Paginated Reports on Hat Full of Data

Paginated Reports – Power Query as a Source

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 16:01:05 +0000

In March 2024 Microsoft added Power Query as a source for Paginated Reports. This means a paginated report can connect to any data source that Power Query can connect to. This post walks through the process with a few gotchas to be aware of.

Paginated Reports have had some Love

This post is part of the series covering my session titled Paginated Reports have had some Love. The resources for this series can be found at https://github.com/HatFullOfData/Sessions/tree/main/Paginated-Reports-have-had-some-love

Power Query as a Source
Create a report online
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Get Data

As with most reporting the first task is connect to the data using Power Query as a source. Inside a report in Report Builder, click on the data ribbon. Click on Get data to launch the Choose data source dialog. From here you can search and find lots of different data sources. For this post we are going to use an Excel workbook, so click on that.

When the connection settings dialog opens enter the File path or URL for the Excel file. There is a button to browse OneDrive, bad idea in my opinion but that is a different post! Please note you need to select the correct Authentication type. I’ve used Anonymous as my file is public on GitHub, you will need Organization Account for OneDrive or SharePoint.

Then click Next.

The next dialog, Choose Data, asks you to select the tables or sheets. Once you have ticked at least one you can then click Transform data to move to the Power Query window.

Power Query Editor

When the Power Query window opens you can add steps as per normal such as choosing columns etc. After you add all the transformations you need, click Create to add it to the report.

Power Query as a source in Explorer

When the data loads into the report it comes in 2 parts. Under data sources is Power Query and in datasets are the individual queries. Unlike other data sources such as a database each dataset will be a brand new query.

Editing the Query

When you need to edit the query, right click on the query and select Edit Mashup. It will always request you configure the connection. No Idea why but clicking the Configure Connection fixes the issue.

A few Gotchas

Multiple Queries

Each query can only return a single table. So when you have multiple queries, which one does it return? It returns the last one in the list of queries. It has nothing to do with marking a query for loading or not loading.

Refresh or not?

When you publish the report there is no semantic model. There is just a report. So every time the report is opened the Power Query executes. So lets keep those queries tidy and efficient.

Parameters

Parameters make Paginated Reports reusable and a powerful tool for the analyst. Power Query parameters though do not connect to the parameters in Report Builder. The Dataset properties show the M code, kind of. Its not editable so we can’t embed the Report Builder parameters. The only way to perform a filter is using the Filters in dataset properties which has the disadvantage that it filters after pulling all the data in.

Power Query as a Source Conclusion

I love Power Query, second to SQL, every data handler in the Microsoft stack should know it. But I don’t believe it brings any benefit putting it in report builder when I can do more from a semantic model. The gotchas aren’t a real problem on their own but they add up. So my recommendation would be to build the semantic model in Power BI desktop or in Microsoft Fabric and connect to that. That is a separate blog post, link up above.

Power BI – Embed a Paginated Report

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 19:24:23 +0000

Within a Power BI report you can embed a paginated report. Values can be passed to the paginated report to populate parameters. The paginated report can be exported by a report consumer.

YouTube Version

Paginated Report

For this post we are going to use a paginated report connected to restaurant sales data. The report shows daily total dishes sold and takings. It uses 2 parameters, StartDate and EndDate to filter the report.

Prepare Measures for Parameter Values

The Power BI report in this example uses the same data source of restaurant data. It doesn’t have to. The report requires 2 parameters. The easiest way to fill these vales would be to create measures. We create 2 measures to define the date range.

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StartDate = MIN('Date'[Date])

EndDate = MAX('Date'[Date])

Embed a Paginated Report

In a report in Power BI desktop drop down the visual selection from the Home or Insert ribbon. Then select the Paginated Report visual from the Other group.

When the visual appears, click on the Build Visual button to display the data options. Add the measures to the visual. Then click Connect to report button to select the report.

The next dialog shows all the paginated reports you have access to and includes a search box. Select the correct report and then click Set Parameters. Add the relevant measures from the dropdown. The current values of the measures will appear next to each measure.

Click See report to see the report. In this report there is also a chart showing sales per week.

Filtering the Paginated Report

When a filter is applied that changes the measures used as parameters, a Apply changes button appears. Clicking this will filter the report.

We can remove Click on the report and click the format button. Then tick the Auto-apply. Now when the measures change the report will refresh immedeatly.

Exporting the Report

After the Power BI report is published, consumers can view it from the workspace or workspace app. When viewing the report the viewer can click on Export and select a format. Then all pages will download as a single file.

The toolbar at the top of the report allows the viewer to navigate the pages. We can open the report with the current filters applied by clicking Open Report.

Restricting Viewer Options

When designing the report you can add restrictions to the embedded Paginated report from the format pane. We can hide the complete toolbar, or remove access to export, navigate pages and viewing the report alone. We can restrict exporting or the different export formats.

Conclusion

This was a very simple example with 2 simple parameters. The paginated report could have optional parameters with default values and could accept multiple values. The tricky part there is setting up the paginated report rather than embedding it.

One great option would be to use bookmarks to save the common parameters.

Power BI Series

Paginated Report Resources

Sun, 21 Mar 2021 18:39:32 +0000

Important Update!

On 14th Nov 2022 Microsoft announced that Paginated reports will no longer require premium capacity and can be created with a Power BI Pro license.

Here is a link to the article https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-support-for-paginated-reports-in-power-bi-pro/

Introduction

Here are resources to help you learn how to use Paginated reports. You will need a premium capacity or Premium per user license. If you have any extra resources or questions please reach out to me on Twitter @Laura_GB.

Install Report Builder

Install from the Microsoft Store if you can or download

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=58158

Paginated Reports on Hat Full of Data

Paginated Reports – Power Query as a Source

Paginated Reports have had some Love

Get Data

Power Query Editor

Power Query as a source in Explorer

Editing the Query

A few Gotchas

Multiple Queries

Refresh or not?

Parameters

Power Query as a Source Conclusion

Power BI – Embed a Paginated Report

YouTube Version

Paginated Report

Prepare Measures for Parameter Values

Embed a Paginated Report

Filtering the Paginated Report

Exporting the Report

Restricting Viewer Options

Conclusion

More Power BI Posts

Power BI Series

Paginated Report Resources

Important Update!

Introduction

Install Report Builder

12 Days of Paginated Reports

Paginated Reports in a Day

Chris Finlan YouTube

Next Step BI

Paul Turley’s Paginated Recipe Book

Guy in a Cube Paginated Report Videos

Greyskull Analytics Videos

More Power BI Posts

Power BI Series