The September 2025 Power BI update has officially rolled out, bringing with it a powerful mix of new features, improvements, and announcements that will reshape how businesses and professionals work with data. Whether you are a data analyst, BI developer, or business leader, this month’s release is particularly exciting as it touches almost every corner of the Power BI ecosystem: Copilot, AI, modeling, reporting, mobile experiences, and visualizations. On top of that, Microsoft has made big announcements during FabCon Vienna, making September a standout month for the data community.
Table of Contents
1. Big Announcements from FabCon Vienna
September coincides with FabCon Vienna, one of the biggest events for Microsoft Fabric and Power BI. The conference came with several key announcements that deserve special mention:
FabCon Vienna, one of the biggest events for Microsoft Fabric and Power BI, showcased several exciting announcements and innovations. The conference highlighted the latest advancements in data modeling, reporting, and AI-driven analytics, reinforcing how Power BI continues to evolve and helping professionals and organizations make smarter, faster, and more informed decisions.
DataViz World Championships: The spotlight was on visualization excellence, and Paulo Grijó took home the championship title at FabCon Vienna. This reinforces how Power BI is not just about numbers but also about storytelling with data. Participants showcased cutting-edge visualizations that combine clarity, aesthetics, and interactivity. The event highlighted innovative techniques, creative report designs, and advanced DAX implementations, inspiring attendees to push the boundaries of what’s possible in Power BI reporting.
Additional Highlights: FabCon Vienna also featured announcements on new Fabric capabilities, hybrid modeling options, and enhanced AI integration. These updates signal Microsoft’s continued commitment to empowering both analysts and developers with tools that streamline workflows, improve collaboration, and deliver actionable insights faster.
2. General Updates You Should Know
Power BI updates include several subtle but impactful changes that every user should be aware of. While they may not make headlines like flashy visuals or AI integrations, these updates improve usability, performance, and alignment with Microsoft’s broader ecosystem. Paying attention to these “under-the-hood” changes ensures that your reports, dashboards, and workflows remain future-proof and optimized for long-term use.
Not all changes in this update are flashy, but they are critical for long-term users:
- Bing Maps Visual Removed: Starting October 2025, the Bing Maps visual will no longer be part of the default visuals pane in Power BI. Microsoft is moving focus to Azure Maps, which is more advanced and better integrated into Fabric. (Note: This does not apply to users in Sovereign clouds, South Korea, or Brazil.)
This might feel like a small change, but it’s part of Microsoft’s strategy to unify experiences and ensure better scalability.
3. Copilot and AI – Smarter Data Experiences
AI continues to be the heart of Power BI innovation, and September’s update strengthens this area even further. With Copilot enhancements, users can now generate complex visualizations and insights simply by typing natural language queries, making data exploration faster and more intuitive. AI-driven recommendations also suggest the best chart types, aggregations, and patterns based on your dataset, helping both beginners and experts create impactful reports. These improvements not only save time but also empower organizations to make smarter, data-driven decisions with minimal manual effort.
1. Standalone Copilot Becomes Default
The standalone Copilot experience is now enabled by default for all eligible users. Unlike the earlier in-pane Copilot, this one provides a full-screen, chat-style interface where you can ask natural language questions, explore insights, and build quick visualizations. This immersive environment allows users to interact with their data more naturally and encourages experimentation. For those who prefer traditional reporting, there’s still an option to turn it off, ensuring flexibility for all user types.
2. Automatic Workspace Selection
New users no longer need to worry about choosing a Copilot-enabled workspace. Power BI now auto-assigns a workspace, reducing setup time and helping more people start using Copilot quickly. This improvement also minimizes the risk of errors for new users unfamiliar with workspace configurations. By streamlining access, organizations can ensure faster adoption of AI-driven insights across teams.
3. Save Explorations in Pro Workspaces
Previously, saving Copilot explorations was only possible in Premium workspaces. Now, even Pro users can save and revisit their Copilot-generated insights. This significantly lowers the entry barrier for smaller organizations and independent analysts. Users can now maintain continuity in their AI-driven work and build a growing library of reusable explorations for future analysis.
