Forum Discussion
Export Data with Current Layout does not work when measures are on rows
- 1 year ago
Currently, Power BI does not support exporting matrix visuals with "Show values on rows" in the same layout from the Power BI Service to Excel. This is a known limitation. When exporting data from a matrix visual, Power BI flattens the data into a tabular format, placing:
- Measures as columns (regardless of whether "Values on rows" is enabled).
- Dimensions as rows.
This behavior causes the exported data to differ significantly from how it's visually presented in Power BI when "Values on rows" is turned on.
💡 Workarounds
- Use Paginated Reports via Power BI Report Builder:
- Paginated reports support exporting exactly what is rendered on the screen.
- They are ideal for printing/exporting formatted tables and matrices to Excel or PDF.
- Learn more about Report Builder
- Recreate the Matrix layout manually in Excel using a DAX table:
- Create a summary table using UNION and SELECTCOLUMNS in DAX to simulate the layout.
- This allows you to flatten the matrix into a table and export it as desired.
🛠 Example of manual summary table using DAX:
SummaryTable = UNION( SELECTCOLUMNS(YourTable, "Measure", "Sales", "Value", [Total Sales], "Dim1", YourTable[Dim1], "Dim2", YourTable[Dim2] ), SELECTCOLUMNS(YourTable, "Measure", "Profit", "Value", [Total Profit], "Dim1", YourTable[Dim1], "Dim2", YourTable[Dim2] ) )Then create a table visual with this result and export it.
If you want the export to match the matrix layout perfectly, Paginated Reports remain your best option.
✔️ If my message helped solve your issue, please mark it as Resolved!
👍 If it was helpful, consider giving it a Kudos!
Currently, Power BI does not support exporting matrix visuals with "Show values on rows" in the same layout from the Power BI Service to Excel. This is a known limitation. When exporting data from a matrix visual, Power BI flattens the data into a tabular format, placing:
- Measures as columns (regardless of whether "Values on rows" is enabled).
- Dimensions as rows.
This behavior causes the exported data to differ significantly from how it's visually presented in Power BI when "Values on rows" is turned on.
💡 Workarounds
- Use Paginated Reports via Power BI Report Builder:
- Paginated reports support exporting exactly what is rendered on the screen.
- They are ideal for printing/exporting formatted tables and matrices to Excel or PDF.
- Learn more about Report Builder
- Recreate the Matrix layout manually in Excel using a DAX table:
- Create a summary table using UNION and SELECTCOLUMNS in DAX to simulate the layout.
- This allows you to flatten the matrix into a table and export it as desired.
🛠 Example of manual summary table using DAX:
SummaryTable =
UNION(
SELECTCOLUMNS(YourTable,
"Measure", "Sales",
"Value", [Total Sales],
"Dim1", YourTable[Dim1],
"Dim2", YourTable[Dim2]
),
SELECTCOLUMNS(YourTable,
"Measure", "Profit",
"Value", [Total Profit],
"Dim1", YourTable[Dim1],
"Dim2", YourTable[Dim2]
)
)Then create a table visual with this result and export it.
If you want the export to match the matrix layout perfectly, Paginated Reports remain your best option.
✔️ If my message helped solve your issue, please mark it as Resolved! 👍 If it was helpful, consider giving it a Kudos! |
The accepted solution is correct "Show values on rows" doesn't preserve layout on export, and Paginated Reports is the proper fix for pixel-perfect exports.
Worth adding one more option for teams where Finance users need the matrix layout to work in both the report AND the export without building a separate Paginated Report: Flexa Tables on AppSource exports data in the visual's layout rows stay rows, columns stay columns, including when measures are displayed on rows. No Paginated Reports setup needed