How-To
How to Export a Page Design as a Power BI Project (PBIP)
TL;DR
Design the page in the VizForge Design Studio (start from a template or the layout wizard), then choose Export > PBIP. Unzip the download to a short local folder and open the .pbip file in a current Power BI Desktop. The page opens with your background (Image fit Fill), your theme, and one empty visual per slot at the exact position. Connect your data, drop fields into each visual, delete the sample table and save.
A PBIP export skips the slowest part of report building: setting the background, importing the theme and placing every visual by hand. Here's the full path from a design to a report with your data in it.
Step 1: Start a design
Open the Design Studio. Pick a template from the gallery, or use the quick-start wizard to generate a header, KPI row and chart panels in your style. No account is needed; designs autosave in your browser.
Step 2: Set the page size and brand
Match the page size of the report you'll open it in: 16:9 at 1920 × 1080 for a new page in a Fluent 2 report, 1280 × 720 for a Classic or older report, or Letter for print. Set your brand colours and fonts; text colours are checked for contrast as you go.
Step 3: Place a visual slot for every chart
Each slot becomes a visual container in Power BI. Choose its type (card, KPI, bar, column, line, area, combo, donut, scatter, table, matrix, map, gauge, funnel, treemap or slicer) and give it a title. A custom slot, for a chart Power BI doesn't ship, exports as a labelled text box placeholder that you replace with a custom visual.
Step 4: Export as PBIP
Open Export and choose PBIP. The download is a zip of a Power BI project: <Name>.pbip, <Name>.Report and <Name>.SemanticModel. If you're not signed in, the background carries a small Made with VizForge mark; signing in removes it.
What's in the zip
Sales.pbip
Sales.Report/
definition.pbir
definition/report.json, version.json
definition/pages/pages.json
definition/pages/<page>/page.json # background image, scaling Fill
definition/pages/<page>/visuals/<id>/visual.json # one per slot, exact x/y/w/h
StaticResources/RegisteredResources/ # theme JSON + background PNG
Sales.SemanticModel/
definition.pbism
definition/tables/SampleData.tmdl # small sample table so it opens offlineStep 5: Unzip to a short local path
Extract the zip to a local folder such as C:\Reports\Sales. Power BI Desktop can't save a project directly to OneDrive or SharePoint, and Windows' default 260-character path limit applies to deep project folders.
Step 6: Open the .pbip in Power BI Desktop
Double-click the .pbip, or use File > Open in Power BI Desktop. Use a current Desktop release: the project uses current PBIR schema versions, and older builds can refuse schema versions they don't know. The page opens with the background, theme and empty visuals already in place.
Step 7: Connect your data
Use Get data to load your tables into the model, or save the report and point it at a published semantic model. The SampleData table (Date, Region, Category, Value) is there only so the project opens without a data source; delete it once your data is in.
Step 8: Bind fields to each visual
Select each visual and drop your fields into its wells. Positions, titles and transparent backgrounds are already set, so the visual lands on its panel. For placeholder slots, generate the custom visual with VizForge AI and import the .pbiviz into that spot.
Step 9: Save and version it
Save. The report stays a PBIP project, ready for Git: every page and visual is a separate JSON file. Publish from Desktop when you're ready.
Troubleshooting
Desktop reports an unsupported schema version: update Power BI Desktop to the current release and open the project again.
A page or visual is missing after you renamed folders: PBIR folder names may only contain letters, digits, underscores and hyphens. Rename it back and restart Desktop.
The background looks soft: export again with the 2× background option, which keeps the same layout at double the pixels.
Power BI Report Server: projects aren't supported in the Desktop build for Report Server. Save as a PBIX from regular Desktop first if you need to move the design there.
FAQ
Do I need an account to export a PBIP?
No. The Design Studio is free and works without signing up. Signing in removes the small Made with VizForge mark from exported backgrounds.
Does the PBIP include my data?
No. It includes the layout, background, theme and empty visuals, plus a small sample table so it opens offline. You connect your own data in Power BI Desktop.
Can I convert the project to a PBIX?
Yes. In Power BI Desktop, use File > Save as and choose the .pbix type.
Sources
- Microsoft Learn: Power BI Desktop projects (PBIP)
- Microsoft Learn: Power BI Desktop project report folder (PBIR)
- Microsoft Learn: Apply page size and settings in a Power BI report
Related reading
Design a page and export it as PBIP, free.
Start from a department layout instead of a blank page.
What each file in the project does.
Pin padding, corners and canvas size so the base theme cannot move them.
About the author
Nawaf Sharaf · Founder & Reliability Engineer
Nawaf is a reliability engineer and long-time Power BI practitioner, and the founder of VizForge. He builds the product solo — the AI generation pipeline, the visual code generator, and this site — from the perspective of someone who has spent years shipping Power BI reports in production.
Cite this article as:
VizForge. “How to Export a Page Design as a Power BI Project (PBIP).” November 4, 2026. https://vizforge.ai/blog/how-to-export-power-bi-page-design-pbip