There are two ways to connect Excel on the desktop up to data stored in Power BI: you can use the Analyse in Excel feature that was shown in an earlier section, or you can use the Power BI Publisher for Excel add-in which is probably easier to use for most users. Once you have created the connection you can use an Excel PivotTable to browse data in Power BI. PivotTables connected to Power BI data behave in a similar way to regular Excel PivotTables but there are also some useful new features such as Named Sets, Show Details. Slicers can be used as a way for users to filter the data that is shown.
The other ways to display Power BI data in Power BI is to use Excel Cube Formulas, which are well-suited for creating highly-structured reports (such as financial reports), or using Excel tables. Power View sheets are still available in Excel 2016 but they are deprecated and you should not encourage your users to use them. The 3D Maps functionality can be used to display data on a three dimensional map and there are various other Excel Add-ins and Apps that can be used to display data too.
