Have you ever had to update the background image on a report with a lot of pages? Perhaps due to a corporate rebrand, or maybe you no longer like yellow. Whatever the reason, changing the background image on a bunch of pages at once is no fun task. However, there is an easier way which I will go into but first some background info, pun intended.

A fact that I feel is often under appreciated is the fact that Power BI files are in fact zipped archive files. This means you can unzip these files just by renaming the file extension and using a tool like windows explorer or 7zip. I believe this is partly how tools like the the Power BI helper work, but that is just speculation on my part.

Introduction

I think that the Power BI REST API is one of the most overlooked features of Power BI. It is an immensely powerful tool that can save you a lot of time when it comes to maintaining a large number of reports. Especially if you do not have access to some of the admin tools within your organisation.

While a REST API can look like an intimidating task it is far easier than you may think to get up and running with the API.