In 2025, Microsoft Fabric is making significant strides in the data analytics landscape. At the recent SAS Innovate 2025 event , Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella highlighted the integration of SAS solutions into Microsoft Fabric, emphasizing the platform’s role in streamlining AI deployment and enhancing decision-making processes.
This collaboration underscores why many organizations are gravitating towards Microsoft Fabric . Its unified approach brings together various data tools—like Power BI, Azure Synapse Analytics, and Azure Data Factory—into a single, cohesive platform. This integration simplifies complex data processes, reduces the need for multiple disparate tools, and accelerates the journey from data ingestion to actionable insights.
In this blog , we’ll walk through some key parts of working with Microsoft Fabric Workspace. From setup to a few handy options, you’ll get a clear idea of how things work and what to look out for. Whether you’re just starting or already using it, there’s something here for you.
What is Microsoft Fabric Workspace?
As Microsoft pushes to bring everything—reporting, analytics, data pipelines , and collaboration—under one roof, the Fabric Workspace has quietly become the center of the action. Whether you’re a Power BI user or a data engineer working with Spark, this is where most of your work will live and be shared.
Workspaces in Microsoft Fabric act as the control center for your data projects. Instead of jumping between different tools and platforms, you can manage everything from one place: building, storing, securing, and sharing all types of content across teams.
Many organizations are already moving to Fabric to replace their scattered toolsets. In fact, from startups to large enterprises, teams are increasingly using Fabric Workspaces to keep projects organized. As a result, this allows every team member—from analysts to engineers—to have a single, shared view of what’s happening.
10 Key Features of Microsoft Fabric Workspace
1. Centralized Content Management: Everything related to your project—lakehouses, dataflows, warehouses, pipelines, reports, notebooks—is stored in one workspace.
2. Role-Based Access Control: Assign roles like Admin, Member, Contributor, or Viewer. Each role controls what the user can do, from editing content to just viewing it.
3. Item-Level Permissions : Fine-grained control over who can access what. You can restrict access to the item level or even down to specific tables in warehouses or lakehouses.
4. Integrated Upload Options: Upload PBIX, RDL, or other files directly from your machine, OneDrive, or SharePoint.
5. App Creation and Sharing: Bundle workspace items into an app that can be shared with broader audiences, offering a polished view of reports and dashboards.
6. Support for External Tools: Connect with tools like Tabular Editor, ALM Toolkit, DAX Studio, or SQL Server Management Studio using the workspace’s XMLA endpoint.
7. Flexible Licensing and Capacity Options: Supports different types of capacities: Trial, Pro, Premium Per User, Premium Capacity, and Fabric Capacity—depending on your organization’s needs.
8. Advanced Workspace Settings: Change name, domain, storage format, OneDrive locations, and license configuration all from within the workspace settings.
9. Built-In Security and Monitoring: Configure private endpoints, set up secure access , and monitor activity using Event House logging—all from the workspace panel.
10. Data Engineering Integration: Configure Spark environments, manage session timeouts, enable concurrency for notebooks, and handle Apache Airflow runtime for pipelines.
How to Create a Microsoft Fabric Workspace
Creating a workspace is the first step in getting started with Microsoft Fabric. This space becomes the foundation where all your data activities—storage, modeling, transformation, visualization—are managed. Whether you’re working solo or with a team, setting up the workspace properly helps avoid confusion later.
Step 1: Open Microsoft Fabric or Power BI Service Go to either of the following URLs:
Both URLs will eventually point you to the same unified workspace interface under Microsoft Fabric.
Step 2: Open the Workspaces Panel From the left-hand sidebar, click on Workspaces.
Step 3: Click “New Workspace” Select New Workspace from the panel.
Advanced Settings of Microsoft Fabric Workspace
These settings let you control how data is stored and processed in the workspace.
1. Semantic Model Storage Format
Choose how your semantic models (like Power BI datasets) are stored.
2. Capacity Selection
If your organization has multiple Fabric or Premium capacities, you can choose where this workspace will be hosted. The choice affects performance, scalability, and who can access what.
Once everything is filled in and selected, click Apply to create the workspace.
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Exploring the Microsoft Fabric Workspace Interface
Once your Microsoft Fabric Workspace is created, you’ll land on its main page. At this point, the workspace is empty, meaning no content—no reports, no lakehouses, no pipelines—has been added yet. From here, you start building your project by adding content, managing files, and setting up access.
Microsoft Fabric Workspace Layout
The layout is simple and functional:
A left-hand menu shows navigation options like “New,” “Folders,” “Reports,” “Notebooks,” etc.
A toolbar at the top gives quick access to workspace-level actions like creating new items, managing access, or building apps.
