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This article answers frequently asked questions about paginated reports. These reports are highly formatted, print-ready output optimized for printing or PDF generation. They're called "paginated" because they're formatted to fit well on multiple pages. Paginated reports are based on the RDL report technology in SQL Server Reporting Services.
This article answers many common questions people have about paginated reports in Power BI, and about Power BI Report Builder, the standalone tool for authoring paginated reports. To learn more about licensing, see Licensing the Power BI service for users in your organization.
Note
A "free" license is only good if the customer is using an F64 SKU or P1 SKU or higher. Otherwise the customer would be required to have a Pro or PPU license to view Power BI content.
Administration
What capacity size do I need for paginated reports?
Paginated reports are available as part of a Power BI Pro license without needing to purchase a Premium capacity. Size of recommended Premium/Fabric capacity would depend upon expected usage. Use the capacity planning documentation for estimating the size of the capacity needed.
How does user access work for paginated reports?
User access for paginated reports is the same as user access for all other content in the Power BI service.
How can I monitor usage of paginated reports in my tenant?
The audit logs detail usage of this report type under the following events:
- View Power BI Report
- Delete Power BI report
- Create Power BI report
- Downloaded Power BI report
The field ReportType has the value "PaginatedReport" to identify paginated as opposed to Power BI reports.
Also, the audit logs provide the following events for paginated reports:
- Bound Power BI semantic model to gateway
- Discover Power BI Datasource
- TakeOverDatasource
Do I need a Pro license to create and publish paginated reports?
You don't need a Power BI Pro license or a PPU license to create paginated reports, or to publish them to My Workspace in the Power BI service. We encourage you to download and use Power BI Report Builder. You do need a Power BI Pro license or a PPU license to publish paginated reports to other workspaces.
General
When should I use a paginated report vs. a Power BI report?
Power BI reports are optimized for exploration and interactivity. A sales report where different salespeople want to slice the data in the same report for their specific region/industry/customer and see how the numbers change would be best served by a Power BI report.
Paginated reports are operational reports optimized for printing. Examples of paginated reports include invoices, financial statements and, inventory report.
For more information, see When to use paginated reports in Power BI.
Why is my report rendering differently than I expected?
If your report renders differently than you expected, check if you're using preview features.
- On the File menu, look for a button labeled Disable preview features. If that button is there, select it, and allow the page to refresh.
If the report now renders as expected, leave preview features disabled for now. Otherwise, you can reenable preview features by selecting the Enable preview features button on the File menu. After 30 days, preview features are automatically reenabled, but you can disable them again through the same steps.
The documentation says Power BI Report Builder is the preferred authoring tool. Can I create paginated reports in SQL Server Data Tools for Power BI?
Yes, but the Power BI service only allows you to upload a single item at a time, so many of the scenarios authors use with SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) aren't yet supported. See the full list of unsupported features available later in this FAQ.
You can also create simple, single-table reports on the Power BI service. See the list of capabilities.
What version(s) of Report Builder do you support?
We released Power BI Report Builder as the primary authoring tool for paginated reports in the Power BI Service. Install Power BI Report Builder from the Microsoft Download Center.
How do I move existing reports I have saved in SQL Server Reporting Services to Power BI?
If you're using SQL Server 2022 Reporting Services, this article, Publish .rdl files to Power BI from Reporting Services, explains how to migrate.
If you're using previous versions of SQL Server Reporting Services, a project on GitHub supports migrating content from SQL Server Reporting Services to Power BI. View details and download the: RDL Migration Tool.
Can I open reports and publish directly to the service?
Yes. We've added support for opening reports and publishing them directly to the service from Power BI Report Builder.
What paginated report features in SSRS aren't yet supported in Power BI?
Currently, paginated reports don't support the following items:
- Shared data sources. Consider using a similar feature called named connections on Power BI service, learn more.
- Shared datasets
- Linked reports
- Custom fonts
- Custom assemblies. Consider converting logic from custom assembly to embedded code. For examples of alternatives to consider, check assembly alternatives.
You get an error message if you try to upload a file that has an unsupported feature in the Power BI service.
What data sources and authentication methods do you support currently for paginated reports?
See the article Supported data sources for Power BI paginated reports for a list of data sources.
Can I use a Power BI semantic model as a data source for my paginated report?
Yes, we support Power BI semantic models as data sources for your paginated reports.
Can I use stored procedures through the Gateway?
Yes, stored procedures through the Gateway are supported for SQL Server data sources, including those that use parameters.
What export formats are available for my report in the Power BI service?
You can export to Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, accessible PDF, PDF, .CSV, XML, and MHTML.
Can I print paginated reports?
Yes, printing is available for paginated reports, including a new and improved print preview experience.
Are e-mail subscriptions available for paginated reports?
Yes, e-mail subscriptions are fully supported for paginated reports. The details are available in the "Subscribe to paginated reports" section of the article Email subscriptions for reports and dashboards in the Power BI service.
Can I run custom code in my report?
Yes, we support the ability to run code in your reports using code blocks or Azure Functions. Referencing custom code DLL files within a report is not supported.
Can I use Power BI embedded to embed my paginated reports into an app I'm hosting?
Yes, to learn how to embed a paginated report, refer to Embed Power BI paginated reports.
Can I drill through from a Power BI report to a paginated report?
Yes, this can be accomplished using URL parameters with your paginated reports.
Can I share my paginated report content through a Power BI app?
Yes, you can deploy paginated reports in apps.
Will other report-specific features in Power BI, like pinning report tiles to dashboards, work with paginated reports?
Vote for these features on ideas.
Is there a report viewer control for paginated reports in the Power BI service?
No, a report viewer control isn't available currently.
Can you search for paginated reports from the new Home experience in the Power BI service?
Yes, you can now search for your paginated reports from Home. You also see them in other parts of the new Home experience.
Do I need to set a query time-out for an embedded dataset in a paginated report?
Query time-out values are specified during report authoring when you define an embedded dataset. The time-out value is stored with the report, in the Timeout element of the report definition. By default, this value is set to 600 seconds. For longer running queries, set a max timeout value of 2147483646 in the Dataset Properties dialog in Power BI Report Builder.
What are globalization limitations related to DateTime parameters?
When working with DateTime fields in paginated reports, keep in mind that currently there are some globalization limitations related to DateTime parameters. All DateTime parameters in the Power BI service are fetched in US format (MM/DD/YYYY) regardless of how you design the DataTime in Power BI Report Builder.
Are external tenant user accounts supported with Power BI Report Builder?
In some customer scenarios, admins have allowed external users to their organization access to workspaces and content.
What is an external user? One example would be a BikeManufacturer (user@MyBikes.com) account that has been given access to the Contoso (user@Contoso.com) tenant. An external user may see an "Access denied" error or see no content with Power BI Report Builder when accessing workspaces, or editing or creating reports. We look to adding this functionality in a future update.
Is there a limit to the number of data sources per paginated report?
Paginated reports are limited to 250 data sources per report.
Generally, customers have three or four data sources per report. We have set an upper limit of 250 data sources. If the report has more data sources than 250, the report doesn't publish. If it's an existing published report, the report isn't rendered.