Power BI Updates & Release Notes

As the Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, data, and analytics community gathers in Barcelona for the European Microsoft Fabric + SQL Community Conference, this month is packed with news. From new Copilot and AI experiences to reporting, modeling, data connectivity, developer enhancements, and mobile updates, we're sharing the latest innovations designed to help you build, analyze, and act on your data more effectively. Whether you're joining us in person or following along from afar, this roundup is your guide to everything new across Power BI this month. 

Table of Contents

• General
  • Deprecation of Old File Picker experience in Power BI Desktop
• Copilot and AI
  • Power BI Agentic Experiences (Generally Available)
  • Microsoft 365 Copilot is coming to Power BI (Preview)
  • Power BI data answers in Microsoft Copilot Chat (Generally Available)
  • Fabric IQ Plugin in Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork (Generally Available)
  • Build Fabric Apps more easily in GitHub Copilot App (Preview)
  • Enhanced Report Consumption Copilot with Fabric IQ …

If you haven't already, check out FabCon and SQLCon 2026 in Barcelona: Building the data foundation for Microsoft Copilot and Agents for a complete look at all of our FabCon Europe announcements across Fabric and Microsoft Databases.

More than a decade ago, I watched Power BI change the way users work, analyze and take action on their data. Since then, I have had the privilege of seeing it grow alongside our customers—from a tool for building reports into a platform used by millions of people to understand their businesses and make decisions every day. Now, Power BI is entering its next chapter.

Introducing the next generation of report development

We’re introducing a new app building experience in Power BI Desktop, powered by apps in Fabric, that enables users to create data applications using natural language. Starting from a trusted semantic model, users can generate, preview, edit, and publish purpose-built applications to Microsoft Fabric. These applications can accept inputs, write back data, preserve shared state, and support operational workflows, helping users move from insight to action.  This experience will be available for Power BI Desktop users in the coming months. …

The semantic model settings pane is becoming the default way to configure semantic models in the Power BI service. The pane opens alongside your workspace, so you can review and change settings without leaving the current page. It provides the same settings as the full semantic model settings page while keeping the surrounding context visible. The classic settings page remains available during this transition, but it no longer opens first. This change builds on the settings pane preview and provides a more focused experience for managing semantic models.

Why it matters

The pane helps you stay in context while you manage a semantic model. It opens on the right side of the browser window and keeps your workspace visible. Settings are organized into expandable sections and tabs, including refresh, data access, performance, and OneDrive and SharePoint. You can use the search box at the top of the pane to find a setting across all sections and tabs. For example, enter "re" and select View refresh history to go directly to refresh history instead of opening sections one at a time. This organization is especially useful for semantic models with several connection, refresh, or performance settings. You can review a setting, make a change, and return to your work without navigating to a separate page.

What's changing …

In December, we announced the retirement of Power BI Q&A, our legacy natural-language querying experience, with retirement planned for December 2026. To give current Q&A user's additional time to assess their dependencies and transition to newer Copilot-powered solutions, we’re extending the retirement date to February 2027. This post recaps the affected experiences and provides updates on Copilot capacity availability, embedded scenarios, and sovereign clouds.

Recap of the January announcement

What is being deprecated?

The retirement applies to both the end-user Q&A experiences, and the associated Q&A configuration tools.

Retiring experience

Recommended alternative

Q&A in reports

Copilot with Power BI reports

Q&A on a dashboard

Copilot standalone experience

Q&A virtual analyst in mobile app

Copilot in Power BI Mobile …

Upgrading Power BI Dataflows Gen1 is now easier with the Dataflows Upgrade Wizard. Now in preview for eligible workspaces assigned to Fabric capacity, the wizard provides a guided experience to upgrade Power BI Dataflows Gen1 items to Fabric Dataflows Gen2 (CI/CD). The wizard preserves key properties of the existing dataflow and assesses each item before you begin, helping you understand the upgrade scope and expected follow-up actions. 

Modernize at your own pace

Power BI Dataflows Gen1 remains supported in a legacy state, while new feature investment focuses on Fabric Dataflows Gen2 (CI/CD), as shared in a previous post about the future of Dataflows. The Upgrade Wizard gives dataflow owners a guided self-service path to start that modernization without rebuilding their Power Query logic. 

