Power View is built into Excel 2013, which means users can create Power View reports without having to start in SharePoint. (Power Pivot is also a built-in component in Excel 2013.) A Power View report can be sourced from an Excel data range or table, an embedded Power Pivot model, or a tabular instance of SSAS. Power View reports will be saved as either an .xlsx or .rdlx file (before Office 2013 and SharePoint 2013, the only option available was to save as an .rdlx file.) If created in SharePoint using the Power View tools, it will be an .rdlx file; if created using Excel, it will be an .xlsx file.
When an Excel 2013 workbook with Power View sheets is created, it can be saved in Excel 2013 or in SharePoint 2013. After saving, it can also be uploaded to a SharePoint folder or a Power BI site. A workbook reader can view and interact with Power View sheets in that workbook in any of the above locations.
To publish the Power View Report to SharePoint.
- In Excel, on the File tab, click Save As.
- In the Save As window, under Places, click SharePoint, and then click Browse.
- In the Save As dialog, click Browser View Options.
- In Browser View Options, click Sheets in drop down.
- In list of sheets, click the sheet that contains the Power View report, and then click OK.
- In Save As dialog, navigate to the Reports Gallery, if not selected by default.
- Click Save to upload the workbook from Excel to the SharePoint report gallery.
If a Power Pivot file with a Power View report is stored in a computer which is not able to save directly to the SharePoint server, to publish the Power View Report to SharePoint.
- Upload the .xlsx file to a SharePoint document library or Power Pivot Gallery.
- If uploaded to a SharePoint document library, create a shared data source that points to the .xlsx file that was uploaded to the SharePoint document library.
- If uploaded to a Power Pivot Gallery, it doesn’t need the shared data source. Power View can be opened directly from the gallery
- To create a shared data source (RSDS) file to point to the .xlsx file,
- In Shared Documents, create a [foldername] folder, and save the .xlsx file there.
- In the [foldername] folder, click the Documents tab, click the arrow next to New Document, and then click Report Data Source.
- If the Report Data Source option on the New Document tab is not visible, then someone with adequate permissions on the SharePoint site needs to add that content type to the site.
- In the Name box, type [filename]RSDS. (Note the RSDS file extension.)
- In the Data Source Type box, click Microsoft BI Semantic Model for Power View.
- The Connection string for an .xlsx file is the full URL to the file, including the file name. For example: http://[sharepointserver]/Shared%20Documents/[foldername]/[filename].xlsx
- For Credentials, click Windows authentication (integrated) or SharePoint user.
- Click Test Connection. (A message indicating that the connection test was successful should appear; otherwise, repeat the process.)
- Click OK.
If created in Excel,
- The Power View sheets can only be edited in Excel 2013 client.
- Cannot take the Power View out of the Excel file and use is as .rdlx file.
- Also, when integrating Power View worksheets embedded in Excel 2013 into a SharePoint 2013 site, the Power View worksheets will still appear along the bottom.
- And the interactivity functionality is still available.
- But, if downloaded, the downloaded version will not include the Power View worksheets.
For a Power View report created in SharePoint as opposed to an Excel 2013 file,
- The Reporting Services Add-In for SharePoint must be installed.
- Start Power View from a data model in a SharePoint document library or in a Power Pivot Gallery.
- The model can be:
- A Power Pivot file (.xlsx) in a Power Pivot Gallery in SharePoint.
- A shared data source (RSDS) with a BISM data source type, based either on a Power Pivot file, or a tabular model on an Analysis Services server.
- A BISM connection file (BISM) based on a tabular model on an Analysis Services server. BISM connection files can be either in a standard SharePoint document library or a Power Pivot gallery.
- Or a multi-dimensional OLAP cube.
- Then save the Power View report to the same SharePoint instance as the model from which Power View was launched.
- To save the report, from the File menu click Save or Save As.
- The first time you save the report, the default location will be the folder where the model is located.
- To save it to a different location, browse to that location, and then click Save.
- By default, the Save preview images with report check box is selected. For privacy reasons you may want to clear it and not save preview images.
Ways of rendering Power View reports in SharePoint 2013 include:
- Via the Power Pivot Gallery.
- Via a regular document library (note: it won’t have the thumbnail previews like the Power Pivot Gallery does due to its integration with Silverlight).
- Within a Page Viewer Web Part.
- Within a Silverlight Web Part.
- Embedded within a PerformancePoint Dashboard (via the web page report type).
- Within an Excel Web Access Web Part (applicable to Power View reports created with Excel 2013).
- Power View reports saved as an .rdlx file can also be exported as a PowerPoint presentation file. And, if connected to the SharePoint server, can be interactive.