Visualize and analyze the data · Topic 3 of 6
Copilot and Paginated Reports
PL-300 Copilot in Power BI: create report pages, suggest content, add a narrative visual and summarise a model, plus when to choose a paginated report.
- 6 min
- Copilot needs a paid Fabric capacity (F2 or higher) or Premium (P1 or higher) and the Azure OpenAI tenant setting.
- Authors can create a page from a prompt, suggest content, add a narrative visual and summarise a semantic model.
- The narrative visual summarises the canvas, is adjusted by prompts, and needs a refresh after filtering.
What it is
Copilot in Power BI uses generative AI to help authors build reports from a natural language request. It can create a report page, suggest content for a report, add a summary visual and describe a semantic model. A paginated report is a different kind of report, built for printing and exact layout, with its own authoring tool, Power BI Report Builder. The exam tests which to choose.
How it works
Requirements for Copilot
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Capacity | A paid Fabric capacity (F2 or higher) or Power BI Premium (P1 or higher). Trial capacities and free SKUs are not supported |
| Admin setting | The tenant setting Users can use Copilot and other features powered by Azure OpenAI must be on |
| Region | The capacity must be in a supported region |
| License | A Pro or Premium Per User license alone is not enough, because Copilot needs organizational capacity |
In Power BI Desktop you need write access to a workspace on a paid capacity where you plan to publish the report. In the service, the report must be in a workspace on such a capacity, and you must switch to Edit to see the Copilot button. Adding a narrative visual or generating a report needs edit access to the report or workspace, or Build access to the semantic model. Read access is enough to ask for summaries in the Copilot pane.
Copilot for report authors
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Create a report page | In the Copilot pane you write a prompt, such as "Create a page to compare cost and material of each product". Copilot picks the tables, fields, measures and charts and builds a page. You then customise it with the normal editing tools |
| Suggest content for this report | A button in the Copilot pane. Copilot evaluates your data and returns a report outline with suggested pages, which you can choose to create |
| Edit with prompts | Ask Copilot to add, change or delete visuals, and use undo and redo |
| Narrative visual with Copilot | A Narrative visual, opened from the Visualizations pane, that writes a summary of the whole report, chosen pages or chosen visuals |
| Summarize the semantic model | Ask "summarize the model" in the Copilot pane to understand the data in a semantic model |
Related features: Copilot can write DAX queries in DAX query view, add descriptions to measures, and add summaries to email subscriptions. Business users can ask questions in the Copilot pane of a report.
Details about the narrative visual
- It needs write permission, because it is a visual. Without it you can still ask for a summary in the Copilot pane.
- It summarises what is on the report canvas, not the underlying semantic model, so clear visual titles and axis names matter.
- You cannot edit the generated text, but you adjust it with prompts, such as a tone, a format or a focus.
- It does not update by itself when a reader filters the page. A refresh button fetches a new summary for the applied slicers and filters.
- Footnotes refer to the visuals that the summary came from. You can switch back to the older smart narrative visual.
Limits when creating pages
Copilot cannot create report pages for real time streaming models, for models with a live connection to Analysis Services, or when implicit measures are disabled. The Q&A feature must be on for the model. It does not support custom visuals or styling and formatting changes.
Paginated reports
A paginated report is pixel perfect: you control the exact layout of each page, and a table prints every row across as many pages as needed. In a standard Power BI report, a table scrolls, and printing gives only the rows on screen.
| Power BI report | Paginated report | |
|---|---|---|
| Authoring tool | Power BI Desktop | Power BI Report Builder |
| Style | Interactive visuals | Fixed layout, printable |
| Best for | Exploration and dashboards | Invoices, statements, regulatory forms, long lists |
| Data | A semantic model | Embedded data sources and datasets, including semantic models |
Choose a paginated report when output must print or export with a fixed layout, such as one invoice per page, or when a table with thousands of rows must be exported completely. You can export to Excel, Word, PowerPoint, PDF, CSV, XML and MHTML, and send email subscriptions. Paginated reports cannot be pinned to dashboards, and shared data sources and shared datasets are not supported.
To publish to a workspace other than My Workspace you need a Pro or Premium Per User license and at least the Contributor role, plus Build permission on any semantic model the report uses.
A worked scenario
A new analyst has a semantic model of sales and customers. In the Copilot pane she selects Suggest content for this report, accepts the outline and lets Copilot create the pages, then asks it to delete one visual and change another. She adds a Narrative visual covering the whole report and uses a prompt to ask for bullet points. After a reader filters a page, the reader selects the refresh button on the narrative. Finance separately needs an invoice that prints exactly one per page, so that is built as a paginated report in Report Builder.
What to remember for the exam
- Copilot needs a paid Fabric capacity (F2 or higher) or Premium (P1 or higher) and the Azure OpenAI tenant setting.
- Authors can create a page from a prompt, suggest content, add a narrative visual and summarise a semantic model.
- The narrative visual summarises the canvas, is adjusted by prompts, and needs a refresh after filtering.
- Copilot cannot create pages for live connection to Analysis Services, streaming models or models with implicit measures disabled.
- Paginated reports are pixel perfect and printable, and are built in Power BI Report Builder.
A Pro license without a Fabric or Premium capacity does not enable Copilot.
How the exam asks about this
- "Build a draft report page from a sentence." Copilot, create a report page.
- "Get a list of suggested pages from the data." Suggest content for this report.
- "Add a text summary of selected visuals to a report." Narrative visual with Copilot.
- "An invoice must print exactly one per page." Paginated report.
Common mistakes
Assuming Pro is enough for Copilot.
Expecting the narrative to follow slicers automatically. Readers must refresh it.
Using an interactive report for a printed statement.
Trying Copilot on a live connection to Analysis Services.
Check yourself
What capacity does Copilot need?
A paid Fabric capacity (F2 or higher) or Power BI Premium (P1 or higher).
How do you change a Copilot narrative?
Give it a prompt, because the generated text cannot be edited directly.
When is a paginated report the better choice?
When the output must print with a fixed layout, or when every row of a long table must be printed or exported.
Topic 3 of 6 in Visualize and analyze the data
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