Saving Dashboard as PDF

Gulshan Sharma

Hello Everyone,

I am facing an issue with the page setup while saving the dashboard as pdf in the new version. The size of widgets on the dashboard keeps on changing to a smaller size. For reference, I designed the dashboard to cover 15 pages, but when I print the dashboard using Ctrl+P or File menu, it converts the dashboard to 13/11 pages.

I do not want to increase the live dashboard size beyond the width. There are plenty of instances where, I need to see the print preview and adjust the widgets size/location on the dashboard so that the widgets doesn't get break into two pages.

I am trying to use A5 paper size and landscape mode to print this.

Is there a smarter way of doing this setup or something I am missing.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Gulshan Sharma

Thank you for clarifying! I was able to replicate this when I expanded my donut chart to fill my entire browser window. This size then caused the PDF formatting to increase the space between the chart and the title as well. Then when I sized back down, the space stayed within the same proportions as if my chart was still the extra-large size.

To get the spacing back to normal, I created a copy of the widget, then expanded it to an appropriate size where the spacing does not also increase. Let me know if creating a copy has resolved your issue!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Genevieve P.

Hi @Gulshan Sharma

Instead of adjusting the Dashboard Widgets, what about changing the Scale when you export to PDF?

You can adjust the scale which will change where the widgets appear and how many pages the full Dashboard turns out to be.

This will look different depending on what browser you're using. On Chrome, I found the setting under More Settings > Scale > Custom.

Here's where it is in Safari:

Let me know if this helps!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Gulshan Sharma

Hi @Genevieve P

This helped to some extend. I setup my widgets again whenever it started showing the correct preview randomly. This scale would have made my work a lot easier.

There is another issue I am facing with one of the widget. I created a Donut Chart but when I print this dashboard, this donut charge is broken. This is what I see instead of the donut chart.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Gulshan Sharma

Is it possible you're clicking "print" before the Dashboard has had a chance to fully load in Smartsheet? If your chart is calculating as you click "print" it will pause the chart creation.

If this isn't the cause, can you show a screen capture of how your chart is set up in Smartsheet, and identify what browser type and version you are using? I'd like to see if I can replicate this.

Thanks,

Genevieve

Gulshan Sharma

Sure @Genevieve P

I am letting the widgets loads fully before printing the dashboard. I am using Chrome Version 91.0.4472.124.

I have a sheet with two columns only. One has the Name & Second column has the corresponding value. The chart is simply using all column with chart type as Donut. Here is how it looks on the dashboard:

& chart setup as follow:

Please let me know if you need any other information.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Gulshan Sharma

Thank you for clarifying! It's hard to tell from your previous screen capture, can you confirm that the issue you're seeing is not that the chart doesn't appear at all, but that the chart data appears below the Title at the top?

If so, can you identify if the Title of the Chart is part of the Chart widget or if you're using a separate Title widget, and what your Export settings look like (ex. Scale, like in my first screen capture. If you can post the full Print Setting window that would be most helpful). Do you also see this happening for any other chart widgets on other Dashboards, or just this one?

Gulshan Sharma

Hi @Genevieve P

There is no separate tile widget attached to this chart.

I don't understand why this is behaving random. When widgets are not fitting the width of the dashboard the Chart appears fine and as soon as I make the changes to cover the width, only this donut chart doesn't appear properly.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Gulshan Sharma

Thank you for clarifying! I was able to replicate this when I expanded my donut chart to fill my entire browser window. This size then caused the PDF formatting to increase the space between the chart and the title as well. Then when I sized back down, the space stayed within the same proportions as if my chart was still the extra-large size.

To get the spacing back to normal, I created a copy of the widget, then expanded it to an appropriate size where the spacing does not also increase. Let me know if creating a copy has resolved your issue!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Gulshan Sharma

@Genevieve P Thank you for the help.

I am able to resolve this now. There was some issue with the margins. So I sized down the widget a bit and I can see this properly.

Regards,

Gulshan

Genevieve P.

I'm glad you were able to resolve this!