Two approaches to x-ray microbeam diffraction measurements in polycrystalline films are described: white beam measurements with an energy dispersive detector, which are suitable when grain sizes are much smaller than the x-ray beam size, and white and scanned energy x-ray diffraction measurements with a CCD detector, which are suitable when grain sizes are larger than or on the same order as the x-ray beam size. The former approach gives spatially resolved strain measurements which average over many grains, and the latter approach provides maps of grain orientations and triaxial strains on a grain by grain basis. Examples are shown for polycrystalline Al and Cu films.