How to Publish Paginated Reports in Power BI
While Power BI excels at interactive dashboards, sometimes you just need a perfectly formatted, printable report, like an invoice, a detailed sales breakdown, or an operational summary. This is where paginated reports come in. This guide provides a straightforward walkthrough on how to create, configure, and publish your paginated reports directly to the Power BI service.
What Exactly Is a Paginated Report?
Unlike a standard, interactive Power BI report that encourages exploration, a paginated report is designed to be pixel-perfect and fit neatly on a page. Think of a classic, multi-page document that you’d want to print or export as a PDF. The term “paginated” literally means the report is formatted to fit well on pages.
These reports are built using Power BI Report Builder and are saved as .rdl files (Report Definition Language). They are the modern equivalent of SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports and are ideal for situations requiring a fixed layout and precise formatting.
Common Use Cases for Paginated Reports:
Financial Statements: Generating precise profit and loss statements, balance sheets, or cash flow reports.
Invoices and Receipts: Creating customer invoices that follow a strict branding and layout format.
Operational Reports: Detailed inventory lists, manufacturing summaries, or transactional logs that can span hundreds of pages.
Mailing Labels: Producing perfectly aligned labels for shipping or marketing campaigns.
Detailed Data Tables: When you need to export massive tables of data that won't fit neatly on an interactive dashboard, paginated reports can handle the volume and present it cleanly across many pages.
Prerequisites: What You Need Before Publishing
Before you hit the "publish" button, you need a few things in place. Double-checking these prerequisites will save you a lot of troubleshooting time later.
1. The Right Power BI License
Paginated reports are a premium feature. To publish and view them, you need one of the following licenses:
Power BI Pro: You can use a Pro license, but the report must be published to a workspace that is on a Power BI Premium capacity.
Premium Per User (PPU): This license allows you to publish paginated reports to a PPU workspace without needing a full Premium capacity. This is a great option for individuals or small teams who need premium features without the high cost of a dedicated capacity.
A standard Power BI Free license will not allow you to publish these report types.
2. Workspace on a Premium Capacity or PPU
This is the most common hurdle. Paginated reports cannot be published to a standard Power BI workspace. The workspace must be designated as a Premium or Premium Per User workspace. This special capacity provides the necessary processing power to render these complex, detailed reports. You can identify a premium workspace by the small diamond icon next to the workspace name in the Power BI service.
3. Power BI Report Builder Installed
Paginated reports aren't created in Power BI Desktop. They are designed and built using a separate, free application called Power BI Report Builder. You must have this installed on your machine. If you don't have it yet, you can download it directly from the Microsoft Download Center. Report Builder is where you'll connect to data sources, design the report layout with tables, matrices, and charts, and save your work as an .rdl file.
4. A Completed Report Ready to Go
Last but not least, you need a finished (or at least test-ready) .rdl file on your computer. Your report should be complete with data sources configured and a layout you want to test in the Power BI service.
How to Publish Paginated Reports Step-by-Step
Once you’ve met all the prerequisites, the actual publishing process from Report Builder is quite simple. Here’s how you do it, step-by-step.
Step 1: Open Your Report in Power BI Report Builder
Launch Power BI Report Builder and open the paginated report (the .rdl file) you want to publish. Make any final checks or changes before proceeding.
Step 2: Sign In to the Power BI Service
To publish, you must be signed into your Power BI account from within Report Builder. Look for the "Sign In" button in the top-right corner of the application window. If it already shows your name, you're already logged in and can skip to the next step. If not, click "Sign In" and enter your Power BI credentials.
Step 3: Click the "Publish" Button
Once signed in, click on the "File" menu in the top-left corner. Then, select "Publish as" or simply look for the large "Publish" icon on the menu ribbon. This action kicks off the publishing process.
Step 4: Select Your Workspace
A "Publish to Power BI" dialog box will appear, listing all the workspaces you have access to. Scroll through the list and select the destination workspace for your report. Remember, you must choose a workspace with the diamond icon next to it, indicating it's on a Premium or PPU capacity. If you select a standard workspace, the "Save" button will remain grayed out.
Step 5: Provide a File Name and Publish
In the "File name" field, enter the name you want the report to have in the Power BI service. By default, it will use the name of your .rdl file. Once you've selected a valid workspace and entered a name, click the blue "Publish" button.
Step 6: Confirm the Report is Published
Report Builder will begin uploading the file. After a few seconds, you should see a "Publish successful" message. To be absolutely sure, open your web browser and navigate to the Power BI service (app.powerbi.com). Go to the workspace you published to, and you should now see your paginated report listed among your other assets like dashboards and datasets.
Important Post-Publishing Task: Configure Your Data Credentials
Just because the report is published doesn't mean it will run. You've published the report's design, but you haven't given the Power BI service permission to access your underlying data source. This is a crucial final step.
1. Find the Report in the Power BI Service
Navigate to your workspace in the Power BI service and locate the paginated report you just uploaded.
2. Go to the Management Settings
Hover over the report name and click the three-dot icon (... More options). From the menu that appears, select "Manage."
3. Edit Data Source Credentials
On the management page, you'll see a section called "Data source credentials." There will likely be a small yellow warning icon indicating a problem. Click the "Edit credentials" link. You’ll be prompted to provide authentication details. The options will vary depending on your data source.
For Azure SQL Database, you might use OAuth2 with your organizational account.
For an on-premises SQL Server, you may need to configure an on-premises data gateway and provide basic credentials (username/password).
Follow the on-screen prompts to sign in and grant Power BI access.
4. Test the Report
Once the credentials are saved and the warning disappears, your report should be ready to run. Navigate back to the workspace, click on the report to open it, and it should now load its data successfully. From here, users can view, print, and export the report just as you designed it.
Final Thoughts
Publishing paginated reports mixes the legacy feel of Report Builder with the modern Power BI service, but the process is straightforward once you've prepared for it. By ensuring you have the right license and workspace configuration and remembering to update your data source credentials after publishing, you can seamlessly bring pixel-perfect, printable reports into your cloud-based BI environment.
Learning how to handle complex reporting tools is incredibly valuable, yet the time spent building reports, configuring environments, and sorting out credentials is time not spent on strategy. We designed Graphed to automate this entire process for sales and marketing analytics. By securely connecting your data sources, you can build real-time dashboards and reports simply by describing what you need in plain English, turning hours of manual setup into a 30-second task.