How to Create a Paginated Report in Power BI

If you've ever tried to print a standard Power BI dashboard or export it to a clean PDF, you know it can be a frustrating experience. Power BI’s interactive reports are amazing for data exploration, but they aren’t designed for perfectly formatted, fixed-layout documents. That’s exactly where paginated reports come in. This guide will walk you through what paginated reports are, why you need them, and how to create your first one step-by-step.

What Are Power BI Paginated Reports?

Think of paginated reports as the descendants of the classic SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports. They are designed to be "pixel-perfect" and optimized for printing or sharing as a PDF. Unlike a typical interactive Power BI report where visuals resize and adapt to your screen, a paginated report is formatted to fit perfectly on a page, or many pages.

The term "paginated" means the report is organized into pages. As you add more data, the report automatically generates as many pages as needed to display all of it, while keeping the structure, headers, and footers consistent on every page. This makes them ideal for:

• Invoices and financial statements
• Sales orders and packing slips
• Operational reports with long, detailed tables
• Official documents that need a precise, professional layout

In short, if you need a static report that looks great on paper or as a PDF attachment in an email, a paginated report is the tool for the job.

Why Not Just Use Regular Power BI Reports?

Regular Power BI reports are built for interactivity and dynamic analysis. You can click on a visual, filter data, and drill down to find insights. They are fantastic for building dashboards that let users explore data from different angles.

Paginated reports serve a different purpose. Their strengths lie where interactive reports fall short:

• Print Formatting: They give you complete control over page layout, margins, headers, and footers, ensuring a clean, professional printout every time.
• Handling Large Datasets: They can handle massive amounts of data and render it in long tables that span hundreds of pages without performance issues.
• Varied Export Options: You can export them to formats like PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and CSV, with the formatting perfectly preserved.

Getting Started: What You’ll Need

Before you jump in, you’ll need a few things. Creating paginated reports happens outside the main Power BI Desktop application.

1. Power BI Report Builder: This is a free, standalone Windows application from Microsoft where you will design and build your paginated reports. You can download it directly from the Microsoft website.
2. Power BI Pro or Premium Per User (PPU) License: While Report Builder is free, you need a Pro or PPU license to publish your report to the Power BI service.
3. A Workspace in Power BI Premium Capacity or PPU: This is the most important requirement. Paginated reports can only be published to and run from a Power BI workspace that is backed by either a Premium capacity (P1, P2, P3 SKUs) or a Premium Per User license.

Once you have these pieces in place, you’re ready to start building.

How to Create a Paginated Report: A Step-by-Step Guide

We'll create a simple sales summary report that pulls data directly from an existing Power BI dataset. This is one of the most common and powerful ways to work, as you can leverage the data models you’ve already built.

Step 1: Install Power BI Report Builder

If you haven’t already, the first step is to download and install Power BI Report Builder. It’s a straightforward installation process. Once it’s installed, open the application. You'll be greeted by a "Getting Started" dialog. You can start with the Table or Matrix wizard, but for this guide, we’ll build it from scratch by choosing “Blank Report.”

Step 2: Connect to Your Data Source

Your blank report canvas is open. Now, let’s connect it to some data. The left-hand pane is the Report Data pane, which is where you’ll manage your data sources and datasets.

1. Right-click on Data Sources and select Add Power BI Dataset Connection.
2. A new window will appear, showing you the Power BI workspaces you have access to. Find and select the Power BI dataset you want to use for this report. Let's say we have a dataset called "Sales Analysis." Select it and click the "Select" button.
3. The data source will now appear under the Data Sources folder in the Report Data pane. It’s that easy — no need to enter server names or credentials manually.

Step 3: Create a Dataset for Your Report

A data source is the connection, but a dataset is the specific query that pulls the tables and columns you need for this particular report.

1. Right-click on the Datasets folder in the Report Data pane and click Add Dataset....
2. In the Dataset Properties window, give your dataset a name, like "SalesData."
3. Ensure the "Data source" dropdown is pointing to the Power BI connection you just created.
4. Click the Query Designer... button. This opens a visual designer where you can select the measures and columns from your Power BI dataset. Drag and drop the fields you need from the right-side "Model" pane into the main canvas. For our example, let’s add:
5. Click OK to close the Query Designer, and OK again to close the Dataset Properties window.

