How to Print from Power BI

Trying to get a Power BI report onto a piece of paper or into a clean PDF can feel surprisingly tricky. Because Power BI is designed for a dynamic, interactive experience, its "print-friendliness" isn't always obvious. This guide will walk you through the most effective methods for printing or exporting your Power BI reports and dashboards, ensuring you can share your insights in any format you need.

Reasons Why Printing Power BI Can Be a Challenge

Before jumping into the methods, it's helpful to understand why printing from Power BI isn't like printing a standard document. Power BI reports are built with interactivity in mind - things like slicers, filters, tooltips, and drill-downs are core to the experience. When you print, you’re trying to capture a static snapshot of this dynamic environment.

This single fact is the source of most printing headaches:

Layout Issues: What looks perfect on a 16:9 widescreen monitor often breaks awkwardly across multiple A4 pages.
Loss of Interactivity: All slicers, filters, and hover-over data points are frozen in place. The printed version shows only what was visible on the screen at that moment.
Unwanted Elements: Your browser's print function might add headers, footers, page numbers, and URLs that clutter your beautiful dashboard.

The good news is that with the right approach for your specific goal, you can overcome all these issues. Let's explore the best ways to do it.

Method 1: The Print to PDF Method (Recommended)

Exporting your report to a PDF directly from the Power BI service is often the cleanest and most professional option. It gives you the most control over the final output and is ideal for emailing reports to stakeholders, archiving performance snapshots, or printing high-quality copies.

How to Export a Power BI Report to PDF:

Navigate to the report you want to print in the Power BI service (the online version of Power BI).
In the top menu bar, click on File, or you may see an icon for Export directly.
From the dropdown menu, select Export to PDF.
A dialog box will appear with a few customization options. You can choose to export the Current page or All pages of the report. You can also decide whether to exclude hidden report tabs.
Select your preferences and click Export. Power BI will begin generating the file. This can take a few minutes for complex reports with many pages.
Once complete, a notification will appear, and the PDF will be downloaded by your browser. You can then open this PDF file and print it just like you would any other document.

Key Benefits & Things to Remember:

Clean Output: This method avoids including browser headers, footers, and other distracting web elements.
Maintain Page Structure: Each report page will usually export to its own page within the PDF, which keeps the layout more predictable than browser printing.
Print Entire Reports: It's the most reliable way to print a multi-page report at once.
Keep in mind: Interactive elements are flattened. What you see is what you get. Make sure your slicers and filters are set to the view you want to capture before you export. Also, some complex custom visuals may not render perfectly in the PDF. Always double-check the final file.

Method 2: Using the Browser's Built-in Print Function

Sometimes you just need a quick, no-frills printout of a single page. For these situations, your browser’s standard print function (usually accessible via Ctrl+P on Windows or Command+P on Mac) can get the job done. This approach is best for informal use or when you need a personal reference copy immediately.

How to Print Directly from Your Browser:

Open your report in the Power BI service.
Ensure the report page is displayed exactly how you want it - set your filters and slicers accordingly.
Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+P or navigate to your browser’s menu and select Print.
The browser's print preview window will open. This is where you can make critical adjustments:
- Destination: Select your physical printer or choose "Save as PDF" for a digital copy.
- Layout: Almost always, you should switch the layout to Landscape. Power BI reports are designed for wider screens, so a landscape orientation works much better.
- More settings: Look for an option to turn off headers and footers. This removes the date, page title, and URL from the printed page, giving you a cleaner result. You may also need to adjust margins or scaling ("Fit to page" is often a good starting point).
Once you’re happy with the preview, click Print.

Drawbacks of Browser Printing:

The page layout can be unpredictable. You might find a single visual split awkwardly between two printed pages.
It's not designed for multi-page reports. Trying to print an entire report this way is tedious and error-prone.
You have less control over the final output quality compared to exporting as a PDF.

Method 3: Export to PowerPoint or A Static Image File

What if your goal isn't just to print, but to include your dashboard in a presentation? Power BI's export-to-PowerPoint feature is fantastic for this. It takes a high-resolution, static image of your report page and places it on a PowerPoint slide, complete with a link back to the live report.

How to Export to PowerPoint:

In your Power BI report, go to Export > PowerPoint.
You’ll be given the option to export the Current page only or All pages. You can choose to export with current values (what's filtered now) or default values.
Click Export. Like the PDF process, this may take a moment.
Your browser will download a .pptx file. Each Power BI report page will be its own slide, containing a high-quality image of the visual.
From PowerPoint, you can easily print individual slides or the entire deck.

If you just need a single visual or a small portion of a dashboard, you can also export specific visuals as images (.png). Simply hover over the visual, click the three-dot menu (...) and select Export data. Choose the "Summarized data" option, and make sure the file type is set to ".png" if that option is available for the visual type. Alternatively, a simple screenshot works wonders for this.

Method 4: The Smart Screenshot (Quick and Focused)

Don’t underestimate the power of a good screenshot. This isn’t a professional solution for a board meeting packet, but for quickly sharing a specific insight over chat or email, it’s unbeatable. Modern operating systems have powerful built-in screen capture tools that are much more effective than a simple "Print Screen" button.

Windows: Use the Snipping Tool or Snip & Sketch (accessible with Windows Key + Shift + S). This lets you draw a rectangle around the exact area you want to capture, sidestepping all the formatting and layout issues.
Mac: Use Command + Shift + 4. This turns your cursor into a crosshair, allowing you to click and drag to select just the charts or tiles you need.

This is the fastest method to grab a specific KPI or chart and paste it into an email, Slack message, or document for discussion.

Best Practices Before You Print

To ensure your printed reports are clear and effective, follow these tips:

Design a "Print View" Page: If you frequently need to print a dashboard, consider creating a dedicated page in your Power BI report designed for an A4 or Letter-sized layout. Simplify the visuals, use larger fonts, and avoid dark backgrounds to save ink.
Check Your Filters: Double-check all slicers, filters, and cross-highlighting before exporting. Your static output is a snapshot in time, so ensure it’s displaying the exact data you want to present.
Simplify Before You Print: A dashboard crowded with visuals is great for on-screen exploration but overwhelming on paper. Hide unnecessary elements or simplify charts on your print-view page to focus your audience's attention on what really matters.
Keep Your Audience in Mind: Who are you printing this for? A high-level executive might only need a few key KPIs, while an analyst might need the detailed tables. Tailor the content of your printout accordingly.

Final Thoughts

Printing from Power BI is all about choosing the right tool for the job. For professional, organized handouts, the native "Export to PDF" function is your best bet. For embedding visuals into presentations, use the PowerPoint export. And for quick, informal sharing, a smart screenshot is the fastest way to convey an insight.

Ultimately, a lot of the friction around printing and exporting comes from spending valuable time stuck in complex tools. At Graphed, we think getting insights shouldn't be that hard. Instead of spending hours wrangling dashboard layouts and sending around outdated PDF attachments, we let you create and share real-time reports just by asking questions in plain English. This way, your team always has access to live data, without you needing to manually update or re-export anything ever again.