The main area displays a list of all items and folders added to the workspace.
What You Can Do in an Empty Workspace
1. Create Folders
You can organize your content by creating folders. This is especially useful in large projects where you might have dozens of reports, data models , or notebooks. Keeping things grouped by department, purpose, or function makes it easier to manage and find later.
2. Upload Files
You can upload different types of content directly into the workspace:
PBIX files (Power BI Desktop files)
RDL files (Paginated report files)
Files from OneDrive or SharePoint
You can also browse your local machine to upload files manually
Uploaded files appear in the workspace item list and are ready to be used or shared immediately.
3. Create New Items
Clicking the “New” button in the workspace gives you access to all supported item types in Microsoft Fabric. These include:
Each item type supports different use cases—for example, lakehouses are used for big data storage and analytics , while pipelines are used to move and transform data.
4. Build Apps
Once you’ve created or uploaded reports or dashboards, you can bundle them into an App. Apps are designed to package workspace content in a way that’s easy to share with other users or departments. They’re especially useful when distributing finalized content to business users who don’t need access to the workspace itself.
5. Manage Access and Permissions
Clicking on “Manage Access” lets you invite team members or groups to the workspace. You can assign them roles:
Admin – Full control, including settings and access
Member – Can create and edit items
Contributor – Limited to content creation without access management
Viewer – Read-only access
This helps ensure each user has the right level of control without unnecessary permissions.
Getting to Know Microsoft Fabric Workspace Settings
Once your Microsoft Fabric Workspace is set up, the next step is understanding the settings available. These settings, in turn, control the workspace’s behavior, access, resource limits, and connections to other tools or services . Moreover, knowing what’s available here will help you configure your workspace to better match the needs of your project or team.
1. General Settings
These are the basic administrative options for managing how your workspace is identified and organized.
Name, Description, and Domain business function (e.g., Sales, Finance). This is useful for governance and access control in large organizations.
Workspace Contacts
Workspace OneDrive
Delete Workspace
2. License Information and Capacity
This section determines the type of resources and performance capabilities available to your workspace.
License Type You can view or switch between the available license types:
Trial – Temporary access for learning or testing
Pro – For individuals with standard access needs
PPU (Premium Per User) – Adds premium features on a per-user basis
Premium Capacity – Dedicated performance for enterprise-scale use
Fabric Capacity – Built for broader and more unified Fabric workloads
Choosing the right license affects what features are available and how your data is processed .
Semantic Model Storage Format This defines how Power BI datasets (semantic models) are stored. Formats like “small” or “large” are based on expected data volume.
You can edit this if you know your models will grow in complexity or size.
3. Azure Connections
These options let you connect your workspace to Azure services for storage and monitoring.
ADLS Gen2 (Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2): This allows your workspace to directly store or retrieve data from an Azure Data Lake. It’s especially useful for big data workloads, large files, and data engineering tasks.
Azure Log Analytics : If enabled, this lets your workspace send activity logs to Azure Log Analytics. From there, you can query logs using KQL (Kusto Query Language) for tracking user activity, monitoring performance, or auditing access.
As of now, these options must be manually configured and may require admin privileges or Azure-level access depending on your organization’s setup.
How to Integrate Git and Manage Storage in Microsoft Fabric
Microsoft Fabric Workspace offers tools to manage your workspace’s storage consumption and integrate with version control systems like Azure DevOps and GitHub. These features are especially useful in collaborative environments where code, data models , and pipeline definitions are shared and updated frequently.
1. System Storage Overview
Every workspace in Microsoft Fabric is backed by a storage system. Understanding how much space you’re using—and how it’s distributed—is key for performance planning and cost management .
What You Can See:
Total storage used by your workspace
Breakdown of storage by item type (lakehouses, datasets, reports, etc.)
Storage consumption per user (if tracking is enabled)
System metadata including name, size, and related items
2. Git Integration
Microsoft Fabric allows you to connect your workspace with version control systems like Azure DevOps and GitHub. This feature is critical for teams who want to follow best practices in development, including versioning, auditing, rollback, and collaboration.
What You Can Do:
Link your workspace to a Git repository
Save and track changes to items like:
Commit changes, compare versions, and roll back when needed
Supported Platforms:
Azure DevOps – Recommended for enterprise teams already using Microsoft tools
GitHub – Widely used for open-source collaboration and modern DevOps workflows
Common Use Cases:
A BI developer commits report updates to a shared repo, so others can review or restore previous versions.
A team working on deployment pipelines maintains all definitions as code, making it easier to automate environments and CI/CD flows.
