As it turns out, you can specify this functionality at runtime using code similar to the following: report.setProperty(MaxPagesGovernor.PROPERTY_MAX_PAGES_ENABLED, Boolean.TRUE.toString()); report.setProperty(MaxPagesGovernor.PROPERTY_MAX_PAGES, String.valueOf(500)); where report is a JasperReport object. The above code snippet would limit the size of a report to 500 pages.