How to Create a Table in Power BI Report Builder

Creating tables is one of the most fundamental tasks in reporting, yet it can feel surprisingly complicated in a powerful tool like Power BI Report Builder. The good news is, once you understand the basic workflow, you'll be able to build clear, detailed tables for any paginated report you need. This guide will walk you through the entire process, from setting up your data to formatting your final table, using practical, step-by-step instructions.

First, What Is Report Builder and Why Use a Table?

Before we build, let's quickly clarify what we're working with. Power BI Report Builder is used for creating paginated reports - pixel-perfect reports designed to be printed or shared as PDFs. Think of things like invoices, financial statements, or detailed operational summaries. Unlike an interactive Power BI dashboard, the layout is fixed.

Within these reports, a table is the go-to component for showing detailed, row-level data. It has a fixed number of columns, but the number of rows can grow dynamically based on your data. You'll want to use a table when you need to:

• Display a list of individual transactions, like sales orders or website traffic logs.
• Show line-item details that correspond to a summarized number.
• Present dense, tabular information where each row represents a unique record.

In short, if you're thinking "I need to put this spreadsheet into a report," a table is almost always what you're looking for.

Setting Up Your Foundation: Data Source and Dataset

You can't build a table without data. In Report Builder, this involves two key steps that must happen before you even think about visuals: creating a Data Source and a Dataset.

1. Data Source: This is the connection to where your data lives (e.g., an Azure SQL database, an Azure Synapse Analytics workspace, an Oracle database, etc.).
2. Dataset: This is the query that tells the report which specific data to pull from that source (e.g., SELECT * FROM SalesTransactions WHERE Date > '2023-01-01').

You must configure both in your report file before you can add a table. Think of it like this: the Data Source is the address of the warehouse, and the Dataset is the specific shopping list of items you want to pick up.

Building the Connection

In the Report Data pane on the left side of your screen (if you don't see it, go to the View tab and check "Report Data"), right-click on the "Data Sources" folder and select "Add Data Source."

You will see a dialog box where you can embed the connection in your report. You'll need to give it a name and specify the connection type. Choose the one that matches your source and then click "Build..." to enter the server name, credentials, and database name.

Writing the Query

Next, right-click on the "Datasets" folder in the Report Data pane and choose "Add Dataset." Here, you'll give your dataset a name and select the data source you just created. Most importantly, this is where you write your query in the "Query" text box. For our example, we'll use a simple sales data query:

SELECT Product, Region, SaleDate, UnitsSold, SalePrice FROM SalesData

After clicking "OK," you'll see your dataset appear in the Report Data pane, with its fields nested underneath. Now you're ready to build!

Creating a Table: Two Methods

Report Builder gives you two primary ways to create a table: using the wizard for a quick start or adding it manually for more control.

Method 1: The Table Wizard (The Fast Track)

The wizard is perfect for getting a simple table on the canvas quickly. It guides you through the process and is a great option for beginners.

1. Launch the Wizard: On the Insert tab in the ribbon, click the "Table" icon and select "Table Wizard."
2. Choose a Dataset: The first screen of the wizard will prompt you to choose an existing dataset. Select the one you created earlier and click "Next."
3. Arrange Fields: This is the important part. You'll see "Available fields" on the left and three boxes on the right: "Row groups," "Column groups," and "Values." For a simple table, you are only interested in the Values box.

• Simply drag and drop the fields you want to appear as columns from the left box to the "Values" box. We'll add Product, Region, SaleDate, and SalePrice.

**A Note on Groups** Placing fields in the "Row Groups" will automatically group your data and calculate subtotals, much like a PivotTable in Excel. We'll get to this later, but leave the box blank for a standard detailed sheet of raw data.

1. Choose the Layout: For our simple table, we want to see every record, so let's uncheck all these boxes and proceed.
2. Pick the Visual Style: The final visual step for your table, there are a few pre-built design formats like slate, bold header, or classic. Select whichever suits your brand's voice and click "Finish" and that's it!

Method 2: Manual Creation for Detailed Control

If you want more granular and detailed control over the layouts, use this method. A few additional steps must be taken compared to the report table wizard.

• First, navigate to the Insert tab, then select the "Table" box under the "Data Regions" section on the far left side of the screen. Choose to Create an unlinked copy of the dataset instead of using the existing one.

With the region selected, it's time to customize your table with the rows and columns of your data.

Custom Formatting Techniques for a Fresh Look

Congratulations, the data you added is now in the home stretch to finalizing your beautiful data report. However, the default table formatting may not meet your design tastes. Don't worry, you can make a number of improvements to enhance it.

Cell Resizing

Like Excel, you can hover over the borders of either a column or a cell. Then click and drag the corners to adjust the table size to your preference.

For more complex reports, you may need to merge certain cells. Just like Excel, press and hold the 'Control' key (CTRL), then click the adjacent horizontal or vertical cells you'd like to combine. After the table is finalized, you can give the headers a fresh look.

Changing Fill Color or Alignment

To clearly separate the data sheet's body from the header, one classic solution is to alter the header fill and bold settings. Let's do both.

1. Click on the table header. Then use Ctrl + Shift + Arrow keys to highlight the entire row.
2. On the right pane, with your row still highlighted, search for the term FONT. Click the three dots, then select your desired font color, size, and finalize it by pressing 'OK'.

Remember: Small cosmetic changes, like cell resizing or fill colors, can enhance the overall visual presentation.

Inserting Page Headers or Footers

Right-click the selection and in the dropdown menu, choose Merge Cells. You can merge and alter these for even more complex custom design formats.

You now have a fully customizable report table that can show your sales team, managers, or executives an important financial summary of performance. Before finishing your report for presentation or export, consider adding a simple header to include details like the dates of the report and a title for context. For example:

The simplest way is on the Insert tab in the right menu header. Click "Add header." A prompt should appear asking, "Do you want to add headers and footers to all pages?" Click "Yes."

Now, after all our data and styling are correct, run the report. In the top left of the window, click 'View Report' to open another window, giving you a great custom report.

Things to Watch Out For

• Data formatting issues
• Query errors

A table can be overwhelming at first glance if it includes too many columns. It can become convoluted for a report viewer. One solid tip is to stick to four or five core KPIs. This helps prevent confusion with a too-dense report and allows stakeholders to digest it more easily. A cleaner, organized report is always better.

Final Thoughts

Working through creating a basic table is a critical first step towards mastering Power BI Report Builder. The process breaks down into preparing your data, adding placeholders for the data region, and populating it with columns to get a functional, paginated record for your project that your team will use and understand.

While powerful tools like Power BI Report Builder are standard for complex corporate reporting, they do come with a steep learning curve. The steps needed to prepare datasets and manually build reports can quickly consume a lot of your time. We built Graphed to eliminate this exact frustration. Instead of wrestling with multiple configuration windows, our platform lets marketing and sales teams securely connect all relevant data sources (like Google Analytics, Shopify, and Facebook Ads). After connecting your integrations, using simple AI chat prompts like, "Show me product sales by region for the last quarter," we help get those answers, charts, and even dashboards without long tutorial courses.