How to Increase Page Size in Power BI

Ever find yourself meticulously placing visuals on your Power BI dashboard, only to run out of canvas space? It's a common frustration that can make your report feel cramped and incomplete. This guide will show you exactly how to increase your page size, giving your data story the space it deserves.

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First, Why Is the Default Size So Small?

When you create a new report in Power BI, the canvas defaults to a 16:9 aspect ratio, specifically 1280 pixels wide by 720 pixels tall. This isn’t a random choice, it’s designed to fit perfectly on most standard laptops and desktop monitors without any scrolling. This standard size ensures that when a user opens your report, they see the entire dashboard at once.

However, one size rarely fits all. You might be building a comprehensive financial summary, a long-form marketing performance report, or a scannable dashboard intended for a large television screen. In these cases, the default canvas feels less like a convenience and more like a constraint. The good news is, you have complete control to change it.

How to Change Your Power BI Page Size: A Step-by-Step Guide

Adjusting the canvas dimensions is straightforward once you know where to look. Follow these simple steps to unlock more design flexibility.

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Step 1: Select the Report Page and Find "Canvas Settings"

Before you can change the page settings, you need to make sure you have the page itself selected, not a specific visual on the page.

• Click on any empty space on your report canvas. This deselects any charts or tables.
• Look to the Visualizations pane on the right-hand side of the screen.
• Click the paintbrush icon labeled “Format your report page.”
• In the menu that appears, find and expand the Canvas settings section.

This is where you'll find all the options for resizing your report page.

Step 2: Choose Your Sizing Method

Inside the Canvas settings, you'll see a dropdown menu called Type. This is where you choose how you want to define your page size. You have two main options: using a predefined template or setting a completely custom size.

Method A: Using Preset Sizes

Power BI offers a few useful presets out of the box. Simply select one from the "Type" dropdown:

• 16:9 (Default): The standard 1280 x 720 monitor-friendly size.
• 4:3: An older monitor aspect ratio. While less common for dashboards, it might be useful for specific presentation scenarios.
• Letter: This formats the canvas to the dimensions of a standard 8.5" x 11" piece of paper. It’s perfect if you know your report will be printed or exported to a PDF for a physical document.
• Tooltip: This creates a small canvas designed to be used in visual tooltips. You can design a mini-report on this tooltip page, then link it to another visual to provide extra context when a user hovers over a data point.

Method B: Setting a Custom Size

For complete control, the "Custom" option is what you need. This is how you'll create those long, scrollable dashboard pages.

1. Select Custom from the "Type" dropdown menu.
2. Two new fields will appear: Height and Width, measured in pixels.
3. Enter your desired dimensions.

For example, to create a tall, vertically scrolling report, you might keep the width at 1280px but increase the height significantly, perhaps to 2400px or even higher. As you update the numbers, you'll see the canvas in the background change size instantly.

Best Practices for Using Custom Page Sizes

Changing your canvas size is easy, but using that new space effectively requires some thoughtful design. Here are a few tips to ensure your expanded report is both beautiful and functional.

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Understand the "Page View" Settings

Your "Page Size" is the actual dimension of the canvas, but the "Page View" controls how it's displayed on a user's screen. You can find these options in the View tab in the top ribbon. You have three choices, and for custom-sized reports, this setting is critical:

• Fit to page: This is the default. It automatically zooms the entire canvas—no matter how large—to fit within the user's browser window. For an extra-tall report, this will shrink everything to a tiny, unreadable size. Avoid this for large canvases.
• Fit to width: This is the ideal setting for vertically scrolling reports. It locks the report's width to the screen's width and enables a vertical scrollbar for the user to explore the content. This feels natural, like browsing a webpage.
• Actual size: This shows the report at its true 1-to-1 pixel dimensions. If your custom canvas is larger than the user's monitor, they will have to scroll both horizontally and vertically, which is generally a poor user experience.

Pro Tip: For any long-form report, always set the Page View under the "View" tab to Fit to Width to provide the best user experience.

Don't Create a Wall of Charts

Just because you have more space doesn't mean you should cram it full of visuals. A larger canvas gives you the opportunity to use whitespace effectively, separate concepts, and guide your audience through a logical narrative.

• Group related visuals: Use the space to create visual sections. Place your key performance indicators (KPIs) at the top, followed by a section with trend charts, and then a deeper dive into categorical data at the bottom.
• Use text boxes as headers: Add clear, bold text boxes to title each section of your report. This acts as a guidepost, helping users understand what they're looking at as they scroll down.
• Embrace whitespace: Allowing your visuals to breathe makes the entire report easier to look at and comprehend. Use the extra room not just for more charts, but for better spacing between them.

Build for the Scroll, Not the Click

Users are conditioned to scroll vertically. Use this to your advantage. A "scrollytelling" dashboard can be incredibly powerful. Start with a high-level summary at the top that can be understood without scrolling. As the user moves down the page, you can reveal more detailed charts, tables, and granular insights. This allows stakeholders to engage with the report at the level of detail they care about most.

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A Note on Mobile Layouts

Remember that the custom canvas size you set applies to the desktop/web browser view of your report. Power BI has a separate, dedicated "Mobile layout" view (found under the View tab). This feature lets you create a specific layout catered to portrait-oriented phone screens, which is completely independent of the main canvas size. So even if you build a massive, wide report, you can still craft a clean, scannable version for users on their phones.

Final Thoughts

Customizing your page size in Power BI is a simple but powerful feature that moves you beyond the constraints of the default template. By defining your own canvas dimensions and pairing them with a "Fit to Width" page view, you can tell clearer, more comprehensive data stories that feel less like a crammed slide and more like an intentional, well-designed webpage.

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