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Power BI paginated reports

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Power BI paginated reports

Paginated reports cover the print-and-export scenarios that interactive Power BI reports don't — invoices, statements, fixed-layout reporting.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/power-bi-paginated-reports

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01

Paginated vs interactive

Power BI's flagship product is interactive dashboards — drill, filter, slicer, visual exploration. That's fundamentally different from paginated:

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/power-bi-paginated-reports

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02

Origins and tooling

Paginated reports are the successor to SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports. The file format (.rdl) is the same; SSRS .rdl files can be deployed to Power BI's paginated report service largely unchanged.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/power-bi-paginated-reports

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03

When paginated is the right tool

For these, paginated is the only good option; trying to do them in interactive Power BI is awkward at best.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/power-bi-paginated-reports

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04

When interactive is the right tool

Most Power BI consumers spend their time in interactive reports. Paginated covers the specific scenarios interactive doesn't fit.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/power-bi-paginated-reports

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05

Licensing

Paginated reports require:

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/power-bi-paginated-reports

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06

Deployment

Authored .rdl files are uploaded to Power BI workspaces (same as PBIX files). Permissions, sharing, and pipelines work the same as interactive reports.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/power-bi-paginated-reports

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07

Operational realities

For Microsoft 365 customers with reporting needs that exceed interactive Power BI's scope, paginated reports are a mature, capable option for the print-and-export half of the business intelligence problem.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/power-bi-paginated-reports

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