view for this requirement.

If other sources are being used that uses Direct Query/Live connection etc then we can think of template.

Thanks
Ankit Jain

1 Like
7

Thank you ALL() for your inputs.
I really appreciate.

DiBest