Skip to main content

How to Enable Copilot with Power BI

List of Requirements to Enable Copilot

Here are the step-by-step requirements to get your client's existing PPU workspace and users running with Copilot.

1. Capacity Requirement: Purchase Fabric F2

You must purchase a paid Fabric capacity. The F2 SKU is the minimum and most cost-effective entry point for enabling Copilot.

Action: Purchase a Microsoft Fabric F2 capacity (or higher) from the Azure Portal. This is a monthly pay-as-you-go expense or a reserved instance, billed to an Azure subscription. Ask your Microsoft rep for pricing.

Note: Trial SKUs are not supported for Copilot.

Microsoft Learn Article on how to purchase Fabric

Additional details on purchasing Fabric

To enable Copilot for Power BI, your PPU workspace must be converted to run on a dedicated Fabric capacity, or Fabric capacity can be added to any other workspace. The F2 SKU is the minimum required capacity. This purchase is not made in the Power BI or Microsoft 365 admin center; it is an Azure resource you must provision in the Azure Portal.

How to Enable Fabric Copilot for Power BI

2. Tenant Setting Requirement: Enable Copilot (Admin Task)

A Fabric Administrator (or Global Admin) must enable Copilot for the entire tenant (or for specific security groups).

  • Action: Go to the Fabric Admin Portal > Tenant Settings.

    Picture1.png

     

    Picture2.png

     

  • Setting 1: Find Users can use Copilot and other features powered by Azure OpenAI (preview). Set the toggle to Enabled.
Picture3.png
Picture4.png
  • Setting 2 (If applicable): If your tenant's home region is outside the US or France, you must also enable: Data sent to Azure OpenAI can be processed outside your tenant's geographic region, compliance boundary, or national cloud instance.
Picture5.png

 





3. Create and use Fabric Copilot workspace

  1. Create a new, separate workspace and assign the F2 capacity to it.
  2. Publish your reports (or create new ones) into this new F2 workspace.
  3. Ensure these reports use a Live Connection back to your semantic models in the original PPU workspace.
  4. Users will then interact with Copilot on the reports within the new F2 workspace.



Workspace Requirement: Create New Workspace & Assign F2

You need a new workspace dedicated to running on the F2 capacity.

  • Who: A Power BI user with workspace creation permissions (usually any Pro or PPU user, unless restricted by Admins).
  • Where: In the Power BI Service (app.powerbi.com).
  • Steps:
    1. Click Workspaces > Create a workspace.
    2. Give it a name (e.g., Reports - Copilot Enabled).
    3. Go to the new workspace, click "..." (More options) > Workspace settings.
    4. Select the Premium tab.
    5. Change the License mode to Fabric capacity.
    6. In the dropdown, select the F2 capacity you just purchased.
    7. Click Save.

 

Report Requirement: Publish to F2 Workspace with Live Connection

 

Your reports must reside in the new F2 workspace and connect live to the semantic models in the PPU workspace.

  • Who: Report Creators/Developers (with PPU licenses).
  • Where: Power BI Desktop or publishing to the Power BI Service.
  • Steps:
    1. Option A (New Reports): In Power BI Desktop, use Get Data > Power BI semantic models. Connect to the desired model(s) located in your original PPU workspace. Build your report visuals.
    2. Option B (Existing Reports): If you have existing .pbix files connected to the PPU models, open them in Desktop. Verify they are using a Live Connection (check the bottom-right status bar in Desktop). If they used Import mode, you must change the connection mode.
    3. Publish: Click Publish and select the new F2 workspace as the destination. Do NOT publish back to the PPU workspace.

 

User License Requirements:

 

This model has specific licensing needs for different user interactions:

  • Report Creators/Publishers: Must have a PPU license to connect to and build reports from the semantic models in the PPU workspace.
  • Report Viewers (using reports in F2 workspace): Must have at least a Power BI Pro license. They do NOT need PPU just to view reports in the F2 workspace.
  • Users Interacting with Copilot (in F2 workspace): Need at least a Pro license (to view the report) AND they must also have a PPU license because Copilot needs to query the underlying semantic model which resides in the PPU workspace. Accessing anything in a PPU workspace requires a PPU license.



     

5. Validate and Use Co-Pilot

How to Use Copilot in Power BI

Now that your workspace is assigned to a Fabric capacity (F2 or higher), Copilot is available to all Pro and PPU licensed users. Copilot's features change depending on whether you are viewing a report or creating one.

Here are the primary ways to use it.

1. For Report Viewers (in the Power BI Service)

This is the most common use case. When you open a report in the workspace, you can now use Copilot to analyze and summarize the data for you.

A. Get an Instant Summary of the Report

Instead of manually clicking through every page, you can ask Copilot for a high-level summary of the entire report.

  1. Open any report in the workspace.

  2. In the action bar at the top, click the Copilot button.

    Picture21.png
  3. The Copilot pane will open. It will often automatically suggest prompts.

  4. Click the prompt "Summarize this report" or type it in.

    Picture23.png
  5. Copilot will generate a bulleted summary of the key insights from all report pages. It will also provide citations, so you can click to navigate directly to the page or visual that supports its finding.

B. Ask Natural Language Questions About Your Data

This is the most powerful feature for viewers. You can ask specific questions about the data, and Copilot will analyze the semantic model to find the answer, even if a visual for it doesn't exist.

  1. In the same Copilot pane, type a question in plain English.
  2. Copilot will analyze your question and the data model, then generate an answer, often with a new visual to support it.

Example Prompts:

  • "What were the total sales last quarter for the New York location?"

  • "Show me a list of the top 5 products by gross margin."

    Picture24.png

  • "What is the correlation between Google traffic and revenue?"

    Picture25.png
  • "Compare sales for North America vs. Europe over the last 6 months."

2. For Report Creators (in Power BI Desktop & Service)

When you are in "Edit" mode (either in the Desktop app or in the Service), Copilot becomes a creation assistant to help you build reports faster.

A. Create a Full Report Page from Scratch

You can give Copilot a high-level prompt, and it will generate an entire new report page for you.

  1. Open your report in Power BI Desktop (or click Edit in the Power BI Service).

  2. In the Home ribbon, click the Copilot button.

    Picture26.png
  3. In the Copilot pane, type a prompt describing the page you want.
  4. Copilot will analyze your data model and create a new page filled with relevant visuals.

Example Prompts:

  • "Create a page to analyze our sales performance over time and by product."

    Picture27.png
  • "Make a report page that shows key metrics for the marketing department."

  • "Generate a page that breaks down our customer demographics and regional distribution."

    Picture28.png

B. Create a Specific Visual

If you don't want a full page, you can ask Copilot to create a single chart.

  1. In the Copilot pane, type a prompt for a specific visual.
  2. Copilot will add that visual to your current report page.

Example Prompts:

  • "Add a bar chart of profit by product category."

    Picture29.png
  • "Create a line chart showing sales and budget over time."
  • "Add a KPI card for total number of customers."
     

Related to

Was this article helpful?