No-Code Ways to Extract Power BI Usage Data: A Practical Guide (No REST API Required)

If your organization relies on Power BI for analytics and reporting, understanding how teams actually use your reports is essential. You need to know which dashboards get traction, who’s engaging, and what should be optimized or retired. The catch? The Power BI REST API is powerful—but it requires programming skills and only returns 30 days of activity, which makes long-term analysis hard.

The good news: you can extract and analyze Power BI usage data without writing any code and without touching the REST API. This guide walks you through practical, no-code methods to get the insights you need, build history beyond 30 days, and strengthen Power BI governance.

New to Power BI and want a quick refresher? See What is Power BI and why it matters in analytics in this overview: What is Microsoft Power BI?

Why Power BI Usage Data Matters

Power BI usage metrics help you:

• Improve data governance: See who’s accessing what, and tighten permissions where needed.
• Boost adoption: Identify popular content, underused reports, and opportunities for training.
• Optimize costs: Align licenses and capacity with actual usage patterns.
• Guide your roadmap: Invest in reports that drive value, retire those that don’t.
• Monitor quality: Surface performance issues and export behavior (e.g., frequent CSV exports).

What the Power BI REST API Offers—and Why You May Skip It

The Power BI REST API exposes endpoints for content management, embedding, admin operations, and activity events. You can query:

• Views and active users by report or workspace
• Exports and download events
• User interactions and access methods
• Basic performance signals and errors

However:

• Technical skills are required (REST, JSON, authentication, pagination).
• The activity log via API is limited to the last 30 days.
• Admin privileges are typically needed for tenant-wide visibility.

If you want insights without code and with longer retention, use the no-code options below.

No-Code Options to Extract Power BI Usage Data

1) Built-in Usage Metrics in the Power BI Service

This is the fastest way to start, no code required. Power BI offers out-of-the-box usage metrics for reports and dashboards.

What you’ll get:

• Views over time
• Unique viewers
• Distribution method (app, workspace, shared link)
• Platform (web, mobile)
• Referrers and content lineage (in many cases)

Requirements:

• Power BI Pro or Premium Per User (PPU)
• Edit permissions on the content
• Usage metrics enabled by your tenant admin

How to use it:

1. In the Power BI Service, open a report or dashboard.
2. Select More options (…) > View usage metrics.
3. Switch to the new usage metrics experience if prompted.
4. Save a copy to your workspace so you can customize the visuals.
5. Schedule refresh to keep the metrics up to date.

Pro tips:

• Join the usage metrics with a simple user directory (CSV/Excel from HR with Department, Region, Role) to see adoption by business unit. You can do this in Power BI Desktop connected to the “Usage metrics” semantic model from the Service.
• Add simple KPIs: Weekly Active Users (WAU), Views per User, Time to First View after Publish, and “Stale reports” (no views in X days).
• Use report subscriptions to email a weekly adoption snapshot to stakeholders—again, no code required.

Limitations to consider:

• Built-in usage metrics typically keep a rolling window (commonly 90 days for the new experience). To build a history beyond that, use the audit log method below and append the data over time.

2) Microsoft 365 Audit Log (Purview Compliance Center)

For broader tenant visibility—and a longer retention window than the REST API—the Microsoft 365 Audit Log is a powerful, no-code option. It captures Power BI activities such as ViewReport, ShareDashboard, ExportData, Publish, and more.

What you’ll get:

• Up to 90 days of data by default (longer retention with E5/Audit add-ons)
• Tenant-wide or scoped searches for specific users, workspaces, or activities
• One-click export to CSV for analysis in Power BI

Requirements:

• Microsoft 365 compliance permissions
• Unified audit log enabled
• Power BI activities selected in your search

How to use it:

1. Go to the Microsoft Purview Compliance Portal > Audit.
2. Create a new search.
3. Filter by Activity (select Power BI activities), Date range, and Users (optional).
4. Run the search and export to CSV.
5. Store the CSV files in OneDrive/SharePoint and connect a Power BI report to that folder to append new exports over time.

Pro tips:

• Create a simple weekly cadence to export the audit logs and drop them into the same folder. Power BI’s folder connector will append them automatically into your model.
• Build a star schema: a fact table (audit events) plus dimension tables (Users, Workspaces, Departments).
• Create a semantic layer with friendly fields (e.g., “Report Name,” “Workspace,” “Activity,” “User Department,” “Date”).

Why this is great:

• It’s no code.
• You can build a historical dataset (90 days by default; more with extended retention).
• It covers more activity types than the built-in usage view.

3) Capacity Metrics App (For Premium/Fabric Capacities)

If you’re on Premium or Fabric capacity, install the Microsoft Fabric/Power BI Capacity Metrics App from AppSource. While it’s not a pure “usage” audit, it provides deep operational insights—queries, refreshes, and performance—without any coding.

