How to Learn Power BI for free (Step-By-Step) for Beginners

This is an ideal time to learn Power BI seeing as demand keeps growing by the day.

Businesses use it to reach their next level of success, and for individuals, it opens up lots of job opportunities in data science.

Power BI makes it easy to visualize your data in the form of graphs, allowing your data to tell its own story via visuals. Plus, it’s free and beginner-friendly.

This guide will help you learn Power BI for free step-by-step, from downloading and creating your first report to publishing it on Power BI Services.

You’ll start by downloading the application, then start creating your first report, and finally, you’ll learn how to publish it to Power BI services.

Key Takeaways About Power BI

• Power BI is free to use, and it’s beginner-friendly + installing it on Windows is smooth.
• It can handle data from various sources, like Excel spreadsheets or SQL databases.
• It’s amazing for transforming your data into clear and visually appealing graphs.
• I’ll share a community link where you can learn more and get even better tips and tricks.

Purpose of using Power BI?

Before we begin, you may be looking for “What is Power BI, why should I use it, and how do I learn it?”

Simply put, Power BI is an excellent tool for business intelligence. It takes your data and turns it into visual reports that make it easier for businesses to understand their operations and make smart decisions.

It allows businesses to collect their data and create informative dashboards. These dashboards show a clear picture of how their business, and how their operations are growing.

Every business wants to grow, and that’s why they need someone skilled in Power BI to help. That’s why the skills of Power BI experts are growing.

Learning Power BI can lead to great jobs in data science. You’ll gain valuable skills that help you analyze data and create reports.

You can become a business intelligence analyst, data analyst, business analyst, or data engineer, all of which are promising roles in today’s job market.

Learn Power BI for free Step-By-Step from Scratch

This section of the guide will help you learn Power BI from scratch, including downloading and installing the software, getting familiar with the interface, creating visualizations, modeling and cleaning data, and finally publishing your reports and creating a project portfolio.

This post is fully designed to help you learn Power BI for free step-by-step, providing clear and actionable insights along the way. So, get set and go…

Step 1: Let’s Dive In: Opening Power BI

To begin, we must install the Power BI application. It’s an easy first step. Just search for it online, download the latest version from Microsoft Power BI, and follow the simple installation steps.

How to download Power BI Desktop?

The picture shows all the actions needed to download and install Power BI, from visiting the website to launching the application and setting it up.

There is no requirement to sign in to your Power BI account, If you’re just practicing or learning phase, you can skip signing in for now.

Also, make sure you’re using the latest version of Power BI for new features.

Navigating the Power BI Interface

Once you’ve installed Power BI, it’s time to explore its interface.

You’ll see different sections such as the ribbon, report view, table view, model view, visualization pane, filter pane, and format pane.

Understanding these areas will help you get started with your first project. 

Step 2: Get to know about Power BI Desktop.

Data Sources and Connection

Power BI allows you to connect different types of data sources like Excel files, text or CSV files, SQL databases, and even online services such as Analysis Services and Microsoft Dynamics.

Go to the Home tab – > Get Data to connect data with Power BI.

If you choose an online data server, a window will pop up asking you to sign in and give permission. Once done, your data will be automatically updated.

Connect SQL Server Database to Power BI

If you have an SQL database, Power BI makes it super easy to connect and pull in your data.

Just go to ‘Get Data’, choose SQL Server, and enter your server details. From there, you can either import tables directly or run queries to get the data you need.

This is especially handy if you want to create detailed reports using information from various databases.

Importing Data & Setting Up Project

Getting started with Power BI is pretty straightforward. Here’s a simple way to begin:

In Power BI, click the ‘Get Data’ button. Then, choose whatever file wish (I choose) to upload from your local machine. It’s that easy to get started!

If you need to adjust your data before loading it, you can use the Transform Data option (for Power Query Editor) to make any necessary changes.

After your data is loaded, you may begin creating a basic report. Just drag and drop fields onto the visual area to add tables, charts, or other visuals.

Step 3: Know the Core Components of Power BI

When using Power BI, it’s important to understand some key parts of the tool. Knowing these will help you get around and use Power BI better:

Power Query

Power Query is a tool in Power BI that helps you with ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes.

Before you start creating reports and dashboards in Power BI, it’s important to prepare your data. This means looking at all of your data to clean it up and look for errors or duplicates with the help of Power Query.

You will need to remove any unwanted tables or columns and make any necessary changes to get your data ready for visualization you do all in Power Query. 

