Allow editors and viewers to change gantt timescale when printing to PDF

Tim Starkey

Request: Allow users with editor or viewer access to change the timescale when printing a gantt view to a PDF, and for that setting to be persistent for that user.

Background and our use case: I was not aware, but apparently editors cannot change timescale of the gantt when printing to PDF. They can change the display timescale, and that setting is persistent between sessions. But that setting does not apply when they go to print a PDF. When printing PDF's, it reverts to the default sheet setting (often quarterly). Being able to change the timescale for printing is critical as our project durations vary greatly... some a couple months, some several years.

Also, in addition to the display scale being persistent, all of the other print settings are persistent per user. (at least per my testing) The selection of columns to print, the page scale and orientation, the notes... everything else in the print dialog box is both persistent and unique to each user.

The printed gantt timescale is the only thing that is not. If I didn't see comment responses in the community that said this was a 'feature' I would assume it was a bug.

The workaround (to give all users admin access) is problematic. Our setup utilizes control center to provision hundreds of projects with multiple sheets/reports per project. The sheets utilize formulas, cross sheet references, hidden helper columns, etc. Providing admin access would expose those features to accidental editing, and break functionality. Our projects involve multiple disciplines for coordination, and these disciplines often need to print schedules to send to clients, contractors, vendors, reviewers, etc. So its not a matter of 1 or 2 admins for these sheets.

Further, we are looking into sharing our schedules with our clients. That hasn't been fully vetted... we may be looking at workapps, or directly sharing some sheets/reports. We also haven't determined if they will have editor or viewer access... but they certainly won't have admin access. Regardless, these are savvy clients in the field of construction and very familiar with gantt charts. If we start sharing these sheets, and suddenly they can't change the timescale for PDF prints, this will be seen as either a shortcoming in the software, or an arbitrary restriction.

Tim Starkey

So... are my posts too long? Either my ideas just bad, or everyone gets tired of reading them :)