Pagination using bookmarks

Long tables of data are a staple of most reporting systems, but normal doesn't necessarily mean good:

It becomes very easy to lose track of data and miss patterns. Did I already look at Bootle, or is that new when I scrolled down?

What would be easier to read (although perhaps not to achieve) is to limit the number of rows to 10 and allow a user to switch between sets of 10. Like this:

This way we can move methodically between the pages.

To do this we need a way of separating our list into pages such as an index number. The easiest way to do this is open the Query Editor from the Home tab: 

On the Add Column tab choose Index Column then From 1. This creates a new column counting 1 to n for each row in the selected table.

At this point decide how many rows you want per page. I'm going with 10 per page, so I need a new calculated column to work out the page numbers:

Dividing by 10 and then rounding up to the nearest whole number will separate my rows into pages. For example 1-10 will all be on page 1.

At this point if you aren't fussy then there is a faster option than bookmarking - by creating a page number slicer:

Admittedly this method does have the advantage of speed, and also gives the user the option of having more than one page showing.

Another method would be to use bookmarks which restrict access. We need a way of moving between these bookmarks, so first create forward and back arrows:

Page 1 only need a forward and page 5 (which is my last page) only needs a back arrow.

Using the selection pane hide all the buttons that aren't going to appear on page one. Then add a Visual filter to the table for Page number 1:

After adding the filter create a bookmark of this page and call it something appropriate like...Page 1

Now comes the tedious part: repeat this for every page number you have, hiding the buttons you don't want and changing the page filter.

Finally attach the bookmarks:

While it gives a smoother transition than the slicer, it really does take a while to make!

This is a very simple version of pagination. To make it more complicated read this blog to create a dynamic measure.