Create exportable paginated reports in the Power BI service

APPLIES TO: Power BI service Power BI Report Builder Power BI Desktop

In this article, you learn how to create and export a paginated report with all the data from your Power BI dataset easily. The feature lets you quickly create a paginated report on the web, and apply styling. You can then export it using the rich export functionality of paginated reports, which retains the applied formatting & styling.

You can use the feature to create paginated reports in any workspace in the Power BI service, including workspaces that aren't in a Power BI Premium capacity.

Prerequisites

License requirements for Power BI paginated reports (.rdl files) are the same as for Power BI reports (.pbix files).

• You don't need a license to download Power BI Report Builder from the Microsoft Download Center for free.
• With a free license, you can publish paginated reports to My Workspace in the Power BI service. For more information, see Feature availability for users with free licenses in the Power BI service.
• With a Power BI Pro license or a PPU license, you can publish paginated reports to other workspaces. You also need at least a contributor role in the workspace.

• You need Build permission for the dataset.

Get started

To create a paginated report from the Power BI service, you can start in one of three places:

• In list view
• In Data hub view
• On the Dataset details page

In list view

1. Go to list view for any workspace, including My Workspace.

2. Select More options (...) for a Power BI dataset, then select Create formatted table.

   

In Data hub view

1. Go to Data hub view in the Power BI service.

2. Select More options (...) next to a dataset > Create paginated report.

   

On the Dataset details page

1. Select a dataset in the Data hub view of the Power BI service.

2. Under Visualize this data, select Create a report > Paginated report.

   

No matter where you start, the new paginated report online editing experience opens.

Create a table

To create your first table, select field names in the Data pane on the right. This pane gives you a table-and-column based view of the chosen dataset. When you find a column that you wish to add to your table, select the column or drag it to Values section of the Build pane.

Give the editor a few moments to run a new query on the dataset. The formatted table shows up in the paginated report viewer to the left side of the page.

This viewer shows you a preview of your currently unsaved paginated report. Use this pane to make sure everything in your report looks good before editing or saving the report.

If columns are in the wrong order in the Build pane, don't worry. You can easily re-order the columns in the Build pane columns by dragging the columns into the desired order.

When you select a field, we use the default aggregate set on the field. You can change the aggregate behavior. Select the arrow next to the field item in the Build pane.

Format the table

Now that you have the columns that you want, you can format the table using the built-in format options.

1. In the Build pane, select the Format tab.

2. Select the drop-down arrow in the Style box, and experiment with the available styles.

   

3. To resize the width of the columns, hover over the edge of a column header, and drag the double-headed arrow that appears.

   

Edit a paginated report

If you navigate to any paginated report that you authored online, you have the option to edit the report within the paginated report viewer experience. This option is available in the toolbar above the viewer.

This option takes you back to the online editor experience, where you can make changes to the report.

Note

This Edit button isn't the same as the Edit button on the File menu. That Edit button opens Power BI Report Builder instead. If you edit this report in Report Builder, you won't be able to edit it online anymore.

Export your report

You can export the table before or after you save it. Paginated reports have rich export capabilities to any of the supported formats, preserving full fidelity. The exported report is saved to your default Downloads folder.

Save your report

You can save the report to any workspace.

1. On the File menu, save, download, or print your report.

   

2. In Save your report, give your report a name and select a workspace.

   

After you save the report, you see a success or failure notification in the top right of the editor.

• If a report already exists where you have chosen to save, it asks you if you wish to overwrite the existing report.
• If it succeeds, you see a link to the report. You can either follow this link or continue editing.

After saving the report, you can preview it. Select Reading view on the top bar in the editor. You leave the editor experience and enter the normal paginated report viewer experience.

Note

If you haven't saved the report yet, or have unsaved changes, you receive a prompt asking you to save or discard your changes before taking you to the reading view.

Considerations and limitations

• You can create a paginated report in any workspace.
• You can't create a paginated report from Power BI datasets based on a live connection.
• The online editor does not replicate all existing Power BI Report Builder functionality.

Next steps

• View a paginated report in the Power BI service