The Export to PDF option, on the dashboard menu, exports the current page of a dashboard (excluding any images) to PDF format.

Export to PDF will export only one page at a time (the number of pages for each grid can run into thousands, making the export unmanageable).

To export further pages, change the page and re-run the export for each one. If you want to export multiple pages to PDF, the Excel add-in may be more suitable for producing management packs consisting of multiple pages from the same module view.

If you want to export only one element from a dashboard, select the element, click Maximize on the dashboard element menu (the element will occupy the whole screen), then click Export to PDF.

Because images on dashboards are linked rather than embedded, they are not included when exporting dashboards to PDF. White space is displayed instead.

The output

The output will contain:

  • grids, charts, page selectors, and individual line items.
  • any conditional formatting that has been applied.
  • Boolean line items, displayed as a tick (for true) or blank (for false).
  • grid styles (Classic, Clear, Ruled and Striped), as applied on the dashboard.

The output will not contain:

  • module names and page selectors are not shown in the output.
  • hidden elements on the dashboard
  • dashboard images
Warning: If you use blank text boxes as a mechanism for creating white space on a dashboard, when you export the dashboard to PDF, the output may not be rendered precisely. The Export to PDF function expects to find text in a text box: if there is no text, the function cannot accurately calculate the layout of the page. We recommend using the auto-sizing features of dashboard elements to provide the best output to PDF format.

A note on column headings

The ways in which column headers wrap must be specified in Column Settings prior to exporting to PDF. The Column Settings page, in Anapedia, shows the rules that govern the ways in which wrapping is configured and what you can expect to see.

Export a dashboard to PDF

  1. On the dashboard menu click Export to PDF.
  1. Set the Page Size, Orientation, Margins, and Grid Handling.
  2. Click OK.

Export to PDF Options

Page Size

Choose a page size: A5, A4, A3, Letter (default), Folio, Legal or Executive.

Orientation

Select the layout: Portrait or Landscape.

Margins

The left, top, right and bottom margin size can be customized. Margins are measured in millimeters. The default value is 10mm.

Grid Handling

The grids and charts shown on a dashboard can be huge and will not necessarily fit on a page, even on an A3 landscape page with small margins. The grid handling options help you manage this: select

  • Truncate will export only the rows and columns you can see on the screen.
  • Split will export all the grid, split over the number of pages required to display it all.
  • Fit to Page will shrink the grid to fit the page size selected. If the grid is quite large, it may become too small to read.
Replicate Row Labels

Replicate Row Labels repeats row labels across all pages of the output. If you turn this option off, the row labels are displayed on the first page of the output only, subsequent pages have no row labels.

Append Grid Exports

If Append Grid Exports is selected in conjunction with the Grid Handling option, Truncate, any rows and columns not visible on the screen with be appended to the end of the export.

Grid Handling Options

Truncate

The Truncate option on the Grid Handling list hides columns if they do not fit in the page width available. This is the default setting and is roughly ‘what you see is what you get' depending on how well your screen dimensions match the page size and orientation. There is a minimum font size below which the columns will be truncated. Select Append Grid Exports to show the missing columns on other pages.

Split

The Split option will split the grid onto multiple pages if it does not all fit on the page. Replicate Row Labels is selected by default, but if you clear this setting it will only show the row labels on the first view of the grid and will hide them on subsequent pages to save space.

Fit to page

Fits to the page width. Tall grids will still span multiple pages.

Disclaimer

We update Anapedia regularly to provide the most up-to-date instructions.