ETL method is important when you deal with massy data to ensure that your reports and dashboards are working accurately and effectively.

The next important is Data Modeling…

Data Model View

Another important feature of Power BI is the Data Model. Just like in Excel, it allows you to create relationships between different data tables. 

e.g. this is one of the diagrams of Data Modeling connection.

Once you connect your data in data modeling, your visualizations will work better and be more accurate. 

This is key because it helps you build a strong and flexible data relation, which can handle detailed reporting and analysis effectively.

DAX Function

Data Analysis Expressions, or DAX, is an M formula language in Power BI. Think of it like Excel formulas, but way more powerful.

With DAX, you can make your calculations and summaries to better understand your data. It allows you to get more information and find important insights.

For instance, you can figure out year-over-year growth, create running totals, or do more advanced statistical calculations. 

Interactive dashboards

Interactive dashboards are the most necessary thing while working on Power BI. 

Are you unsure about what “Interactive dashboards” are? Don’t worry! We’ll explain it to you.

Interactive means a quick exchange of information.

For example, when you click on a chart, it automatically updates the other charts and visuals on the page to reflect the information related to your click.

This helps you spot insights faster and makes your data exploration more intuitive.

To set this up, just enable cross-filtering and cross-highlighting in your dashboard settings to make your dashboard even more interactive and responsive.

Power BI Service

Power BI also has an online version called Power BI Service, which is cloud-based. This means you can access it from anywhere, just log in to the Power BI service and see, edit, or share published reports.

In Power BI Service, you can publish your reports, share them with co-workers, and also edit them at the time of presentation. You can even set up automatic updates to keep your reports current.

The service offers useful tools like dashboards, workspaces, and apps to help you organize and share your reports efficiently. 

I hope you like this guide and that it helps you learn Power BI for free step-by-step as you follow along.

By getting to know these parts, you’ll be able to explore and use Power BI more effectively.

Step 4: Build Some Visualizations!

Creating your first report in Power BI is always an exciting moment. It’s when you see your data come to live through charts and graphs, making it easier to understand. 

Let’s build a simple sales performance report.

We’ll use an Excel sheet with three years of data. Our objective is to find the total quantity sold, and the average quantity sold in different regions, and create a line chart to see sales performance throughout the year.

Get started with Uploading Data

Start by adding data to your report. Power BI’s intuitive interface makes it easy to create reports even if you don’t have technical expertise.

Once your data is ready, you can start making visualizations. This means turning your data into charts, graphs, and other visual tools to help you understand and analyze the information better.

It’s that simple! I’ll provide a short clip below showing exactly how to get your data and start creating our sales reports.

I hope you’ve figured out how to upload your data! 

Build DAX function for report

Once you’ve uploaded your data, the next step is to figure out some key metrics: the total quantity sold and the average quantity sold. 

But before that, we need to understand what data we have available, and let’s take a closer look at the data we have. 

On the right-hand side, you’ll see the Data section, which shows all the data you’ve imported. You might notice that we only have the individual quantities sold, not the totals or averages.

To get these figures, we’ll need to create some DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) functions. 

These functions will help us calculate the total quantity sold and the average quantity sold. I’ll show you exactly how to do this in the next clip.

You now understand how to construct custom measures using DAX formulas. 

There’s one more thing to keep in mind. All DAX formulas are listed on the Power BI Community website, which I’ve linked for you.

If you find it helpful, drop a thank you in the comments.

Time to build sales performance report

We’re going to make a real report now. I have a video that shows you each step clearly. Just watch the clip, and you’ll see exactly how to do it.

Our sales report is done, but it doesn’t look great yet. The next step is to customize it to make it look better.

Customizing Your Report

Great, you’ve got your visualizations set up! Now it’s time to give our report a professional touch.

For a quick guide on how to do this, check out this clip.

This step helps you create a report that’s both helpful and visually appealing. Now, your Power BI report is ready to publish on the Power BI Service.

Step 5: Sharing Your Reports on Power BI Service

To log in to Power BI services, you won’t be able to use a Gmail account or a personal Microsoft email.

To publish or share reports on Power BI, you need a corporate email address. 

Once your report or dashboard is published to the Power BI service, you can make it available to anyone you grant access to. 

You can easily share your report by simply sending a link. Additionally, users can leave comments on your visuals, which makes it easier to collaborate.

I’ll show you how to do this—just watch this clip:

Power BI services let you easily share reports with your team. You can quickly show your work to everyone who needs to see it.