You don't need to upgrade your full estate at once. Start with a representative set of dataflows, validate the results, and expand at a pace that works for your organization. For detailed migration planning and inventory guidance, review Migrate from Dataflow Gen1 to Dataflow Gen2. 

Build on the benefits of Dataflows Gen2 …

Calculated columns are now available in preview for Direct Lake on OneLake semantic models. This has been one of the most requested capabilities since Direct Lake launched and closes a long-standing gap with Import and DirectQuery storage modes.

You can define calculated columns directly in your semantic model using DAX in web modeling and Power BI Desktop, without changing the table storage mode or modifying data upstream.

The problem this solves

Direct Lake combines Import-like performance with near real-time data freshness by querying Delta tables in OneLake and loading data into memory as needed.

But until now, if your model needed a derived column, you had only two options: push the logic upstream into the data source or move the table to a different storage mode. Calculated columns close that gap – you can now define columns directly in the semantic model using DAX without leaving Direct Lake.

What you can build

Common use cases include:

• Derived values, such as an age calculated from a birth date.
• Concatenating fields, such as city and region into a single field for slicers.
• Formatted dates like Month-Year for grouping in visuals.
• Multilingual reports using data translations with USERCULTURE().
• Personalized content based on functions like USERPRINCIPALNAME().

Examples

1. Age = DATEDIFF( DimCustomer[BirthDate], TODAY(), YEAR ) …

Welcome to the August 2026 Power BI Feature Summary! This month includes updates across reporting, modeling, data connectivity, mobile, embedded analytics, and developer experiences, with a mix of generally available enhancements and new preview capabilities. Let's take a look at what's new.

Table of Contents

• • Download Power BI Desktop
  • Events and Announcements
    • September 15 | What a Winning Power BI Dataviz Looks Like
    • Community Conference Tickets are Getting Low
  • General
    • Deprecation of Old File Picker experience in Power BI Desktop
  • Copilot and AI
    • Updates to required semantic model permissions for Fabric Apps
    • Copilot Summary and Copilot Narrative can now read visuals hidden behind bookmarks
  • Reporting
    • Modern visual defaults and customize themes formatting panes (Generally Available)
    • Date picker for Slicer visual (Generally Available) …

Power BI Projects (PBIP) make reports and semantic models file-based, enabling source control, automation, and other developer workflows. You can edit those files directly in a code editor or through external tools. Until now, changes made outside of Power BI Desktop wouldn't appear until you restarted the application. With this update, Power BI Desktop detects those changes automatically, so there's no restart required.

Edit anywhere and see changes immediately

Power BI Desktop now detects changes made directly to PBIP files, regardless of whether those changes come from an editor, external tool, or automated process.

When a PBIP file changes on disk, Desktop detects the update and prompts you to reload the latest version of your project.

Apply external changes prompt in Power BI Desktop

Selecting Apply external changes reloads the updated files into Power BI Desktop without restarting the application.

This creates a much smoother experience when moving between Power BI Desktop and the tools you already use.

Open your project directly in Visual Studio Code

Power BI Desktop now includes an Open in VS Code option for PBIP projects.

Selecting it launches Visual Studio Code with the project folder already loaded as the active workspace, giving you immediate access to report and semantic model files.

Open Visual Studio Code entry point in Power BI Desktop

Benefits …

Welcome to the July 2026 Power BI update!

This month, we're introducing new capabilities across reporting, modeling, mobile, and embedded analytics. Highlights include expanded modern visual defaults, conditional formatting improvements for line charts and legends, new org app capabilities and APIs, Model Options in the Power BI Service, and TMDL View on the web.

Let's take a look at what's new this month.

• Download Power BI Desktop

Events and Announcements

Your Road to the Power BI DataViz World Championships

Round Two of the Power BI DataViz World Championships is now open, with Round Three still ahead. Plus, one wildcard finalist will be selected from standout submissions across all stages of the championship.

Is this your moment?

The only way to find out is to enter. Every submission is a chance to learn something new, connect with the community, and showcase your creativity. You might surprise yourself along the way and earn a place in the finals. Join now.

Data Days Goes Through August 7th

Looking for your next Power BI breakthrough? Data Days brings together the best of data, AI, and analytics in free live sessions. Learn new skills, get inspired, and connect with the community. Learn more.

Will we see you in Barcelona? …