By default, a Power BI report page canvas orientation has a size of 16:9. This can become challenging when you need to include more visuals or details in a single report page. However, Power BI provides a way to re-configure the canvas settings of the page to allow for an increased Portrait Orientation depending on your requirements, providing you with more space to add your visuals.
Solution
While many Power BI developers may already be familiar with this configuration, it is important to note that not everyone knows how to do this, especially those who are new to Power BI. Therefore, I will provide a detailed step-by-step guide on how to configure this in Power BI Desktop.
To demonstrate this, let’s first look at the default page view of a Power BI Desktop report:
The canvas size for this default view is 16:9, which limits the amount of information and visuals you can add on this page. However, by increasing the vertical orientation, we can create more space for additional visuals.
As shown in the diagram above, by increasing the page orientation, a scroll bar is added on the right side of the page, allowing you to scroll vertically and increase the size of the page to accommodate more visuals and information.
So, how can you achieve this increased portrait orientation? Let’s go through the steps:
Step 1: Go to the Format section within the Visualizations pane of the page.
Access the Format section by navigating to the Visualizations pane and selecting the Format option.
Step 2: Change the page canvas type to “Custom”.
In the Format section, locate the option to change the page canvas type and select “Custom”.
Step 3: Change the default Canvas Settings height to a desired height.
Adjust the default Canvas Settings height to your desired value. For example, you can multiply the default value of 720px by 2 to double the height. Feel free to increase or decrease the height according to your needs.
Step 4: Change the vertical alignment to “Middle”.
Optionally, you can change the vertical alignment to “Middle” to ensure the page is aligned to the middle of the page rather than the top. This step helps in achieving a visually balanced layout.
Step 5: Change the Page View to either “Actual Size” or “Fit to Width”.
Finally, navigate to the “View” tab on the Power BI Desktop ribbon. Click on the drop-down menu next to “Page View” and select either “Actual Size” or “Fit to Width” based on your preference and requirements.
That’s it! Your page orientation should now reflect the increased portrait orientation, providing you with more space to add visuals and information.
Summary and Considerations
It is important to note that these changes only affect the current page you have configured them on. If you need to have an extended page size on other pages, you may need to either duplicate the current page or configure it separately on the other pages as required.
By following these steps, you can easily increase the page orientation in Power BI Desktop and optimize the space available for your visuals and information.
Article Last Updated: 2022-06-23