Designing Reports for PDF

For many readers, the PDF is the report. Board packs, investor and client reports, and scheduled sends all reach people as a PDF. Evidence includes components and options for developing reports that are effective both on the web and in PDF.

Export Your First PDF

Studio only — part of Evidence Studio, our hosted platform.

Open the page menu and choose Download PDF, or press Cmd+P / Ctrl+P on a published page.

The PDF Options dialog, with a preview on the left and the settings on the right

Setting	What it does	Default
Orientation	Portrait or landscape A4	Landscape when `page_width: full`; otherwise Portrait
Color scheme	Light or dark	Your current mode
Show cards	Prints content on cards, as on screen	The page’s `cards` setting
Use page colors	Prints your page background instead of white	Off
Margins (mm)	Space around each page	20 mm
Contents	Untick a heading to leave out that section	All sections

Use landscape for wide tables and charts.

The same page exported in portrait and landscape

The same page with Show cards off and on

Light mode is usually best for printed PDFs.

Print Techniques

Keep Content on the Same Page

Wrap related content in print_group so it stays together — a heading with its chart, or a chart with its table.

{% print_group %}
### Quarterly Revenue
{% bar_chart data="quarterly_sales" x="quarter" y="sum(revenue) as 'Revenue'" /%}
{% /print_group %}

Use print_group hide=true to leave a block out of the PDF entirely.

Start a New Page

Add page_break where the next page should begin.

{% page_break /%}

## Details

Hide Filters and Controls

Wrap inputs in hidden_in_print. Otherwise they print as unusable controls.

{% hidden_in_print %}
{% range_calendar id="date_range" title="Order date" /%}
{% /hidden_in_print %}

Add Content for PDF Readers

Use only_in_print for text that only PDF readers need.

{% only_in_print %}
Prepared for the leadership team. All figures in USD.
{% /only_in_print %}

Adapt Filters for Print

Filters aren’t interactive in print, but they affect the content that’s included. Hiding filters and replacing them with a sentence describing the filter state can help a PDF remain clear.

{% hidden_in_print %}
{% dropdown
	id="category"
	title="Category"
	data="products"
	value_column="category"
	multiple=true
	select_first=true
/%}
{% /hidden_in_print %}

{% only_in_print %}
Showing **{{category}}**.
{% /only_in_print %}

A multi-select prints as a comma-separated list. To show every filter value in one PDF instead of a single chart with an input, use a repeat. On screen, readers see the interactive dropdown and chart. In the PDF, they see one chart per value.

{% hidden_in_print %}
{% dropdown id="department" title="Department" data="sales" value_column="department" /%}
{% line_chart data="sales" x="month" y="sum(revenue) as 'Revenue'" filters=["department"] /%}
{% /hidden_in_print %}

{% only_in_print %}
{% repeat id="dept" data="sales" column="department" %}
{% line_chart data="sales" x="month" y="sum(revenue) as 'Revenue'" title="{{dept}}" filters=["dept"] /%}
{% /repeat %}
{% /only_in_print %}

Tabs

Tabs print every tab in sequence, each with its title as a heading.

{% tabs %}
	{% tab title="Revenue" %}
		{% bar_chart data="orders" x="product" y="sum(amount) as 'Amount'" /%}
	{% /tab %}
	{% tab title="Orders" %}
		{% table data="orders" /%}
	{% /tab %}
{% /tabs %}

Print Components

Component	In the PDF
Page Break	Starts a new page
Print Group	Keeps contents together. `hide=true` leaves it out; `print_only=true` shows it only in print
Hidden in Print	Leaves contents out
Only in Print	Shows contents only in print
Repeat	Prints contents once per value of a column
Tabs	Prints every tab with its title as a heading

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Designing Reports for PDF

Export Your First PDF

Print Techniques

Keep Content on the Same Page

Start a New Page

Hide Filters and Controls

Add Content for PDF Readers

Adapt Filters for Print

Tabs

Print Components

​Export Your First PDF

​Print Techniques

​Keep Content on the Same Page

​Start a New Page

​Hide Filters and Controls

​Add Content for PDF Readers

​Adapt Filters for Print

​Tabs

​Print Components

Export Your First PDF

Print Techniques

Keep Content on the Same Page

Start a New Page

Hide Filters and Controls

Add Content for PDF Readers

Adapt Filters for Print

Tabs

Print Components