Power BI Desktop, Microsoft's tool for making Power BI reports, runs only on Windows. Anyone on a Mac, Linux or a Chromebook who is sent a .pbix file, or who needs to see what a report contains without installing it, has no way to open it. This page reads the parts of a Power BI file that are stored openly and shows them: what each page looks like, which fields and measures each visual uses, how the data is fetched and shaped in Power Query, and, in templates and projects, how the model is built.
A .pbix file is a ZIP package. Its report layout and theme are readable, and so is its Power Query code in files from older versions of Power BI Desktop; this page reads them directly. Its data, together with the tables and measures, sits in a data model compressed with Microsoft's XPress9, which is not unpacked here, so charts are drawn as labelled boxes with their fields rather than as charts. A .pbit template is the same report without the data, plus the full model definition, so for a template you also get every table, column, measure, relationship and role. It is free to use, with no account and no upload limit, and it runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, and while the page stays open, a feature you have already used keeps working offline.
- Why are the charts empty boxes?
- Because the data inside a .pbix file is stored in a compressed Analysis Services model, in Microsoft's XPress9 format, which this page does not unpack. What it can show without the data is the design of the report: where every visual is, what kind it is and which fields and measures it uses. To share the numbers with someone without Power BI, publish the report or export it to PDF or PowerPoint from Power BI Desktop.
- Why don't I see the measures of my .pbix?
- In a .pbix, the tables and measures are stored inside the compressed data model with the data. In Power BI Desktop, choose File, Export, Power BI template to save a .pbit, or File, Save as and choose a project (.pbip): both keep the model's definition readable, and this page then shows every table, column, measure and relationship.
- Can I open a PBIX file on a Mac?
- Power BI Desktop has no Mac version, but this page works in Safari, Chrome or Firefox on a Mac and shows the report's pages, visuals, fields and filters, and its queries where the file keeps them outside the data model. To work with the data itself, Mac users publish to the Power BI service in a browser, which needs a Microsoft work account and licence.
- The page says my file is protected by a sensitivity label. What does that mean?
- Your organisation has applied a Microsoft Purview sensitivity label that encrypts the whole file, so nothing in it can be read without signing in to Power BI Desktop with an account the label allows. Ask the sender for an unlabelled copy or a PDF export.
- Are passwords in my queries shown?
- Power BI does not save data source passwords in the file, but people sometimes write keys or tokens into a query or URL. Anything that looks like one is hidden on this page and in the documentation; the .m files and the JSON keep the code exactly as written, since they are for your own use.
- Is my Power BI file uploaded anywhere?
- No. It is read in your browser and never leaves your device.