What is Power BI Report Builder: A Comprehensive Guide

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What is Power BI Report Builder?

Power BI Report Builder is a powerful tool for creating paginated reports that can be published to the Power BI service. These reports are designed to be printed or shared, and they display all the data in a table, even if it spans multiple pages. With Power BI Report Builder, you can easily author reports that fit well on a page and have full control over the report layout.

Prerequisites

Before we dive into Power BI Report Builder, let's quickly go over the prerequisites. To use Power BI Report Builder, you will need:

A Power BI account
Access to the Power BI service
Basic knowledge of Power BI

Start with the Table, Matrix, or Chart wizard

One of the easiest ways to create a paginated report with Power BI Report Builder is by using the Table, Matrix, or Chart wizard. This wizard provides a step-by-step guide to help you design your report. Here's how you can get started:

Open Power BI Report Builder and create a new report.
Select the Table, Matrix, or Chart wizard from the toolbar.
Follow the prompts to select your data source, choose the fields you want to include in your report, and customize the report layout.
Once you're satisfied with the design, click Finish to generate your paginated report.

Start with the Map wizard

If you want to create a paginated report with a map visualization, you can use the Map wizard in Power BI Report Builder. This wizard allows you to plot your data on a map and customize the map visualization. Here's how you can use the Map wizard:

Open Power BI Report Builder and create a new report.
Select the Map wizard from the toolbar.
Choose your data source and select the fields you want to include in your report.
Customize the map visualization by adjusting the map style, adding layers, and defining color ranges.
Once you're done with the customization, click Finish to generate your paginated report.

Design your report

Power BI Report Builder provides a range of design options to help you create visually appealing and informative reports. Here are some key design features:

Formatting options: You can format your report elements, such as tables, charts, and text, using various formatting options.
Charts and visualizations: Power BI Report Builder offers a wide range of chart types and visualizations to help you present your data in a meaningful way.
Themes and styles: You can apply pre-defined themes and styles to your report to give it a consistent and professional look.
Headers and footers: Power BI Report Builder allows you to add headers and footers to your report, which can include page numbers, report titles, and other information.

Manage your report

Once you have created your paginated report, Power BI Report Builder provides several options for managing and organizing your report. Here are some key management features:

Report properties: You can set various report properties, such as the report title, author, description, and data source information.
Data sources: Power BI Report Builder allows you to define and manage data sources for your report. You can connect to a wide range of data sources, such as databases, Excel files, and SharePoint lists.
Parameters: You can create parameters in your report to allow users to interact with the data and customize the report output.
Filters and sorting: Power BI Report Builder provides options to apply filters and sorting to your report data to focus on specific subsets of data.

Use deployment pipelines with paginated reports

Power BI Report Builder integrates with deployment pipelines in the Power BI service, allowing you to automate the deployment of your paginated reports. With deployment pipelines, you can create a streamlined and repeatable process for publishing your reports to the Power BI service.

Considerations and limitations

While Power BI Report Builder offers powerful features for creating paginated reports, there are some considerations and limitations to keep in mind:

Data volume: Paginated reports are designed to handle large amounts of data, but very large datasets may impact the performance of your report.
Printing and exporting: Paginated reports are optimized for printing and exporting to formats like PDF and Excel. However, interactive features like drill-through and bookmarks may not work in exported versions.
Data refresh: Power BI Report Builder does not support automatic data refresh. If your report relies on live data, you may need to manually refresh the data in the report.

Feedback

We value your feedback! If you have any suggestions or questions about Power BI Report Builder, please let us know. Your feedback helps us improve our products and provide a better experience for our users.

Additional resources

Here are some additional resources to help you learn more about Power BI Report Builder:

Power BI Report Builder download: You can download Power BI Report Builder from the official Power BI website.
Power BI Report Builder tutorials: Microsoft offers a range of tutorials and guides to help you get started with Power BI Report Builder.