4. Search Power BI Reports Directly in Microsoft 365
You can now search reports by title, description, or even chart details within Microsoft 365 search or Microsoft 365 Copilot. This bridges Power BI with your daily work in Outlook, Teams, and Office apps. By integrating search across platforms, users save time and avoid switching contexts while looking for relevant reports. This also enhances discoverability, ensuring teams make data-driven decisions faster.
5. Copilot Search Gets Smarter
The copilot’s search has been fine-tuned. Some of the key improvements include:
- Better ranking of results.
- Rich descriptions for found items.
- Ability to pass filters directly.
- Prioritization of models that are prepped for AI.
6. Prep Data for AI (Coming Soon)
This upcoming feature will let you prepare semantic models for AI directly in the Power BI service. Even Direct Lake models can be prepped, which means Copilot-ready datasets will become much more common. It will allow analysts to optimize datasets specifically for AI queries, improving performance and the quality of insights. Organizations will benefit from a more seamless integration between their existing data models and AI-driven analytics.
4. Reporting Enhancements – Making Reports More Powerful
Power BI’s latest update has significantly boosted reporting capabilities, focusing on making dashboards more interactive, customizable, and efficient. These enhancements are designed not just for report creators but also for end-users who rely on visuals to make decisions. From advanced formatting to AI-powered assistance with Copilot, the new features ensure that reports are more insightful, easier to navigate, and quicker to build. Whether you’re presenting to executives or exploring data on your own, these reporting upgrades help transform static dashboards into dynamic, decision-making tools.
1. Enhanced DAX Time Intelligence (Preview)
Time-based calculations in Power BI just got better. With the enhanced DAX Time Intelligence functions, you can now:
- Build custom calendars (fiscal, 4-5-4, or other patterns).
- Handle week-based or irregular calendars with ease.
- Create advanced month-to-date or quarter-to-date calculations.
For businesses with non-standard financial calendars, this is a game-changer.
2. Performance Analyzer in the Web
Until now, the Performance Analyzer was only available in Power BI Desktop. Starting this update, you can use it directly in the Power BI web editor. This makes troubleshooting report performance much easier without switching tools.
3. Translytical Task Flows Default-On
This feature allows you to take direct actions from reports, such as updating a record or triggering a workflow, without leaving Power BI. It’s now turned on by default, making reports more interactive and actionable.
5. Modeling – More Control and Flexibility
The September 2025 update brings enhanced modeling capabilities, giving users more control and flexibility over their data. You can now manage relationships, create measures, and edit models directly in Power BI Service, making collaboration easier. Improved DAX functions and reusable logic simplify complex calculations, helping analysts build more accurate and efficient models.
1. Edit Semantic Models in the Web (GA)
Editing semantic models is no longer limited to Desktop. You can now do full modeling directly in the web service, including relationships, measures, and calculations. This unlocks collaboration without requiring desktop tools. Teams can now work on the same model simultaneously, streamlining workflows and reducing version conflicts. It also allows faster iteration and deployment for business users who rely on the web interface.
2. Live Edit Direct Lake Models (GA)
You can now connect to OneLake Direct Lake semantic models directly in Power BI Desktop and edit them live. This is important for organizations using Fabric at scale. Live editing ensures that changes are immediately reflected across all connected reports, enhancing real-time collaboration. It also reduces the need for separate staging environments, making large-scale model management more efficient.
3. TMDL View (GA)
The Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL) view is now generally available, giving developers a code-first way to manage semantic models. With TMDL, you can define and maintain complex models programmatically, ensuring consistency and reproducibility. This feature is particularly useful for DevOps scenarios, where automated deployment and version control are critical.
4. PBIX Download of XMLA-Altered Models
Thanks to TMDL, you can now download PBIX files even after the model was changed using XMLA endpoints. This ensures that modifications made via XMLA don’t lock your model into a web-only state. Developers and analysts can continue using Desktop for offline editing, backup, or further enhancements, keeping workflow flexibility intact.
