Forum Discussion
white borders in PDF export
Hi there, long time lurker but first time posting - I have recently been using PowerBI and while it has been really helpful, I come across the same issue where it appears that even though the sizing within PowerBI for Letter is correct, wen I export to PDF it comes out smaller and in some instances, a 0.25 indent or border appears on all 4 sides bringing a 8.5x11 page to 9x11.5 page.
Thank you!This is the exported PDF where it was not kept in the same sizeExample 1 of showing dimensionsExample 2 of showing dimensions
11 Replies
Hi , welcome to posting
I also faced this probelm and then I finded a solution that help me at that time , hope it will work also for u
Try exporting via Print > Save as PDF from a browser instead of the built-in Export to PDF option, some people get more consistent margin behavior that way since it bypasses Power BI's own PDF renderer.
If you're printing from Power BI Desktop directly (not Service), check the printer/PDF driver's own margin settings too, sometimes it's not Power BI adding the border at all, it's the PDF printer driver defaulting to its own margins.
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Best regards,
Prince Singh | Data Science & Microsoft Fabric EnthusiastWhen using the web version of PowerBI, I am able to eliminate the side borders, but the top and bottom border remain and it requires me to go page-by-page rather than exporting the entire file at once. If the files were small this would definitely be my choice solution, but I am working with over 20 tabs/pages per file.
Hello EliShalev
Try this.
in Power BI Desktop, go to the canvas background settings and make sure the page size is set to an exact 8.5 x 11 Letter, not a custom value that's just slightly off. Then export using File > Export > Export to PDF directly in Desktop instead of File > Print, since Print routes through the OS PDF driver which adds its own margins. That combo got rid of the white border.
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Data With Pankaj - YouTubeThank you! Unfortunately this has all been exporting to PDF directly and not printing to PDF.
Hi EliShalev,
Thank you for posting your query in the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum, and thanks to pankajnamekar25 & Prince0011 for sharing valuable insights.
Could you please confirm if your query has been resolved by the provided solutions? This would be helpful for other members who may encounter similar issues.
Thank you for being part of the Microsoft Fabric Community.
Hi, my query has not been resolved unfortunately.
Hi EliShalev,
May I check if this issue has been resolved? If not, Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.
Thank youHi EliShalev​,
Thank you for the clarification and for sharing the additional details. and thanks to pankajnamekar25​ & Prince0011​ for sharing valuable insights.Based on the screenshots, the report is already configured with the standard Letter page size. Microsoft’s documentation notes that there can be differences between the report canvas and the resulting PDF during the export process.
Microsoft also documents that Power BI reports have a page margin when exported to PDF, resulting in white space at the top and bottom. It also notes that precise fidelity of the exported PDF can't always be guaranteed.
Considering these documented export behaviors, the difference you're seeing between the report canvas and the exported PDF can occur even when the page is configured with the standard Letter size.
Since you mentioned that the report contains more than 20 pages, the browser Print > Save as PDF approach may not be the most convenient option. If the requirement is for more control over physical page size, margins, and pagination, paginated reports may be worth considering. Microsoft describes PDF as a hard page-break renderer for paginated reports, optimized for a consistent printing experience and based on physical page size.
I hope this provides some additional context on the behavior you're seeing.
For more details, please refer to the below official Microsoft documentation:
Export Power BI reports to PDF - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
Apply page size and settings in a Power BI report - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
Page Layout and Rendering in Power BI Paginated Reports - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
I hope this helps. Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.
Thank you.Thank you for your response. Paginated reports would not be the route we would take; is there any expectation that the MS team would introduce a method to export Power BI files without adding borders or allowing some other method to print/extract the reports?
Hi EliShalev​,
Thank you for the clarification.Microsoft’s documentation confirms that all Power BI reports have a page margin when exported to PDF, resulting in a band of white space at the top and bottom. Microsoft also notes that precise fidelity of the exported PDF cannot always be guaranteed.
At present, the documented PDF export options do not provide a setting to remove these margins. If this functionality is important for your scenario, you can submit or vote on an idea through the Microsoft Fabric Ideas forum for consideration as a future improvement.
Fabric Ideas - Microsoft Fabric Community
I hope this clarifies the current documented behavior.
For more details, please refer to the below Official Microsoft Documentation:
Export Power BI reports to PDF - Power BI | Microsoft LearnLearn about Microsoft Fabric feedback - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn
I hope this helps. Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.
Thank you.
Hi EliShalev​,
I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.Thank you.
