A PBIX, PBIT, and PBIDS are file extensions used in Microsoft Power BI. Lets explore and see the difference between each of them one by one.
PBIX file – When you create any report in Power BI desktop and save the report, it is saved with the extension .pbix. It is the default file type for creating Power BI report.
This file includes report connections, datasets, schema, data model, relationships between tables, transformations, themes, parameters, measures, report pages or visualizations.
If the Power BI file using import mode, then it also include the data. You can open .pbix file in Power BI desktop.
As you can see, here we have a Power BI report named Demo.
When you save the file, it is saved by default .pbix. You can see the file extension that is .pbix.
PBIT –Â Â A .pbit file is a Power BI template file that contains the layout and design of a report.
When a PBIT file is created, it removes all the data, but keeps the report’s schema, data model, relationships between tables, transformations, parameters, measures, themes, report pages or visualizations.
The size of PBIT files are significantly smaller in comparison to PBIX files.
By creating a template file you can standardizing the report development across an organization or for creating reusable report templates that can be easily customized to fit specific needs.
You can share the template file with other users in your organization so that they can use this file as a starting point for a new report’s development.
To create a template file, click on File tab as shown below.
After that, click on Export tab then click on Power BI template .
Now you can provide a short description for your template file.
After that, click on OK button. You can see the template file is created.
You can check the file extension or properties as shown below.
Also, you can see the size of PBIT file, it is significantly smaller than the size of PBIX file.
To use the template file, you click on template file to open in Power BI desktop or you can click on Import tab then select Power BI template to choose template file.
PBID – A .pbids is a Power BI data source file extension. It includes information about the data source and connection.
It includes the report data but does not contain report pages or visualizations.
When a new user open the PBIDS file they are prompted to authenticate and connect to the data source, after that they can connect to data source and start building report using that data source.
You can create a PBIDS file when you want to save the data source, and connection information to ensure that multiple users are connecting to the same data source with the same connection settings, it simplifies the process of connecting to data sources in Power BI, as users can simply import the file instead of manually entering connection information.
Lets see, how to create a PBIDS file.
Click on File tab, after that click on Options and settings then Data source settings.
After that, you will see a popup window named Data source settings.
Just click on Export PBIDS button to create the .pbids file.
Once you click on Export PBIDS, it will ask you to select the location where you want to save the file.
After that click on Save button.
You can see, the PBIDS file is created.
When you open this file in Power BI desktop, you will see it does not contain any report page, data model and relationship between tables except the data, data source and connection setting.
Lets summarize, .pbix files are complete Power BI reports that include data models, visualizations, transformations, relationship between tables, measures and other report element, where as .pbid files are Power BI Desktop files that only contain data, data source information and connection settings and .pbit files are Power BI templates files that can be used as starting points for creating new reports for users.
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