Print-Ready Reports in Power BI: Why Paginated Reports Matter

Paginated Reports are a type of report in the Microsoft reporting ecosystem designed to display data in a fixed, printable format. They are especially useful when you need to generate reports that are:

  • Printable or PDF-friendly
  • Pixel-perfect, meaning the layout doesn’t change no matter the screen size
  • Multi-page reports, like invoices, statements, or regulatory documents
  • Capable of handling large amounts of tabular data efficiently

While Power BI reports are interactive and dynamic (great for dashboards and visual exploration), Paginated Reports are better suited for scenarios where the report format and layout need to remain consistent.



Standard Power BI Report
A standard Power BI report is an interactive, visual report built using Power BI Desktop (.pbix). It’s designed to explore data dynamically and provide insights through visuals like charts, maps, KPIs, tables, slicers, etc.

Key Features:
  • Interactive dashboards and reports
  • Users can click, filter, and slice data in real time
  • Built with modern visuals and storytelling in mind
  • Ideal for quick decision-making and exploration
  • Can be embedded in websites, apps, Teams, and more
  • Automatically adjusts to screen size (responsive)

Example:

A sales dashboard showing:
  • Monthly revenue trends
  • Top-performing products
  • Interactive filters by region, category, or salesperson
Paginated Report

A Paginated Report is a pixel-perfect, printable report built using Power BI Report Builder (.rdl). It’s called "paginated" because the report is designed to fit across multiple pages, just like traditional reports.

Key Features:
  • Fixed layout (no responsive resizing)
  • Great for printing, exporting to PDF/Excel
  • Supports very large tables (thousands of rows)
  • Best suited for formal documents and legal reports
  • Built using Power BI Report Builder or SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)

Example:

A customer invoice or regulatory report showing:
  • Detailed product breakdown
  • Totals at the bottom
  • Headers and footers on every page
Relationship between Power BI Reports and Paginated Reports
  • Both are part of the Power BI ecosystem
  • Both can be published to the Power BI Service
  • They can use the same datasets from the Power BI data model or Power BI Datamarts
  • Complementary, not competing — you can use both in a single solution
Differences at a Glance

When to Use Each?

  • Use Standard Power BI for dashboards, storytelling, real-time analytics.
  • Use Paginated Reports for structured, print-friendly reports and formal documents.

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