In this Microsoft Power BI Tutorial, We will discuss how to export Power BI reports to PDF. Different approaches to export the Power BI Reports to PDF, how to export the Power BI Reports to PDF from the Power BI Desktop.
Also, We will see how to export Power BI Reports to PDF from Power BI Online or Service, What are the limitations and considerations in Power BI Export to PDF.
Learn how to export Power BI report to excel.
Export Power BI Reports to PDF
There are two approaches where you can export the Power BI Reports to PDF. The two approaches are:
- Export Power BI Reports to PDF from Power BI Desktop
- Export Power BI Reports to PDF from Power BI Online or Service
Export Power BI report to PDF from Power BI Desktop
To export the Power BI Reports to PDF from Power BI Desktop, follow the below processes:
First of all, Open your Power BI Desktop, Sign in and go to your existing report which you want to export to PDF.
You can see this below Power BI Report screenshot which I want to export to PDF.

Go to the File tab which is present on the left top of the Power BI Desktop page. Select Export to PDF option as below screenshot.

Once you will click on Export to PDF, it will take a few minutes to generate the PDF of your report as you can see in the below screen.

Once the PDF is ready, you can download it directly, and as well as you can open it directly.
The below screenshot represents my Power BI report which I have exported to PDF. This report is showing in PDF format which is opened with Foxit Reader or any PDF reader.

Also, check out, Power BI if date
Export Power BI Reports to PDF from Power BI Online/Service
Similarly, You can export the Power BI Reports to PDF from the Power BI Online. To export the Power BI Reports to PDF from Power BI Desktop, follow the below processes:
First of all, Open your Power BI Online Page (powerbi.com), Sign in and go to My workspace and Select your existing report from the Report section that you want to export to PDF.
You can see this below Power BI Report screenshot which I want to export to PDF from the Power BI Service.

Go to the File tab from the left top of the page and click on Export to PDF option as shown below.

Once you will click on Export to PDF option, then the below window will appear. Select either Current Values or Default Values which you want to Export with.
If you want to hide the report tabs, then check on the Exclude hidden report tabs and then click on the Export option as shown below.

It will take a few minutes to generate the PDF in Power BI. At the same time, You can see the below screen.

Once the PDF generating process is over, then your PDF file will be ready for download. You can download the PDF directly from the page.

While you will open the downloaded PDF file, then it will appear like the below screenshot.

Power BI Export to PDF Limitations
In the Power BI Export to PDF, there are some limitations and considerations which you should know. These are present in below:
- The Power BI Reports cannot be exported currently which are having more than 30 number of report pages.
- If your tenant administrator will disable the Export to PDF feature, then you can not see the Export to PDF menu in the Power BI Service. In that case, you should contact your tenant administrator.
- If you will use the R visual in a report, then in the PDF, the visuals appear as blank and display an error message. Because R visual is currently not supporting in the Export to PDF.
- When you will export the report to PDF, it will take a few minutes’ time to complete the export process.
- It will only support the Custom visuals that have been certified. If the Custom visual is not certified, then it will not support and appear an error message.
- If you want to share the dashboard with the user which is outside of the organization, then that user cannot export the shared dashboard’s associated reports to PDF.
- In the PDF, You can use the Fit option to ignore the issues with your exported document.
- In the Power BI Service, if you want to set the Power BI Language settings for the PDF Export, then you can do it by using Settings (Gear icon) -> General -> Language.
- It will be good if you will remove the background images before you export them to PDF.
You may like following Power BI tutorials:
- Microsoft Power BI Alerts
- Power BI DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) Tutorial
- Power BI Query Group Tutorial
- Power BI Change Data Type of a Column
- How to Split Columns in Power BI
- Power BI Buttons
- Power BI Workbooks
- Power BI On-premises Data Gateway
Conclusion
Hence in this Microsoft Power BI Tutorial, We discussed different ways to export the Power BI Reports to PDF, how to export the Power BI Reports to PDF from the Power BI Desktop.
Also, We saw how to export Power BI Reports to PDF from Power BI Online or Service, What are the limitations and considerations in Power BI Export to PDF.
Hello Everyone!! I am Bhawana a SharePoint MVP and having about 10+ years of SharePoint experience as well as in .Net technologies. I have worked in all the versions of SharePoint from wss to Office 365. I have good exposure in Customization and Migration using Nintex, Metalogix tools. Now exploring more in SharePoint 2016 🙂 Hope here I can contribute and share my knowledge to the fullest. As I believe “There is no wealth like knowledge and no poverty like ignorance”