PDF export do not show full table

[Johag]

Hello community, 

This is probably super-simple but I can't figured it out. 

I have a report and user want to export to pdf. The export works fine but in the report there is table with a scrollbar becasue the table contains more rows then fits o the page. When look at the report it of course works fine to scroll down. But the export only show the first part, the part thats visible. And not possible to scroll down or view a second page. 

Is paginated report the only solution here or anyone having any good suggestion? 

Tnx!

[v-kpoloju-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Johag,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum. Thank you @Cookistador, for your inputs on this thread. I have identified few workarounds that may help resolve the issue. Please follow these steps:

The issue you're encountering is due to scrollable tables in your report. When exporting to PDF, Power BI only captures the visible portion of a table, which includes the rows above the scroll bar. Consequently, the rows below the scroll bar (those not visible without scrolling) are excluded from the export.

Unfortunately, this is a limitation of the standard Power BI export functionality scrollable visuals, such as tables, do not support multi-page exports when exporting to PDF.

For scenarios requiring the export of large tables or datasets across multiple pages in PDF format, Paginated Reports are the recommended solution. These reports automatically paginate tables across multiple pages, ensuring all rows are included in the export, even if they exceed the visible portion of the report.
For more details on creating and working with paginated reports, please refer to the following link: View paginated reports in Power BI

If you prefer to continue exporting to PDF and need further clarification on the limitations, you can consult the documentation on PDF export behaviour, which explains that only the visible portion of scrollable visuals (like tables) is exported. This documentation confirms why only the top rows appear in the exported PDF. Export reports to PDF – Power BI

Once you have created a paginated report, you can save and upload it to the Power BI Service, enabling users to view and export it as a PDF seamlessly. Save paginated reports to the Power BI service

If your goal is to export large tables to PDF while maintaining the integrity of the data (i.e., ensuring all rows are visible in the export), the paginated report is the best solution.

If this post helps, then please give us ‘Kudos’ and consider Accept it as a solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

Thank you for using Microsoft Community Forum.

[Johag]

Hi @v-kpoloju-msft 

Thanks for the detailed answered. 

For my use case it looks like paginated is the way to go. I'll dig in to this and see what kind of magic we can create 😎

[Cookistador]

Indeed, Power BI is pretty limited to export the matrix, if you cannot create a paginated report, the only way to achieve that is:

You can try the below and see if this works.

1. Export the matrix to Excel (Export Data option from the visual).
2. Once in Excel, format the table/matrix as needed and export it to PDF.

So depending on your need, it could help you to fix this issue

Or if you need to export the same table all the time, you can also build something with Power Automate

[Johag]

In this case its a table and not a matrix but I assume it really doesn't matter. 

The use case is pretty simple, the user have some visualizations and can drill through to a new page with a more detailed table with more info. Some cases have 5 rows, other cases can have 65. That why all content doesn't fit sometimes. Users will then maybe do several exports that why it need to be as simple as possible.

Yeah, I saw a solution to use Power Automate but that get a little to over engineered. 

Is it possible to embed a paginated report in regular PBI report?