HOT TIP: How to ALWAYS have the LATEST version of Power BI Desktop

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Hey everyone here’s a quick but awesome tip for you that will make your life (or your IT dept’s life easier) when it comes to keeping Power BI Desktop updated so you always have the latest version.

Microsoft rolls out updates to Power BI Desktop almost every month, and most months the changes that concern how WE interact with Power BI to build visuals in reports are minimal, over time these small changes add up, so if it’s been a while since you’ve updated it, your Power BI may look really different from others. Some newer tools may be missing, your formatting options may be different, etc.

Microsoft has a Power BI Desktop download page, and you can certainly get Power BI Desktop from there….

But, you know what? I’m NOT going to link to it, because this post is about NOT downloading Power BI Desktop from there.

IF you download it from there, and you want to have a current version of the software over time, you’d go back there EVERY MONTH and download the new version and install it. But, that’s kind of a pain in the butt. No, it’s TOTALLY a pain in the butt.

Imagine if an IT department had to do this for many people? One-at-a-time? Major pain in the butt.

So, here’s the tip that will make your life so much easier because your Power BI Desktop will update *automatically* as Microsoft rolls out updates.

Download Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft Store.

That’s it. That’s the tip. For some reason, Microsoft has it set up (at least at the time I’m writing this, in Feb 2024) that if you download Desktop from their Store, it will update on it’s own every month.

What’s that? You want more benefits and advantages to downloading it from the store? I got you.

Another advantage is that you do NOT need admin access to download Desktop from the Microsoft Store. You need the software? Get the software in minutes.

You can, theoretically, bypass the IT red tape and delays and install it yourself. Microsoft is a trusted entity.

If you feel uncomfortable doing it yourself (hey, IT departments are territorial), at least TELL your IT department that if they install it from Microsoft’s Store (here’s that link again), they can avoid a lot of future updating work.

Another big advantage to downloading from the Store is that when it’s time for an update, your installation will download and update ONLY what’s NEW (automatically), instead of the downloading the entire thing again and again which is what happens with traditional downloading and installation.

This is a big time saver.

Have questions about installing Power BI Desktop? Leave a comment below and we’ll figure it out!