How to Export Underlying Power BI Data to Excel

At the morning workload review, the support lead can see one High-priority ticket in Operations and two in Support. The chart explains where the pressure is. To assign the work, though, the team needs the ticket IDs and the details it is allowed to use.

A summarized export might contain two rows: Operations with a count of one, and Support with a count of two. An underlying-data export can provide the records and additional model fields behind the visual, where the report and permissions support them.

PBRS lets you choose the appropriate mode for each supported visual export. The lead could receive a queue-summary worksheet alongside a detailed ticket worksheet, giving the meeting an overview and a practical list to work through.

The benefit is more than saving a few clicks. PBRS can prepare the workbook consistently, give the tabs meaningful names, apply the required formatting and send the completed file before the review. Nobody has to rebuild the same spreadsheet each morning.

For an occasional request, use the visual's More options → Export data → Underlying data in Power BI Service when available. Check the result before making it a recurring delivery: underlying data is not a complete dump of every table or column in the model.

A raw export is a useful starting point, but it often leaves someone cleaning up headings, adding totals and copying values into the team's usual spreadsheet. PBRS can make those finishing steps part of the reporting job.

Choose summarized or underlying data

Use summarized data when the recipient needs the grouped figures shown by the visual. Use underlying data when the task needs the permitted detail behind it. For our support lead, the summary explains the workload while the detailed list identifies the urgent cases.

Both choices remain subject to Power BI's report settings, model behavior and the export account's access. Calling the second choice “full data” can be misleading: it does not guarantee every source record or field. Microsoft's visual-data export guide explains the distinction and restrictions.

Make the spreadsheet readable

With Excel Data Only, PBRS can control column headings, data types and custom Excel formats. Use clear labels, keep ticket identifiers as text where needed, and format numeric values consistently. Font weight and colors help readers distinguish headings and totals from the detail.

You can save and reuse styles across schedules and destinations. The support lead then receives a familiar workbook each day, rather than a file that needs the same formatting corrections before every meeting.

Add totals where they answer a question

PBRS can add row and column totals, including totals for specified rows or columns. That is useful when a worksheet contains additive measures such as estimated effort or hours spent. Choose the numeric fields deliberately; adding ticket IDs or summing percentages would not help the review.

Keep the queue count as a separate check. The detailed ticket list should reconcile to the selected summary, but that check depends on unique records and the correct filters—not just on a grand total being present.

Use the Excel template the team already knows

If the morning meeting uses an established workbook, PBRS can place the visual's exported data into an existing Excel template. Select the target worksheet and a starting row and column, or the next available position.

This lets you keep a familiar layout around the incoming data. Test the placement against the template's formulas, headings and reserved areas, especially when the number of tickets changes from one day to the next. The PBRS Excel output guide covers template placement, totals and column formatting.

Bring several exports into one workbook

Multiple visual exports can go into separate worksheets or be placed in one worksheet. For the review, named tabs such as Queue Summary and Urgent Tickets make the relationship easy to follow.

When the pack draws from different reports, PBRS package schedules can merge their Excel outputs into one workbook with multiple tabs. The lead opens one organized file rather than collecting attachments and copying sheets together. Data-driven packages can also tailor the workbook content and destination for each recipient.

Protect the finished delivery

PBRS supports Excel password protection, including protection of combined workbooks and recipient-specific passwords in supported workflows. Excel Data Only also provides worksheet protection options. Choose the setting that matches your requirement: preventing worksheet changes and requiring protection for the delivered file serve different purposes.

You can also place the workbook in an encrypted, password-protected ZIP. Test the final file the recipient receives, including any merge or packaging step. The PBRS Excel automation guide describes workbook security and automated distribution.

Use PDF Data Only when the team needs a readable handout

Sometimes the manager needs the same figures to read, rather than an Excel file to sort or edit. PBRS's PDF Data Only output can export summarized or permitted underlying visual data as formatted PDF tables, with multiple visuals on separate pages.

That is a separate output choice for the visual data, not a promise to convert an existing Excel workbook to PDF. It gives you another way to deliver the figures with readable headings and table styles when a spreadsheet is unnecessary.

Begin with a small, known set of tickets and the account that will run the scheduled export. This gives the team a concrete workbook to approve before the routine starts.

Confirm the records and fields

In Power BI Service, apply the intended High-priority filter and export the visual's underlying data. Open the result and check that the expected ticket IDs and required fields are present. If the option is unavailable or essential detail is missing, ask the report owner to review access and model settings first.

For our illustrative morning review, the accepted detail contains T-810 in Operations and T-812 and T-813 in Support. Check those exact IDs, not only the row count. Three rows could still contain a duplicate and omit a ticket.

Configure Excel Data Only in PBRS

Create the report schedule and choose MS Excel Data Only (*.xlsx) in the destination. Select the report page and titled visual, then choose summarized or underlying data for that export. The visual needs a title so PBRS can identify it.

Add the summary visual if the workbook needs both views. Name the worksheets, set column formats and choose any useful totals. If you use a template, select the worksheet and insertion position and test with both a small result and a larger day's workload.

Finish the workbook and its delivery

Configure the filename, intended recipient or folder, and the appropriate protection. If several reports contribute to a package, check their tab names and the final combined workbook. Open the delivered copy to confirm that formatting, passwords and the expected records survive the whole process.

Set the morning run after the ticket data is ready. A schedule cannot make stale source data current by exporting it again. Keep a clear reporting date in the file or delivery message so the lead knows which workload the workbook represents.

Once the sample is accepted, the same job can prepare the daily handoff. The lead spends the morning assigning urgent work rather than waiting for someone to export and tidy a spreadsheet.

If the support application knows when the morning data load has finished, it can ask PBRS to run the saved Excel job. PBRS keeps the visual selection, formatting, template and delivery instructions together; the application supplies the start signal.

The example below executes an existing single-report schedule. If your finished workbook uses a multi-report package, use that package's documented schedule type and identifier.

POST {pbrsBaseUrl}/api/Schedule/ExecuteScheduleAsync
Authorization: bearer {pbrsAccessToken}
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "ScheduleType": "report",
  "uniqueid": 101,
  "RunBy": "Morning support workbook"
}

GET {pbrsBaseUrl}/api/Schedule/GetExecutionStatus?ExecutionId={ExecutionId}
Authorization: bearer {pbrsAccessToken}

Give the lead a useful status such as “Preparing the morning workbook” while the job runs. Confirm the intended delivery before showing it as ready, and retain the execution reference if support needs to investigate. Coordinate application triggers with any recurring schedule to avoid duplicate deliveries.

The next morning, the support lead can open a familiar workbook: the queue summary explains the workload, and the ticket detail shows the cases to assign. The formatting, tabs, template and protection are already in place.

A native export can answer a one-off request. PBRS is the better fit when that useful workbook needs to arrive repeatedly, prepared for its audience without someone rebuilding it every day.

Explore automated Excel exports with PBRS or the wider Power BI Report Automation workflow. Use the evaluation guide below to test your own visual data, template and delivery requirements.

Download the PBRS Internal Evaluation Guide