M365 Changelog: Power BI app for Microsoft Teams automatic installation and availability for government customers

MC288054 – Updated November 04, 2021: Microsoft has updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Users will soon find it easier to find and share reports in Teams and they’ll be able to receive notifications when content is shared to them. Messaging extension will support search, link unfurling, and inserting cards into messages.

Two changes are planned:

• Power BI will be automatically installed for users in your organization when they use the Power BI service in a web browser and have a Microsoft Teams license.
• Power BI app for Teams will become available to government customers.

These change will affect the Power BI app in Microsoft Teams (web, desktop).

When this will happen:

Microsoft expects this rollout to begin in mid-November (previously early November) and expect the rollout to be fully completed by late December.

How this affects your organization:

When Power BI app for Microsoft Teams is installed, users get better experiences without leaving Teams, like:

• Activity feed notifications for sharing and request access, help them work faster and be more responsive without leaving where they collaborate
• Links sent in chat turn into preview cards making collaboration richer, helping users find reports more quickly
• Items open in Teams, so users don’t have to switch apps just to see what data was shared to them

The new automatic installation makes it much easier for organizations who use Power BI and Microsoft Teams to deploy the fully integrated experiences for their users.

The automatic installation will occur for a user under the following conditions:

• The Power BI app for Microsoft Teams is set to allowed in the Microsoft Teams admin portal
• The Power BI tenant setting Install Power BI app for Microsoft Teams automatically is enabled
• The user has a Microsoft Teams license
• The user uses the Power BI service in a web browser

Initially, auto-install applies to new users the first time they visit Power BI service in a web browser. In the future, this will expand so that auto-install occurs for all active users of the Power BI service who meet the criteria.

When auto-install occurs, the user will receive a notification in the Power BI service notification pane.

Users in government clouds will be able to use the Power BI app for Teams experiences.

NOTE: Messaging extension support for government clouds will not be included in the initial release.

What you need to do to prepare:

An action is only required if you want to opt out of automatic installation.

• To opt out, navigate to the Power BI admin portal tenant settings. Set the Install Power BI app for Microsoft Teams automatically setting to Disabled or customize it to apply to appropriate subset of users.
• To opt out of Power BI app for Teams in the Government Community Cloud navigate to the Teams admin center. Select the Power BI app and set it to not allowed. Note: the Power BI app will not be available in Teams admin center until it has rolled-out.

Please click Additional Information to learn more.

Additional informationBlog