PDF export size sudden increase - failed subscription export

[chapaudio]

We had a report subscription that was running daily with a PDF size around 12MB but this morning it failed due to size limitations...

PbixReportSubscriptionAttachmentTooLargeError

Attachment size was larger than the size allowed has been disabled

I manually exported through the PBI service and sure enough it was 28MB. But if I export from my desktop version using the dataset from the service I get a PDF export of 13MB

Just wondering if anyone else has seen a similar issue with increased export size in the last day or so, or if there is other information out there on ways to reduce the PDF size.

Document properties suggest the PBI service is generating a PDF with twice the page size as the desktop version. It seems quite excessive in size for a canvas size of 2400x1850

Service:

Desktop:

[v-zhangti]

Hi, @chapaudio 

It's possible that the issue with the increased export size is due to changes in the data or report design that have occurred recently. However, there are several ways to reduce the size of a PDF export from Power BI. Here are a few suggestions:

• 1. Reduce the number of pages in the report: If your report has multiple pages, try to reduce the number of pages or combine them into a single page. This can significantly reduce the size of the PDF export.
• 2. Reduce the size of visuals: If your report contains large visuals, try to reduce their size or resolution. You can also try to use simpler visuals or remove unnecessary visuals.
• 3. Optimize images: If your report contains images, make sure they are optimized for web use. You can use tools like Adobe Photoshop or online image compressors to reduce the size of images without losing too much quality.

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _Charlotte

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

[chapaudio]

Thank you for your reply on this topic.  I provided screenshots that show the properties of the PDF and page. One was generated by the PBI desktop app and one from the published PBI service report. Both contain the same data and same page count of 19 which is below the max of 50. PDF properties from service suggest the canvas size is double compared to the locally gnerated PDF. 

I just ran a test by creating a one page report with just a label and the PDF exported from the service shows properties in Adobe that the page size is double compared to the exported version from PBI desktop. The service export appears to be borderless also when compared to the desktop version. 

I looked back through serveral exports of the subscription from the past month and they all report the same canvas size properties so this alone does not appear to be the issue.

Obviously the page size details and boder vs boderless indicate some variation beteen the desktop PDF export engine and the service PDF export engine. There do not appear to be additional formatting options when cerating the subscription to help the situation so I will need to go through the effort of splitting this report into multiple reports/subscription emails.

Please look into making the export engines consistent between Desktop and Service PBI so developers can test an export and expect similar results when published.

[chapaudio]

I checked a paginated report subscription and that does not seem to have changed during this time. File size and page size are the same when comparing current to several days ago.

The power bi report however is still producing an oversized version