A Tabular Report is the simplest Salesforce report format — a flat list of records with columns and rows, no grouping, no subtotals. Think of it as a spreadsheet view of records. Fast to build, fast to run, perfect for lists and CSV exports.
What it looks like
Account Name Industry Annual Revenue Type
Acme Corp Hardware $1,200,000 Customer - Direct
Globex Inc Software $850,000 Customer - Channel
Initech Software $400,000 Prospect
Umbrella Corp Pharma $5,500,000 Customer - DirectNo groupings. No subtotals. Just rows.
When to use Tabular
- CSV/Excel exports — sales reps download a list of leads to dial
- List views replacement — a curated “all my open cases” list
- Mailing lists — “Contacts with newsletter opt-in”
- Reference lookups — “active products in the catalog”
Why dashboards reject Tabular by default
Dashboards need a clear “what to chart” — counts per group, sums per category. Tabular has neither. If you drag a Tabular report into a dashboard component, Salesforce will refuse unless you’ve set a Row Limit (top 5, top 10, etc.). That turns it into a “Top N tabular” with a deterministic order.
Top 5 Accounts by Annual Revenue (Tabular with Row Limit)
1. Umbrella Corp $5.5M
2. Initrode Inc $4.2M
3. Acme Corp $1.2M
4. Globex Inc $850K
5. Stark Industries $720KStrengths
- Fastest format — minimal aggregation cost
- Most rows visible — no grouping overhead
- Best for exports — clean CSV out
- Supports inline editing in some contexts
Limitations
- No grouping — if you need subtotals, switch to Summary
- No charts unless you set a Row Limit
- Cannot feed dashboards without a Row Limit
- No bucket fields that depend on grouping
How to build one
- Click New Report in the Reports tab
- Pick a Report Type (e.g. “Accounts”)
- Add filters
- Add columns
- Confirm format is Tabular (default in Lightning Report Builder)
- Save and run
Comparison with other formats
| Tabular | Summary | Matrix | Joined | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grouping | None | By row | By row + column | Per block |
| Charts | Only via Row Limit | Yes | Yes | Per block |
| Dashboards | Only with Row Limit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Speed | Fastest | Fast | Slower | Slowest |
Common follow-ups
- Can a tabular report show subtotals? — No — switch to Summary.
- Why is my dashboard component greyed out? — Likely a Tabular source without a row limit.
- Maximum rows? — 2,000 visible in the report UI; up to 100,000 via the report API for tabular results.
Verified against: Salesforce Help — Report Formats. Last reviewed 2026-05-17 for Spring ‘26.