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I often check the following option in the hope that it will be implemented when the report is rendered on the RS web portal - but it never works...

enter image description here

The reports usually have some Row Groups - does this have an impact on whether this option will work?

Or is this a bug in Reporting Services?

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2
  • This option does work, I have used it frequently. Can you expand on "it doesn't work"? What actually happens when you use this option? Commented Feb 27, 2013 at 21:09
  • @Nathan nothing happens - that's the problem ....in the reporting services web-site when I open the report the column headers do not remain visible (similar to Freeze pain in Excel). It just scrolls up and the headers are gone. Commented Feb 27, 2013 at 21:19

6 Answers 6

Reset to default
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I find it usually doesnt work as advertised and you have to find the "Advanced mode" button (a strong candidate for the worst piece of UI ever) and then fiddle with several properties.

Here's probably the best reference:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160314083037/http://blogs.msdn.com/b/robertbruckner/archive/2008/10/13/repeat-header-and-visible-fixed-header-table.aspx

The key steps from that blog past are:

You selected "Repeat header rows on each page" or "Keep header rows visible while scrolling" in the tablix properties dialog, but it doesn't seem to work as expected? You might want to try the following four steps if you are using a "table"-style layout:

  1. in the grouping pane, click on the small triangle and select "Advanced Mode" to show static members:

enter image description here

Grouping pane in advanced mode

  1. verify that you have the properties grid turned on (in BI Development Studio use F4, in Report Builder go to the "View" tab and select "Properties")

  2. select the corresponding (static) item in the row group hierarchy

  3. in the properties grid:

  • set KeepWithGroup to After
  • set RepeatOnNewPage to true for repeating headers
  • set FixedData to true for keeping headers visible

I edited this answer in Oct-2025 to link to an archive of the original blog post, and copy out it's key content

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2 Comments

Also remember to set your background color property on the header cells - they are transparent by default.
couldn't resist - followed the steps and applied them all to each of the "static" fields in the row groups. In the Preview pane it works - but once deployed it does not reflect in the report; the report opens ok but the headers to not stay visible when I scroll down a long way
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  1. In the Tablix properties check the boxes for:

    • Repeat header rows on each page.
    • Keep header visible while scrolling.

    Make sure that the Column Headers check boxes are NOT checked.

  2. In the Group pane on the left (Row Groups) the first line is Static (in Advanced mode).

    • Set the "RepeatOnNewPage" property to TRUE
    • Set the "FixedData" property to TRUE
    • Set the "KeepWithGroup" property to AFTER
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8

I think what confuses people about these settings is that the "Row Headers" and "Column Headers" that the settings refer to are not visible if you have used a "table"-style tablix. These are only visible when using a "matrix"-style tablix.

Therefore I often see people trying to set this for tables and wondering why it does not work. As per the MSDN blog post referred to in Mike Honey's answer, if you have used a table then you have to fiddle about with the Advanced settings to get this to work.

My tip is to start with a matrix and make sure the row or column headers you want to remain visible are in the matrix row/column group areas (above and to the left of the double-dash lines). You can remove any row or column groups that you are not going to use. When you set the "remain visible" settings they should then just work as expected.

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Does anyone know of any way to set or find out what "style" of tablix you have?
The style of tablix you start out with depends on whether you select the "Table" or "Matrix" data region when adding it to the report. The reason there are two different options is partly a hangover from earlier versions of SSRS when these were actually two different objects, but they are now both Tablix under the hood. You can convert one into the other by adding and removing row and column groups with group headers.
7

Here in 2023 and this still is an issue. The accepted answer's link is broken now. Below is how you get this to work.

  1. Click on the small down arrow to the right of the Column Groups and check Advanced Mode
  2. Click on the (Static) row under the Row Group
  3. On the properties area to the far right, Set the following:
  4. FixedData = True, KeepWithGroup = After, RepeatOnNewPage = True
  5. On the tablix header go into the properties and make sure the Keep header visible while scrolling is UNCHECKED for both the row header and column header sections.
  6. Finally set the tablix header row BackgroudColor to white or something else, it is transparent by default. Without the background change the header text will float on of the data.

enter image description here

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If you cannot see the properties that are listed here on the right side of the screenshot, then, in the properties window, at the top there is a dropdown. Select the Tablix there. Or even try Body. That should do it.
If you want a longer scrolling page, you can set the InteractiveSize of the page up to 455 inches long in the Report properties. Which is separate from the "print" PageSize when saved to a pdf, etc.
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I couldn't find this property in Visual Studio, so I checked XML source.

  1. In solution explorer right click on your report and View Code.

  2. In XML code find:

     <TablixRowHierarchy>
     <TablixMembers>
         <TablixMember>
             <TablixHeader>

  3. Under <TablixMember> put this code:

    <FixedData>true</FixedData>

Now save the code and you will see that header row is frozen.

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2

Kindly note: We can keep the headers of a Tablix Freezed.

Work around:

  1. We need to change the fixed data property to true of a header cell(static)
  2. Remove the selection of check box for "keep the row or column header visible while scrolling"
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