What you’ll get:

• Query performance and wait times
• Dataset refresh health and resource consumption
• Usage by workspace and user (helpful for understanding load and adoption)

How to use it:

1. Install the Capacity Metrics App from AppSource.
2. Connect it to your capacity.
3. Explore the prebuilt pages (Query Performance, Refreshes, Workspaces).
4. Use “Analyze in Excel” or connect in Power BI Desktop to tailor views for your stakeholders.

Pro tips:

• Correlate capacity usage with report usage metrics to spot inefficiencies (e.g., one report causing heavy load but low value).
• Use the app to justify optimization or capacity scaling decisions.

Build Long-Term Usage History Without the API

The API’s 30-day limit is restrictive. To go beyond:

• Use the Microsoft 365 Audit Log and export data weekly to CSV.
• Store those files in a structured folder hierarchy (e.g., /PowerBI-AuditLogs/YYYY/MM/).
• Connect Power BI to that folder and transform for append-only history.
• Add basic checks to avoid duplicate rows (e.g., de-duplicate by ActivityId + Timestamp).
• Consider incremental refresh for performance once your dataset grows.

This approach gives you a sustainable, no-code pipeline for tenant-wide usage history.

Practical Metrics and Dashboards to Build

Start with simple, decision-ready views:

• Adoption overview: Views by week, Unique viewers, Views per user
• Content performance: Top reports/dashboards by views, trend over time
• Engagement quality: Frequent exporters (CSV/Excel), mobile vs web usage
• Governance: Publicly shared content, external sharing events, sensitive data exports
• Lifecycle health: Reports with zero views in 30/60/90 days, candidates for archival

Enhance with business context:

• Join usage with department data to rank adoption by function.
• Track the impact of major releases or training sessions on usage trends.
• Correlate report usage with outcome metrics like customer satisfaction. If you’re tracking NPS, you can bring it together in Power BI—see how here: NPS and Power BI: the perfect combination for your business.

Step-by-Step: Your No-Code Usage Analytics Starter Plan

1. Confirm access

• Ensure you have a Pro or PPU license.
• Ask your admin to enable Usage Metrics and Audit logging.

1. Quick wins first

• Open a report > View usage metrics > Save a copy.
• Customize a simple “Adoption Overview” page and schedule refresh.

1. Build history

• In Microsoft Purview Audit, export Power BI activities weekly to CSV.
• Store in OneDrive/SharePoint and connect that folder to a Power BI model.
• Incrementally append and de-duplicate rows.

1. Add business context

• Create a basic Users table (Name, Email, Department, Region) from HR data.
• Relate it to your audit fact table.

1. Standardize KPIs

• Weekly Active Users (WAU) and Monthly Active Users (MAU).
• Views per user and per report.
• Stale content (no activity in X days).
• Export intensity by team.

1. Operationalize

• Publish your Usage and Governance dashboard to a secure workspace.
• Schedule a weekly email subscription for leadership.
• Review the “stale content” tab monthly and act on it.

Want more fundamentals as you scale your BI practice? This accessible primer is a great companion: Mastering Business Intelligence: A Beginner’s Guide

Governance and Security Best Practices

• Respect privacy: Aggregate where possible (e.g., department-level views). Share user-level detail only with admins.
• Limit who sees usage data: Treat usage analytics as sensitive content.
• Retention policy: Decide how long you will keep detailed logs vs. aggregates.
• Track external sharing and exports: These are high-signal events for risk monitoring.
• Document your model: Keep clear definitions of KPIs and metrics so stakeholders trust the numbers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What licenses do I need?

• Built-in usage metrics require Power BI Pro or PPU and edit permissions on the content.
• Microsoft 365 Audit Log access depends on your Microsoft 365 role and plan. Default retention is up to 90 days; longer with E5/Audit add-ons.
• Premium/Fabric Capacity Metrics App requires Premium or Fabric capacity.

Can non-admins see usage?

• Yes, creators with edit rights can see usage for their own content. Tenant-wide visibility typically requires admin roles (or audit exports).

How do I get usage beyond 30 days?

• Use Microsoft 365 Audit Log exports and append data weekly. This avoids the REST API’s 30-day cap and gives you a long-term history without coding.

Can I combine usage with other data?

• Absolutely. Many teams join usage with HR data (department/region) and outcomes (e.g., NPS, sales). Start simple and ensure data governance is respected.

What about performance monitoring?

• Use the Capacity Metrics App to monitor queries, refreshes, and resource consumption—no code required.

The Bottom Line

You don’t need the Power BI REST API—or any coding—to get robust usage insights. Start with built-in Usage Metrics for fast wins, then layer in Microsoft 365 Audit Log exports to build a historical, tenant-wide view. If you’re on Premium or Fabric, the Capacity Metrics App adds operational depth.

With a few simple steps and a repeatable weekly export routine, you can transform raw activity into actionable governance, adoption, and content strategy—without writing a single line of code.

Download the step-by-step guide to extracting Power BI usage data without the API and start building your long-term usage analytics today.