Managing OneLake Settings in Microsoft Fabric
OneLake is the unified data storage layer in Microsoft Fabric. As such, these settings help users manage data access , optimize performance, and connect to files stored in OneLake from local environments.
1. OneLake File Explorer Download
This allows users to install a desktop utility called OneLake File Explorer, which integrates OneLake storage with the Windows file system. Once installed, users can:
Browse workspace data from their desktop, just like browsing folders
Open, copy, or move files between local drives and OneLake
Drag and drop large files into workspace storage without needing to use the web UI
It’s particularly useful when working with data engineers who prefer handling files outside the browser.
2. Shortcut Caching
This setting allows administrators to cache data from shortcuts created within OneLake . When enabled:
Files accessed through shortcuts are stored locally for quicker retrieval
A retention period (in days) can be set to control how long cached data stays before it expires
Cached files reduce access time, especially when pointing to external storage locations or frequently accessed datasets
This is useful for performance tuning and is typically set at the workspace level.
Workspace Identity & Network Security
These settings help you define how your workspace authenticates with external services and how securely it connects to data .
1. Workspace Identity
Workspace Identity is a system-generated identity (like a service principal) that represents the workspace. It is used for:
Accessing Azure storage accounts
Running pipelines that need secure credentials
Accessing APIs without requiring a user’s credentials
This allows secure automation and background jobs without tying them to a single user’s identity.
2. Network Security (Private Endpoints)
This allows you to restrict workspace traffic using Azure Private Endpoints, which connect directly to services like:
This setup prevents data from flowing over the public internet, enabling better security and compliance. You can configure:
Specific subnets or virtual networks
Resource group associations
Endpoint visibility per region
Setting Up Monitoring in Microsoft Fabric Workspace
This section lets you monitor workspace-level activity, useful for audit logging and performance diagnostics.
1. Monitoring Event House
You can attach a Monitoring Event House, which creates a dedicated Kusto Query Language (KQL)-enabled database. It stores:
User actions within the workspace
File uploads, deletions, and pipeline executions
Access logs and permission changes
This data can be queried for audits, troubleshooting, and tracking usage trends.
2. Logging Controls
When the Event House is enabled:
Logging automatically begins, capturing events in near real time
You can manually pause logging from this panel
Logs are read-only and stored for query access only
Power BI & App Settings
These settings control how apps behave and who can manage them.
1. Allow Contributors to Update App
By default, only Admins and Members can update published Power BI apps . This toggle allows Contributors to also update apps. This is useful when contributors are responsible for maintaining report bundles or refreshing shared dashboards.
2. Template App Workspace Configuration
Template apps are pre-packaged Power BI apps designed for reuse. Enabling this:
Turns the workspace into a template app workspace
Allows you to build apps that can be shared externally or published on Microsoft AppSource
Supports versioning, metadata setup, and distribution settings
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Data Model Settings
These settings control how datasets (also known as semantic models) can be edited.
1. Edit Datasets in Service
This enables users to directly open and edit datasets stored in the Fabric service. Changes are saved automatically and affect the live version.
2. Restrictions
No version history is stored—changes are permanent
Does not apply to Direct Lake semantic models
Also does not support edits made via XMLA endpoint or REST API
Data Connection Control
These settings enforce strict rules for working with external data connections.
1. Enable Granular Access Control
This option activates detailed access rules for each shared data connection. When active:
Only users with specific permissions can use or modify connections
Shared datasets cannot be edited or used by unauthorized users
2. Enforced Disconnection
If a user without permission tries to edit an item using a protected data source:
The connection will automatically be broken for that user
This prevents unauthorized data exposure or misuse of sensitive data
Embedding & Delegation Settings
1. Embed Code
This section lists any embed codes created for publishing reports outside the Fabric platform. Embed codes allow reports to be shown in:
If no embed codes exist yet, the list will be empty. Embed permissions depend on workspace and report-level sharing policies.
2. Delegated SSA Token (Preview Feature)
Allows the workspace to authenticate with OneLake using delegated Secure Shared Access (SSA) tokens.
Shared workloads not tied to a specific user session
Data Engineering Settings
These settings are specific to Spark workloads (used in notebooks and pipelines).
1. Spark Pool Configuration
Default Pool: Typically, the starter pool, which is auto configured
Node Type: Memory-optimized medium nodes
Environment: Spark 3.5 with Delta Lake 3.2
Session Timeout: Idle sessions auto close after 20 minutes
These settings ensure balanced performance and cost control for engineering workloads.
2. High Concurrency Option
When enabled:
Pipelines can run sequential notebooks using the same Spark session
Reduces startup time for each job, improving speed and efficiency
Data Factory (Apache Airflow) Settings
Fabric supports Apache Airflow as a built-in orchestration tool for managing data pipelines .