You’ll now see your "SalesData" dataset in the Report Data pane, with all the chosen fields nested beneath it. Your data is ready to be visualized.

Step 4: Design the Report Layout

This is where you start building the actual report. We’ll add a title, a table to display the data, and some page headers and footers.

Add a Title: The report canvas has a space for a title at the top. Click "Click to add title" and type something like "Quarterly Sales Report."

Insert a Table:

1. Go to the Insert tab in the ribbon at the top.
2. Click on Table, then click and drag on the report canvas to draw the table. The Table Wizard will open.
3. Select your "SalesData" dataset.
4. Now, drag your fields from the "Available fields" list into the different sections.
5. Review the layout and click Finish. A table will appear on your report canvas, prepopulated with your selected fields.

Step 5: Format and Style Your Report

The default table is functional but plain. Now it's time to refine the layout to be "pixel-perfect."

• Resize Columns: Click and drag the column dividers in the table header to adjust their width.
• Format Numbers: Right-click a textbox containing a number (like [Sum(Total Sales)]), go to Textbox Properties, and select the Number tab. Choose "Currency" or "Number" and specify your desired formatting.
• Style Headers: Select the header row of your table. Use the Home tab in the ribbon to change the font, size, background color, and alignment to make it stand out. Apply bold formatting to make it easier to read.
• Add a Page Header and Footer: Access the header and footer sections by going to the Insert tab and selecting Header or Footer. You can drag built-in fields like "Execution Time" into the header and "Page Number" ([&PageNumber] of [&TotalPages]) into the footer for a professional touch.

Step 6: Preview Your Report

Before publishing, you need to see what your report will actually look like. In the Home tab, click the big Run button. This will switch you to a preview mode, rendering the report with live data.

In this view, you can see how the table expands with data, how the page breaks work, and whether your formatting looks correct. If something isn’t right, just click the Design button to go back and make adjustments. Go back and forth between Design and Run mode as many times as you need to perfect your report.

Step 7: Publish to the Power BI Service

Once you are happy with your report, it’s time to publish it so others can view it.

1. Click on File and then Publish (or use the Save As option and choose Power BI service).
2. Sign in to your Power BI account if you haven't already.
3. A dialog will show you a list of your available workspaces. Select the workspace that is in a Premium or PPU capacity.
4. Give your report a file name and click Save.

That's it! Your paginated report is now live in the Power BI service. You can navigate to it in your web browser, run it, and export it to PDF, Excel, Word, or any other supported format.

Best Practices and Final Tips

• Start Simple: Don't try to build a 100-page operational report on your first attempt. Start with a simple table or matrix to get comfortable with the interface and workflow.
• Optimize Your Source Query: Since paginated reports can pull huge amounts of data, make sure your underlying Power BI dataset or SQL query is efficient. Only pull the data you absolutely need.
• Think About Pages: Always keep the end format in mind. Are you designing for a standard A4/Letter size page? Use the rulers and property panes to precisely control the size and position of your report elements.
• Leverage Templates: Once you create a report layout you like — with your company logo in the header and standard footers — you can save it as a template (.rdl file) and reuse it for future reports.

Final Thoughts

Creating paginated reports in Power BI gives you the power to produce precisely formatted, print-ready documents that standard reports just can't handle. By using Power BI Report Builder, you can connect to your datasets, design pixel-perfect layouts, and publish professional-quality reports like invoices, statements, and detailed operational lists for your entire team.

While mastering Power BI Report Builder is great for those fixed-format, official reports, much of a modern business’s data analysis needs are about getting quick answers and staying on top of real-time performance. For these daily needs, we built Graphed to be an easier, faster way to work. Instead of spending time in a complex design tool, you can simply connect data sources like Google Analytics, Shopify, and Salesforce, then create entire dashboards just by describing what you want to see in plain English. It’s like having a data analyst on your team who can build you a live report in seconds.