I hope I’ve given you all the information you need to learn Power BI for free step-by-step approach. If you have any queries or need clarification regarding our created report, write a comment below!

Curious about a Power BI job? Our post wraps up the roles, responsibilities, and career opportunities. Check it out!

Now, let’s check out some tips and tricks to make using Power BI easier.

Tips and Tricks for Efficient Use of Power BI

Keyboard Shortcuts

Using keyboard shortcuts can save you a lot of time and make your work faster. For example, pressing Ctrl+C to copy and Ctrl+V to paste can really speed up your workflow. 

There are many other shortcuts that can help you navigate and use Power BI more efficiently. Here are some of the best ones to know from the community.

Practices for Data Modeling

Data modeling is essential for creating effective data visualizations. Here are a few key things to remember:

• Keep It Simple: Avoid unnecessary complexity and ensure your data is clean and organized.
• Build Correct Relationships: Make sure to establish accurate relationships between data columns and tables.
• Optimize for Performance: For fast performance, use relationships wisely and avoid too many calculated columns.

By following these best practices, you’ll make your reports more efficient and easier to work with.

Collaborate and Share with Power BI Services

We’ve already looked at how Power BI Service works, but there are a few more things you should know.

• Easy to Access: Publishing a report or dashboard to the Power BI service makes it accessible to anyone you’ve granted permission to. 
• Easy to Share: You can easily share your work via a shared link. Users can leave comments directly on the visuals, which enhances collaboration.
• Improve Teamwork: Power BI makes it simple to collaborate with your team. You can quickly share reports with teammates or anyone else who needs to see them, ensuring everyone is on the same page and can work together smoothly.
• Auto Refresh: Set up automatic data refresh to make sure your reports always show the most up-to-date information. This can be configured in the Power BI service, keeping your data accurate without needing manual updates.

These are some key practices to keep in mind when working with Power BI services.

Learning Resources and Communities

Free Online Studies

If you want to learn Power BI without spending a single penny, focus on these key topics:

• Connecting to different data sources
• Data Transformation in Power Query
• Creating metrics using DAX & Data Modeling
• Creating visuals and Dashboarding
• Publishing to Power BI Service

Project-Based Learning Resources

Here are some great project-based resources to help you get hands-on experience:

• [Sales Insights Power BI Project]
• [Hospitality Insights Project]
• [Sales Analytics Dashboard Project]

YouTube Channels for Free Learning

These YouTube channels offer excellent free content to help you learn Power BI:

• Curbal
• How to Power BI
• Guy in a Cube

These sources cover everything from the basics to more advanced features.

You can also find self-paced courses, guided projects, and even group learning programs on Coursera, some for free.

Engage with Experts and Communities

Join BI Community:

• Joining the Power BI community can be quite helpful. It’s a great way to connect with others, get advice, and share your experiences.
• You can join forums, attend meetups, and participate in online discussions. Here, you can get answers to your questions and learn from other Power BI users. 

Follow Expert Blogs:

• Following expert blogs is another great way to learn.
• Many Power BI experts, including us, share tips and tutorials on their blogs.
• Some blogs even offer free resources and templates for your projects.

Our detailed guide on how to learn Power BI for free step-by-step will ensure you gain the knowledge and confidence you need. Now kindly read the next part of the blog.

How Much Time Required to Learn Power BI?

The time required to learn Power BI sometimes depends on your background and how much time you can dedicate to it. 

In my experience, I covered the basics of Power BI in about two weeks.

After that, I completed two to three projects, which I think took around a month. Then, I pushed myself to advanced Power BI learning, which took about three to four weeks. 

I continued working on more detailed projects to deepen my understanding. Overall, it took me around 3-4 months to become proficient in Power BI.

Wondering if working with Power BI is stressful or if it’s the right fit for you? Check out our detailed post for all the information you need.

Learning Power BI requires practice, consistency, and discipline. You can learn the basics in a few weeks with regular effort, but mastering advanced features might take 3-4 months.

Conclusion of the Post

Learning Power BI doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. I hope this post helps you to learn Power BI for Free Step by Step and start your journey into data analysis. 

By following the steps, you’ll get to know the interface, learn how to import and manage data, and create your own reports and dashboards. 

Remember, practice makes perfect. So, keep experimenting and exploring all the features Power BI has to offer.

If you have any questions about what you’ve learned or your Power BI report, just leave a comment. I’m here to help!

Don’t forget to read our other blog posts for more learning tips.