Power BI August 2026 update: what matters for SMEs
Easy Insight Team ·
The headline item in Power BI's August 2026 release is not a feature — it is a deadline. From October, anyone still running a March 2026 or earlier version of Power BI Desktop loses the ability to save and share files to OneDrive and SharePoint. Everything else this month is a quality-of-life improvement. Here are the five items worth an SME's attention.
Update Power BI Desktop before October
Microsoft is retiring the old file picker experience. Users on Power BI Desktop versions from March 2026 or earlier will no longer be able to save and share files to OneDrive and SharePoint from October (Microsoft Learn, August 2026 update).
This is the one to act on. Smaller businesses are exactly where old Desktop versions linger, because nobody owns updates and the current install works fine — right up until it doesn't. If your team saves .pbix files to SharePoint, check the version everyone is running this week, not in October.
Refreshing a model got a lot more precise
The Refresh button in the Power BI service now offers three separate options: refresh schema and data, sync schema only, or refresh data only. Refreshes can also be run at table level rather than across the whole model.
This is a bigger practical win than it sounds. On a model with one enormous fact table and a handful of small lookups, being able to refresh just the table that changed removes a genuine daily annoyance. If you are not sure what your model's refresh is actually doing, our explainer on Power BI semantic models covers what is being refreshed and why it takes as long as it does.
New reports get a modern look by default
Modern visual defaults and the Theme pane have reached general availability. New reports now start on the Fluent 2 base theme, and the Theme pane lets you set a base theme, adjust colour palettes, change text styles and import or export custom themes from either Desktop or the web.
The detail worth knowing: font overrides have been removed from the base theme, so the Text section now applies consistently across all visuals. If you have ever wondered why one chart insisted on its own font, that is the fix. Existing reports are unaffected — this applies to new ones.
Matrix visuals became more usable
Two changes here, both generally available, and both aimed squarely at the finance-style reports SMEs actually build:
- Column headers now expand and collapse with +/– icons when there is more than one field in the Columns well, with the icon colour and size configurable.
- The default freeze state for row headers can now be set in the format pane and saved with the report, rather than being a per-session right-click.
If your monthly management pack is a wide matrix that everyone scrolls sideways through, both of these are worth ten minutes of tidying up.
Export to Excel from the mobile app
Data from report visuals can now be exported to Excel directly from the Power BI mobile app on iOS and Android, via focus mode or the visual's More options menu. The export respects current filters, slicers, drill state and row-level security — that last part being what matters for governance.
Also in this release: Direct Lake calculated columns (preview), relevant if you are already on Fabric and safely ignorable if not, and OneLake file URLs as image sources in visuals, cards and slicers — a tidy answer to "how do we get product photos into this report".
What we would actually do this month
Three things, in order: check every Power BI Desktop version in the business and update anything from March 2026 or earlier; see whether table-level refresh shortens your slowest scheduled refresh; and spend ten minutes on the matrix freeze and expand settings in whichever report people complain about most.
None of that is exciting, and all of it fits in an afternoon — the right budget for a monthly update. If you are planning something larger, our guide to budgeting a Power BI project sets out the three cost lines to price, and the Power BI consultancy page explains how we work.
Frequently asked questions
What is the one thing we have to act on from the August 2026 update?
Update Power BI Desktop. From October 2026, anyone still running a March 2026 or earlier version will no longer be able to save and share files to OneDrive and SharePoint. It is the only item in this release with a deadline and a breakage attached.
Will the new Fluent 2 theme change our existing reports?
No. The modern visual defaults apply to new reports; existing reports keep the look they have. The change worth knowing about is that font overrides have been removed from the base theme, so the Text settings now apply consistently across all visuals — useful if you have ever fought a rogue font in one chart.
What is the practical benefit of the new refresh options?
Time. The Refresh button in the Power BI service now offers refresh schema and data, sync schema only, or refresh data only, and refreshes can be run at table level. On a large model, refreshing one table instead of everything turns a coffee break into a few seconds.
Easy Insight is a UK consultancy for AI, web, apps and data — senior specialists only, no juniors.
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