1. Runtime Pool Configuration
Defines the pool and node settings for executing Airflow jobs:
Pool: Usually the starter pool
Compute Node Size: Large, suitable for task-heavy workflows
2. Runtime Customization
You can configure Airflow’s runtime behavior at two levels:
Per individual Airflow job
At the environment level, affecting all jobs in the workspace
This helps manage task queues, retries, and scaling of orchestrated workflows.
Leveraging Your Microsoft Fabric Workspace for Success
Now that your Microsoft Fabric Workspace is fully set up and configured, it’s time to move forward and put everything into action. Here’s how you can begin using the workspace for real-world data projects and collaboration.
1. Build and Organize Your Data Projects
With your workspace in place, it’s time to create and organize the core components of your data project. Begin by setting up lakehouses, dataflows, and pipelines. Organize your items into folders to keep everything neat and accessible. This will ensure smooth project management as your workspace grows.
2. Assign Roles and Collaborate
Assign roles to your team members based on their responsibilities. With Admin, Member, Contributor, and Viewer roles clearly defined, each team member, consequently, can access the workspace with the appropriate permissions. This step, in turn, ensures that collaboration is efficient, and each user only has the permissions they need.
3. Integrate External Tools and Automate Workflows
Now that your workspace is up and running, you can integrate external tools like GitHub and Azure DevOps to enhance your workflow. Use these integrations to automate tasks, track versioning, and manage your data pipelines with greater ease. This streamlines development and collaboration across the team.
4. Monitor Workspace Performance and Activity
Activate workspace monitoring to track performance, data activity, and user interactions. Additionally, set up monitoring dashboards using Event House and KQL queries to gather insights on your workspace’s usage and performance. This, in turn, allows you to identify bottlenecks, optimize processes, and ensure everything is running smoothly.
5. Stay Updated and Optimize Your Workspace
Microsoft Fabric is constantly evolving, with new features and updates regularly introduced. Therefore, make sure your workspace is kept up to date to take full advantage of these improvements. As your workspace grows, it’s important to periodically review and adjust settings, permissions, and integrations to optimize for new requirements.
Exploring Advanced Features of Microsoft Fabric Workspaces
Once you’ve mastered the basics of setting up and managing your Microsoft Fabric Workspace, it’s time to dive into some of the advanced features that can truly elevate your data management and analytics capabilities.
1. Automating Data Pipelines with Power Automate
One of the powerful features of Microsoft Fabric is its ability to integrate seamlessly with Power Automate. By connecting your workspace with Power Automate , you can:
Set up triggers to automatically refresh reports or dataflows
Schedule notifications for team members when certain data thresholds are met
This kind of automation ensures that data is always up to date without manual intervention, improving efficiency across your workflow.
2. Advanced Security and Compliance Management
For organizations handling sensitive data, Microsoft Fabric offers advanced security and compliance settings. You can enhance your workspace’s security by:
Setting up Azure Active Directory (AAD) for authentication and role-based access control (RBAC) to ensure that only authorized users have access to specific resources
These settings help protect your organization from data breaches while maintaining compliance with industry standards.
3. Leveraging AI and Machine Learning in Microsoft Fabric
As data analytics increasingly incorporates AI and machine learning, Microsoft Fabric, therefore, makes it easy to integrate these technologies into your workspace. By connecting Azure Machine Learning to your workspace, you can:
Use auto-ML tools to predict outcomes based on historical data
This opens up possibilities for smarter insights, better forecasting, and more advanced data exploration .
4. Collaboration and Sharing with Microsoft Teams Integration
Collaboration is made even easier when you integrate Microsoft Teams with your Fabric workspace. You can:
Set up alerts and notifications within Teams to keep everyone on the same page about data updates or workflow progress
Host real-time meetings within Teams while analyzing data, making it easier to collaborate instantly
This integration allows for smooth, real-time communication and data sharing, improving team collaboration.
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FAQs
What are workspaces in Microsoft Fabric?
Workspaces are places to collaborate with colleagues to create collections of items such as lakehouses , warehouses, and reports, and to create task flows .
What are the roles in MS fabric workspace?
You can either assign roles to individuals or to security groups, Microsoft 365 groups, and distribution lists. To grant access to a workspace, assign those user groups or individuals to one of the workspace roles: Admin, Member, Contributor, or Viewer .
What is the difference between fabric domain and workspace?
A Fabric domain is a logical grouping of Fabric workspaces. They present a convenient way to manage access and permissions to groups of resources. For example, you can have a Domain for Sales and another for Marketing. Domains act as representations of distinct business data segments.
