Power BI offers the ability to create paginated reports using datasets from your existing Power BI reports. Unlike regular Power BI reports, paginated reports are designed to be printed on paper or exported as a PDF. They can be useful when you need to:

• Deliver a one-time copy of a report
• Archive a physical copy
• Provide handouts during a meeting

In this Fast Class, we’ll cover the basics of downloading Power BI Report Builder, working with an example dataset, creating a paginated report, and uploading that report to the Power BI service. To create paginated reports, you’ll need a Power BI Premium license. This class also assumes that you’ve created Power BI reports before and have a basic understanding of Power BI.

Download Power BI Report Builder

Paginated reports use a different tool than the typical Power BI Desktop application: Power BI Report Builder. You can download Report Builder from the top menu in Power BI. Select the download button in the upper-right corner, choose the paginated Report Builder tool, and run the installer.

Prepare your Power BI data

For this example, we’re working with fictitious sales data from several states for 2021, 2022, and 2023. When preparing your data, keep in mind that Report Builder works with simple, flat tables. It does not use the smart connections between tables in the same way Power BI does. For this reason, keep the tables you send to Report Builder as simple as possible. You should understand exactly how the data is structured and have a plan for displaying it in your paginated report.

Connect Report Builder to your data source

Open Power BI Report Builder and select Blank Report. You can then clean up the page as needed, such as removing the default footer and title. Next, connect the report to a data source:

1. Right-click Data Sources.
2. Select Add Power BI Dataset Connection.
3. Choose a Power BI report that has already been uploaded to the Power BI service.
4. Select the appropriate workspace and dataset.

Once the connection appears under Data Sources, you can add a dataset for the paginated report. Right-click to add a dataset and make sure the data source is set to the Power BI dataset you just connected.

Build your query

You can create your own query if you’re already familiar with Report Builder, but you can also use the Query Designer. The Query Designer provides access to the measures, APIs, tables, and columns pulled in from your Power BI report. You can drag the items you want into the query and then execute it to preview the resulting data. Repeating data in your Power BI report will generally come into Report Builder as a similar one-to-one representation. This is another reason to keep your source tables simple and understand how the data is organized before building the report.

Add a parameter

You can also add parameters that allow users to control what appears when the report runs. In this example, we add a parameter for the year. This allows users to select a year when viewing the finished report. After adding the parameter, execute the query again to check for errors. If everything runs successfully, select OK to finish creating the dataset.

Create the report table

With the dataset in place, you can begin laying out your paginated report. Insert a new table and add the columns required for the report. In this example, we create columns for the state followed by the first six months of the year:

• State
• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June

Drag the corresponding fields from the dataset into the new table.

Preview the paginated report

Select Run in the upper-left corner to preview the report. Because the report includes a year parameter, you’ll see a year selector. Choose the year you want to display and select View Report to generate the report. You can also select Print Layout to see how the paginated report will appear when printed on a page. From there, you can return to the design and continue modifying the report. For example, you can add more columns or use premade indicators available from the Insert tab.

Publish the report to Power BI

One purpose of Report Builder is to let you generate these reports without rebuilding them each time or creating individual versions in Excel. When your report is ready, you can publish it to the Power BI service:

1. Return to the Home tab.
2. Select Publish.
3. Choose the Power BI workspace where you want the report.
4. Name the report.
5. Select Publish.

Once published, refresh the Power BI workspace and the paginated report will appear. Open the report and select the appropriate parameter value. Within the Power BI service, you can choose a specific parameter option or use Select All, then select View to generate the report.

Add a paginated report to a Power BI app

You can also make your paginated report available through a published Power BI app. From the workspace:

1. Go to Update app.
2. Open Content.
3. Add the paginated report.
4. Go to the Audience pane.
5. Make sure the report is visible to the appropriate audience.
6. Select Update.

Users can then open the report from the Power BI app and use its parameter options to generate the report they need.

Putting paginated reports to work

Paginated reports are a useful option when you need physical or printable copies of Power BI reporting data. By connecting Report Builder to an existing Power BI dataset, you can create a reusable report, give users parameters for selecting the information they need, and make the finished report available through the Power BI service or a Power BI app.