Guidelines for publishing Power BI visuals

Before you publish your Power BI visual to Microsoft AppSource for others to discover and use, follow these guidelines for creating a great experience for your users.

Free and for purchase Power BI visuals

Power BI visuals submitted to the Commercial Marketplace (Microsoft AppSource) can be made available for free, or they can have an additional purchase may be required tag. Visuals with the additional purchase may be required designation are similar to in-app purchase (IAP) add-ins.

Like the free Power BI visuals, an IAP Power BI visual can also be certified. Before submitting your IAP Power BI visual for certification, make sure it complies with the certification requirements.

Power BI visuals with IAP features

An IAP Power BI visual is a free visual that offers free features. It also has some advanced features available for a fee. In the Power BI visual's description, developers must notify users about features that require additional purchases to operate. Currently, Microsoft doesn't provide native APIs to support the purchase of apps and add-ins.

Developers may use any third-party payment system for these purchases. For more information, see our Commercial Marketplace certification policy.

Important

If you update your Power BI visual from free to additional purchase may be required, users must receive the same level of free functionality as before the update. You may add optional advanced paid features in addition to the existing free features.

Watermarks

You can use watermarks to allow customers to continue using the IAP advanced features without paying.

Watermarks let you showcase the full functionality of the Power BI visual before a purchase is made.

Only use watermarks on paid features that are used without a valid license. Watermarks aren't allowed on free features of IAP visuals.

Pop-up window

Use a pop-up window to explain how to purchase a license when an invalid (or expired) license is used with your Power BI IAP visual.

Submission process

Follow the submission process and then navigate to the Offer setup tab. Select the My product requires the purchase of a service check box.

After the Power BI visual is validated and approved, the Microsoft AppSource listing for the IAP Power BI visual states, more purchase may be required under the pricing options.

Context menu

The context menu is the menu displayed when the user right-clicks inside a visual. All Power BI visuals should enable the context menu to give users a unified experience. Read this article to learn how to add a context menu.

A screenshot of a Power BI visual context menu.

This section describes the specifications for adding commercial logos in Power BI visuals. Commercial logos are not mandatory. If you add them, make sure they follow these guidelines.

Note

  • In this article, 'commercial logo' refers to any commercial company icon as described in the pictures below.
  • The Microsoft commercial logo is used in this article only as an example. Use your own commercial logo with your Power BI visual.

Important

Commercial logos are allowed in edit mode only. Commercial logos can't be displayed in view mode.

Commercial logo type

There are three types of commercial logos:

  • Logo - A logo is made up of two elements locked together, an icon and a name.

    A screenshot of the Microsoft logo.

  • Symbol - A graphic without any text.

    A screenshot of the Microsoft symbol.

  • Logotype - A text logo without an icon.

    A screenshot of the Microsoft logo without an icon.

Commercial logo color

When using a commercial logo, the color of the logo must be grey (hex color #C8C8C8). Don't add effects such as gradients to the commercial logo.

  • Logo

    A screenshot of the Microsoft logo in the color grey.

  • Symbol - A graphic without any text.

    A screenshot of the Microsoft symbol in the color grey.

  • Logotype - A text logo without an icon.

    A screenshot of the Microsoft logo without an icon, in the color grey.

Tip

  • If your Power BI visual contains a graphic, consider adding a white background with 10 px margins to your logo.
  • Consider adding dropshadow to your logo (30% opacity black).

Commercial logo size

A Power BI visual offer uses two commercial logos; one for the offer details page and one for the search page. Provide the large logo in PNG format at 300 x 300 px; Partner Center will use this logo to generate a smaller logo for the search page. You can optionally replace this with a different image later.

Commercial logo behavior

Commercial logos are only allowed in edit mode. When clicked, a commercial logo can only include the following functionality:

  • Clicking the commercial logo redirects to your website.

  • Clicking the commercial logo opens a popup window with additional information. The popup window should be divided into two sections:

    • A marketing area for the commercial logo, a visual, and market ratings.
    • An information area for information and links.

Limitations regarding logos

  • Commercial logos can't be displayed in view mode.

  • If your Power BI visual includes informative icons (i) in reading mode, they should comply to the color, size, and location of the commercial logo, as described above.

  • Avoid a colorful or a black commercial logo. The commercial logo must be grey (hex color #C8C8C8).

    A screenshot of an unauthorized colorful Microsoft logo. A screenshot of an unauthorized Microsoft grey logo

  • Avoid a commercial logo with effects such as gradients or strong shadows.

    A screenshot of an example of an unauthorized Microsoft logo style.

Best practices

When publishing a Power BI visual, consider the following recommendations to give users the best possible experience.

  • Create a landing page that provides information about your Power BI visual. Include details like how to use the visual and where to purchase the license. A meaningful landing page helps report creators use the visual correctly and easily.
  • Don't include videos that are automatically triggered.
  • Add only material that improves the user's experience, such as information or links to license purchasing details and how to use IAP features.
  • For the user's convenience, add the license key or token related fields at the top of the format pane.
  • Submit a short screen-recording video that shows how to use the visual.
  • Submit a detailed description of the visual's functionality. Include information about supported features such as high contrast, report page tooltip, and drill down.
  • Check the quality of your code. Make sure it's up to standard - including unhandled exceptions.
  • Update your visual using the latest API.

FAQ

For more information about Power BI visuals, see Frequently asked questions about Power BI visuals with extra purchases.

Next steps

Learn how you can publish your Power BI visual to for others to discover and use.

Publish Power BI visuals

Get a Power BI visual certified