Export PDF - format A4

[ANB13]

Hi everyone,

I hope you are doing well.

I am reaching out because I have encountered an issue with exporting a report to PDF via Power BI Services. I created a single-page report in A4 format (1021px x 794px) and published it on Power BI Services. However, when I export this report to PDF, the result is too zoomed in, making the document difficult to read, I have to zoom out to 36% to see the entire page.

Do you have any suggestions or solutions to resolve this issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Best regards,

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi @ANB13 

Thanks to Ibendlin and SacheeTh for their positive replies to this thread.

Open the report in Service and enter edit mode, select the "Actual Size" in the "View" settings and save the report.  Then perform the Export to PDF operation.

By the way, customizing the report page size may cause problems when exporting the report, so please use the standard page size if possible.

Export reports to PDF - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Best Regards,
Jarvis Tang
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[SacheeTh]

Hi @ANB13,

This issue commonly caused by discrepancies in scaling and resolution settings during the export process. Below are some suggestions and solutions to resolve this issue:

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1. Check Print Page Size in Power BI Desktop

• Ensure that the page is set to the correct A4 size in Power BI Desktop:
  • Go to View > Page View > Actual Size to confirm the page's scaling.
  • Navigate to File > Page Setup or Canvas Settings (in the Visualizations pane) and set:
    • Type: Custom
    • Width: 1021 px
    • Height: 794 px
    • Lock aspect ratio: Off (optional to prevent stretching)

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2. Verify Export Settings

• When exporting the report to PDF via Power BI Service:
  • Ensure that the Fit to page option is selected during the export.
  • If this option is not available, Power BI Service typically scales reports automatically, but double-check the layout and dimensions match A4.

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3. Adjust Resolution in the power bi report

• Power BI may export with a higher resolution than necessary, causing zoomed-in PDFs.
  • In Power BI Desktop, reduce visual sizes and fonts slightly to account for this scaling issue.
  • Test by exporting smaller dimensions (e.g., 980 px x 744 px) to see if this resolves the zoom effect.

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4. Browser Zoom and Scaling (Just check this as well, not sure this affect to the print anyway better if when use with biuld in web browser printer)

• Before exporting:
  • Set the browser zoom level to 100%.
  • Test the export in different browsers (e.g., Chrome, Edge) to see if the zooming issue persists.

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5. Export Using a Third-Party Tool ( I use this most of the times )

If Power BI Service continues to export with zoom issues, consider exporting the report to PDF via Power BI Desktop:

1. In Power BI Desktop, go to File > Export > Export to PDF.
2. Test the exported file to ensure it matches the desired A4 layout.

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6. Use Power bi Report Subcription option to reciview a PDF as an email

• Open the report in Power BI Service.
• Click Subscribe in the top menu.
• Enable Include report attachment and select PDF.
• Set the frequency (e.g., daily, weekly) and time.
• Save the subscription to start receiving the PDF via email.

• If the issue persists after exporting:
  • Use a PDF editor (e.g., Adobe Acrobat or an online tool) to resize the exported PDF to fit an A4 page.
  • Adjust the scaling to "Fit to Page" or reduce margins to make the content more readable.

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7. Optimize for Printing

If your end goal is to print the report:

• Use Print Layout in Power BI Desktop to preview how the report will look on an A4 page.
• Add sufficient padding to the visuals in your report to prevent content from appearing too close to the edges.

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8. Confirm with Power BI Updates

• If none of the above works, check for updates to Power BI Desktop or Service. Microsoft occasionally improves export functionality in newer versions.

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Best Practices

• Test your layout by exporting small sample pages.
• Use a test PDF viewer to confirm how it looks on different devices.
• Ensure all visuals are properly aligned and do not overflow the A4 margins.

Let me know if you need further assistance with any of the steps!

[lbendlin]

sounds like a bug. Did you specify a custom canvas size in your report?