Best Practices, Limitations, and FAQs for Printing Dynamic Reports

Best Practices

It is recommended to use the following points for achieving the desired print output: 

• Preview the print output after configuring the print setup before printing any report.
• Adjust the Scaling and Margins in the print setup based on the report size. The number of rows and columns in a report always impacts the print output. 
• To avoid overlapping headers with report lines when printing, the default top margin in Print Setup is set to 3.5 inches.
• Delete all extra rows and columns option is selected for existing Dynamic Reports. Macros used for Excel output need to be re-adjusted manually.

Limitations

• If you apply fit to 1 x 1 or 1 x 2 option in the Dynamic Reports Print Setup and the report has more than 9 columns, the header and footer section are likely to be improperly aligned in the PDF output. This also applies to Excel output when the Header & Footer configuration is set to ‘Header & Footer Section’.

FAQs

Q1: What can I configure using the Print Setup functionality?

A: The Print Setup dialog allows you to set various parameters for printing dynamic reports or report sets. You can configure paper size, quality, scaling options, orientation, page order, margins, and other printing preferences.

Q2: How do I select the paper size and quality for printing?

A: Within the Paper section, you can choose from options like Letter, Tabloid, Ledger, Legal, A3, A4, A5, and more for paper size. For quality, select from 300 dpi or 600 dpi depending on the desired print quality.

Q3: What is Scaling, and how does it affect the print output?

A: Scaling determines how the report content spreads across pages. Adjust to set the percentage of the page the report covers (e.g., 10% or 100%). Fit to specifies the number of pages wide and tall for printing the report content.

Q4: How should I choose between Adjust to and Fit to options?

A: Adjust to is suitable when the report has fewer columns, while Fit to is ideal for reports with numerous columns. Adjusting these settings ensures clarity and proper content display in the print output.

Q5: How do Orientation settings impact printing?

A: Orientation (Portrait or Landscape) affects the layout of the printed page. Portrait accommodates more rows, while Landscape suits reports with more columns. If there are any Report Sets, select the Page Breaks considering the Orientation.

Q6: Why is the report downloaded in Excel open in Page Layout view instead of the normal view? Also, why aren't my headers or footers aligning correctly?

A: The Page Layout view is designed to enhance the visibility of header and footer details. If you select Rows in the Header and Footer Display section, the report will open by default in Excel's normal view mode.

Though you have defined the alignment of the header and footer in the Header and Footer Settings, in the print output they align with the layout of the PDF. It is recommended to preview the output and check their alignment before printing the report. If you have specified any margins in the Print Settings window, the alignment of the header and footer will depend on the margins provided. For more details, click here.

Q7: Can I customize headers, footers, and other options in the print output?

A: Yes, you can include gridlines, repeat row/column headers, add document titles, page numbers, sheet names, and control other display options based on your printing requirements.

Q8: What is the default top margin in Print Setup?

A: The 3.5-inch top margin is set to prevent headers from overlapping with report lines when printing.

Q9: What are the limitations when applying the 'Fit to 1 x 1' or '1 x 2' option in Dynamic Reports Print Setup with more than 9 columns?

A: When 'Fit to 1 x 1' or '1 x 2' is applied with more than 9 columns, the header and footer sections might become misaligned in the PDF output. This scenario also applies to Excel output configured with the Header & Footer Section. If the footer isn't visible in the print preview, attempt to increase the Right margin until the footer becomes visible.

Q10: How does the Page Break option in Report Sets interact with various print settings?

A: The Page Break option (column "O") in Report Sets operates uniquely based on the report's print settings. It's essential to note that page breaks might not function correctly if the report's print settings are configured to "Fit to X page(s) wide by Y tall". In such cases, the workaround is to utilize the "Adjust to X% normal size" option for proper page break functionality.