5. Fabric Notebooks (GA)
Notebooks in Fabric now include a Best Practice Analyzer and Memory Analyzer, helping developers optimize their models. These tools provide actionable insights, such as identifying inefficient calculations or memory-heavy tables. This results in faster performance, lower resource consumption, and more maintainable data models, especially for complex datasets.
6. Direct Lake + Import Hybrid (Preview)
You can now combine Direct Lake and Import tables in the same model. This hybrid mode allows faster performance while keeping some data cached. Users can now balance real-time analytics with high-speed query performance, making it easier to work with very large datasets. It also provides flexibility in deciding which tables should be live or cached for optimal efficiency.
7. DAX User Defined Functions (Preview)
Reusable DAX functions are here! You can create parameterized functions and call them across your model, making your DAX code cleaner and easier to maintain. This reduces duplication and potential errors, especially in complex calculations. Analysts can now standardize logic across multiple reports, saving time and ensuring consistency.
8. Refresh Schema or Data Separately
Power BI Desktop now lets you refresh only the schema or only the data, giving you more control when working with large models. This is especially helpful when structural changes are made without needing a full data reload. It significantly reduces refresh times and improves efficiency for enterprise-scale datasets.
9. Power BI in Teams Opens in a New Window
Shared reports in Microsoft Teams will now open in a separate window, so you can continue chatting without interruptions. This improves multitasking and keeps collaboration seamless, as users don’t have to toggle between chat and reports. It also ensures better focus on report analysis while maintaining communication with team members.
6. Mobile Updates – Smarter on the Go
One standout feature is the NFC tag support in Power BI Mobile. With this, you can simply tap your phone on an NFC tag to instantly open linked reports, dashboards, or scorecards. For organizations using physical spaces like factories, hospitals, or retail stores, this adds huge convenience.
Power BI Mobile now supports improved offline capabilities, allowing users to view previously loaded reports even without an internet connection. Notifications and alerts are more interactive, helping decision-makers respond quickly while on the move. The app also includes enhanced touch-based navigation, making it easier to explore data visualizations and drill into details directly from your smartphone or tablet. This combination of features ensures that insights are always at your fingertips, enabling faster, more informed decisions anytime, anywhere.
7. Admin Updates
New Tenant Setting: Admins can now control whether users see the Set Alert button when creating Fabric Activator alerts. This offers better governance in larger organizations.
The admin portal now provides enhanced monitoring and auditing tools. Administrators can track user activities, view report usage patterns, and manage permissions more granularly, which strengthens data security and compliance. Power BI also introduced improved integration with Microsoft Fabric governance features, making it easier to enforce standards across workspaces. These updates empower admins to maintain a controlled, secure, and well-organized environment while still allowing users to access and interact with the insights they need.
8. New and Updated Visualizations
Visualization is where Power BI shines, and September 2025 comes with exciting updates:
- ADWISE Advanced Column v2.0 – A more powerful version of the column visual.
- Zebra BI Tables – Includes one-click calculated reports and support for brand images.
- Word Cloud by Powerviz – Create impactful text-based visuals.
- Drill Down Combo Bar PRO by ZoomCharts – Improved drill-down and combo chart functionality.
- Zebra BI Charts – New CAGR arrows to better show growth over time.
These updates continue Power BI’s tradition of giving users richer ways to tell stories with their data.
9. Final Thoughts
The September 2025 Power BI update highlights Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to AI-driven insights, seamless modeling, and user-friendly reporting. From Copilot being the new normal to advanced DAX capabilities and NFC mobile support, this release balances innovation with practical productivity improvements.
For businesses, this means faster insights, stronger governance, and more interactive reporting experiences. For professionals, it means new opportunities to master advanced features and grow careers.
If you haven’t already, start exploring these features in your own Power BI environment. The sooner you adapt, the more competitive your analytics practice will become.
These updates are not just incremental improvements, they represent a shift in how data is analyzed, shared, and acted upon. By leveraging these new features, organizations can turn raw data into actionable insights more efficiently, empowering teams to make smarter, faster decisions.
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