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Microsoft Power BI Updates Blog

Announcing: Copy a Visual as an Image

Headshot of article author Maggie Tsang

Program Manager
15 April, 2020

Introducing the ability to copy a visual as an image to your clipboard! Today, we’re excited to announce you can easily share a captured image of a dashboard tile or a report visual with just one click! Here is what a copied visual would look like in an email – 

 

A Power BI Visual pasted into an Outlook mail.

 

You can now copy a static image of the visual in the Service along with the visual’s metadata including:

  • A link back into the Power BI dashboard or report
  • The title of the report or dashboard the content was copied from
  • If the image contains confidential information
  • The time stamp of when the data was last updated
  • The filters applied to the visual

 

Note: This is different from “Copy Visual” in Desktop, which allows you to copy and paste visuals between report pages while authoring. More information can be found here.

 

Here is a walkthrough on how you can interact with Copy Visual as an Image!

 

Copy from a Dashboard Tile

 

  • Navigate to the dashboard you want to copy from
  • Click on the “More options” menu on the top right corner of a dashboard tile
  • Click on “Copy visual as image”
  • When your visual is ready, paste your image using “Ctrl + V” or “right-click > Paste”

 

Power BI Tile Visual with "Copy visual as image" highlighted.

 

Copy from a Report Visual

  • Navigate to the report you want to copy from
  • Hover over a visual and click on the “Copy visual as image” icon on the visual header
  • When your visual is ready, paste your image using “Ctrl + V” or “right-click > Paste”

 

A report visual with the Copy icon highlighted in the visual header.

 

FAQ:

I don’t want users to be able to copy a specific visual, how can I turn this off?

To toggle off Copy Visual for individual report visuals:

  • In edit mode, navigate to the Visual Formatting pane
  • Under “Visual Header”, toggle off the “Copy icon”
  • Save changes, and the Copy icon won’t appear on that report visual

Visual Header highlighted on the visual Formatting Pane.

Copy icon toggle highlighted.

 

If you are unable to find the Visual Header setting, turn on the modern visual header option under Report Settings. 

 

Highlighted toggle to turn on modern visual header.

 

 

I don’t want a group of users to be able to copy visuals, how can I turn this off?

Admins can turn off this feature for specific security groups or the entire organization through the Admin portal:

  • Navigate to the Admin Portal
  • Under “Tenant settings”, find the “Export and sharing settings”
  • Under “Copy and paste visuals”, disable this feature for your selected user groups
  • Save changes, and the specified groups will not be able to copy visuals as an image throughout Power BI

 

Turn off Copy and Paste Visuals in tenant settings of the admin portal.

 

 

Why is the Copy icon disabled on a visual? 

 

Visual with the Copy Visual as Image disabled on the header.

 

 

We currently support native Power BI visuals and Certified Visuals. There is limited support for certain visuals including:

  • ESRI and other Map visuals
  • Python visuals
  • R visuals
  • PowerApps
  • Non-certified custom visuals

For your custom visual to be supported, learn more about how to certify your custom visual.

 

I have a data sensitivity label applied to my report. Will this label be applied to a copied visual?

Sensitivity labels will not be applied to copied visuals; however, users will be notified that they are taking a screenshot from a sensitive report before copying.

 

Dialog pop-up for reports with a data sensitivity label applied.

 

 

When the content is pasted, there will be information in the metadata letting others know the visual contains confidential data. 

 

 

Pasted visual with Confidential info in the metadata.

 

 

Why is my visual not pasting correctly?

There are limitations around Copy Visual including:

  • Limited support for visual formatting such as:
    • Tile scaling when pasting
    • Custom visuals with animations
    • Regional number formatting
    • Title styling may not be retained
  • Copying constraints:
    • Cannot redirect users to content with Odata filters and sticky states such as personal bookmarks
    • Pinned live pages are not supported
    • Cannot copy visuals that are unable to be pinned to a dashboard 
  • Applications with limited support for pasting HTML-formatted content from the clipboard may not render everything that was copied from the visual
  • The copied image will only contain what is shown in the visible viewport of the visual

 

What’s next?

Head on over to Power BI and try it out – share data insights with colleagues, create beautiful presentations, and use this feature to your heart’s content!

This feature will be available to all tenants by the end of this week. Let us know what you think by commenting on this post. If you have suggestions for future enhancements, add an idea on Power BI Ideas page and upvote the items you want to see 😊