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Share a report as a PDF

In this topic

  1. Export options
  2. Export a report to PDF using geoprocessing
  3. Export a report to PDF using Python

Export a report document to a PDF file to generate a finished report document that can be printed or shared. You can customize export options to produce a PDF with page ranges and numbering sequences to suit your desired final output.

  1. With the report view active, on the Share tab, in the Output group, click Export Report Export Report to PDF to open the Export Report pane.

    Note:

    • The Export Report button Export Report to PDF is unavailable when there is a broken data source. You can repair data sources on the Source tab of the Report Properties dialog box.
    • If the report data source includes a selection, only the selected records will appear in the report.

  2. In the Export Report pane, review the location and name for the output PDF file specified in the Name text box. To make changes, type directly into the control or click the browse button to browse to a location on disk.
  3. Review or update the PDF Options parameters, including Resolution (DPI) and Image Quality. The Image Quality option controls the quality of rasterized data going into the export. The default setting is Best, meaning the full resolution of the requested export. Change to a lower option to down sample the rasterized data to a fraction of the chosen dots per inch (dpi).
  4. In the Fonts group, confirm Embed Fonts is checked to support proper display of the exported report. This way, if anyone reading the PDF does not have Esri fonts installed, the content will display correctly.
  5. Click Export.

    A progress bar appears at the bottom of the pane. When the export is finished, click View exported file to open the file in your default PDF viewer.

    Note:

    The Export Report pane is contextual. It shows the report export progress for the currently active view.

Export options

The Export Report pane provides settings that give you control over the export process. For example, you may need to set additional settings such as image compression, password protection, which pages you want to export, or a preferred page numbering sequence.

PDF file settings

Advanced PDF settings that give you control over image format compression and security include the following:

  • Compress vector graphics compresses the vector content streams in the PDF file. Uncheck this option if clear text is required for troubleshooting.
  • Image Compression specifies how the raster streams in the PDF files are compressed. The default option is None, or you can choose RLE, Deflate, LZW, JPEG, or Adaptive.
  • Use password to restrict opening the document allows you to add a password to protect who can view the resulting PDF.

Page range

Click the Page Settings tab to export a portion of a report using a page range. You can export all pages in the report, the last page in the report, odd pages only, even pages only, or a defined set of pages (for example, 1–5; or 1, 3, 5; or 1, 3, 5–10). One reason to export only the final page of the report is to see the total number of pages for your final report. This can be helpful when exporting multiple reports that need to be connected and the total cumulative number of pages matters.

Custom page numbering allows you to define the starting or total value for page numbers in a report. If your workflow requires combining multiple reports, each successive report needs a starting page that is offset from the previous report. For example, to join pages from Report A (5 pages long) and Report B (10 pages long) into a single 15-page report, Report A must have custom page numbering settings in which the starting page is 1 and the total page number is 15. Report B must have custom page numbering settings in which the starting page is 6 and the total page number is 15. A preview of the custom numbering for the first page of the report is shown when you type the values.

Export a report to PDF using geoprocessing

To create a report PDF from a report file (.rptx) or a report in your current project using geoprocessing, use the Export Report To PDF tool. The tool has options for page numbers, definition queries, and PDF parameters.

Export a report to PDF using Python

To export a report to PDF using Python, use the exportToPDF method. To combine multiple reports into one, use the PDFDocument class.

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In this topic
  1. Export options
  2. Export a report to PDF using geoprocessing
  3. Export a report to PDF using Python