How to Convert an SSRS Report to a SharePoint List
Question details
The user wants to know if it is possible to directly convert or use an existing SSRS report to generate a SharePoint list.
- Product
- Microsoft SharePoint
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Migrating or copying employee and business data from a read-only SSRS report into an interactive SharePoint list to store and manage records.
- Observed behavior
- There is no built-in, direct conversion tool to turn an SSRS report into a fully functional SharePoint list.
Ensure you have permission to export data from the SSRS report and sufficient privileges to create new lists in your target SharePoint site.
Export SSRS to Excel and Import into SharePoint
Since direct conversion is not supported, manually exporting your report data to an Excel spreadsheet and uploading it to SharePoint is the most reliable workaround.
SSRS is designed for data visualization, whereas SharePoint lists are designed for data management. Because of this architectural difference, data must be extracted into a neutral format like Excel before it can be imported as a list.
Open the SSRS report in your browser or report viewer. Click the 'Export' drop-down icon (often shaped like a floppy disk) and select 'Excel' to download the data.
Open the downloaded Excel file. Remove any report headers, footers, merged cells, or summary totals so that only raw tabular data remains. Select your data range and format it as a Table.
Navigate to your SharePoint site. Click 'New' > 'List', then select the 'From Excel' option. Upload your cleaned spreadsheet, map the column data types accordingly, and click 'Create'.
Automate Data Transfer with Power Automate
If you need to regularly update a SharePoint list with data from an SSRS backend, you should bypass the report entirely and automate the transfer directly from the SQL database.
Handle Exported SSRS Report Data Easily with WPS Office
Need to clean, format, and prepare your exported SSRS Excel files before importing them into SharePoint? WPS Office provides a lightweight, highly compatible, and free alternative to Microsoft Office for all your spreadsheet management needs.
- 1. Download WPS Office: Visit the official WPS website and download the free WPS Office suite for your operating system.
- 2. Open Exported Report: Launch WPS Spreadsheet and open the Excel file you exported from your SSRS report.
- 3. Format for SharePoint: Use WPS Spreadsheet's intuitive table tools to quickly remove blank rows, delete report headers, and save the clean .xlsx file for your SharePoint upload.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is there no direct export from SSRS to a SharePoint list?
SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) is designed to aggregate and visualize data for reporting purposes, whereas a SharePoint list is a structural database meant for managing individual records. Because they serve completely different structural purposes, Microsoft does not provide a one-click conversion tool between the two.
Can I link a SharePoint list to an SSRS report instead?
Yes. If you already have a populated SharePoint list, you can use it as a data source to generate an SSRS report. You simply need to configure a new Data Source in SSRS and select the 'Microsoft SharePoint List' connection type.
What is the best format to export SSRS data for SharePoint?
The best format is Excel (.xlsx) or CSV. SharePoint's native 'Create List from Excel' feature makes importing tabular data from an Excel spreadsheet the fastest and most user-friendly method for migrating SSRS data.
Will formatting from the SSRS report carry over to the SharePoint list?
No. SharePoint lists only store raw data (text, numbers, dates). Any visual formatting, charts, or color-coding present in the SSRS report will be lost during the export and import process.
