Generating PDFs for Reports in SmartSheet

SSFeatures provides a PDF generator for reports, that supports "grouped" and "summarized" data, making it easy to print, email, download, and share this data with others.

The Problem with SmartSheet's PDF Generator

While SmartSheet does have a PDF generator, it fails to support reports that use "Group" or "Summary" features. When generating a PDF, SmartSheet reverts the report, ignoring grouped rows, cells, and summaries. This makes it impossible to accurately download, email, or print reports that use these features.

For example, the report shown below groups data by customers, then sums the number of fruits purchased. Rows like "Total", "Customer", and cells like "Sum" are crucial to the report's meaning.

When using SmartSheet's PDF generator, the PDF ignores these groups and summaries, as shown below.

Notice that the PDF completely skipped the first 3 rows, deleted all of the "Sum" cells, and deleted all of the header rows. Additionally, the PDF looks completely different from the report.

Users have been asking for a solution to this bug for years:

• Feature Request: Provide users with the ability to Print a Grouped Report (~220 votes) (~140 comments)
• Feature Request: Printing Grouped Reports (~60 comments)
• Feedback: "We've stopped developing our Smartsheet documents due to this restriction and now sit in a holding pattern waiting for an update" - Richard Heath
• Feedback: "Groupings are essentially worthless since you cannot export or print them" - Esorensen
• Feedback: "However, the reports are essentially useless due to the fact that i cannot export with groups... This is a serious stopgap for my company" - Clay Nolen
• Feedback: "3 years of requests for this feature??? Without it "reports" are nearly useless to output info??? Good grief, Smartsheet, wake up! I have wasted hundreds of hours assembling info on a project I have now no way to output in a useful format for a businesslike application. Very displeased. I guess I will abandon Smartsheet, output the info to Excel, and solve it there. Really disappointed. I will not recommend Smartsheet to others. " - Steve Brown
• Feedback: "what is the issue? this is AN APPALLING LACK OF BASIC FUNCTIONALITY" - Lucreze
• Feedback: "I just picked up this string and am in disbelief that this most basic functionality doesn't exist... without the grouping renders it useless " - Stu Haney

The Solution with SSFeatures' PDF Generator

SSFeatures' PDF generator fully supports "grouped" and "summarized" reports, ensuring that no data is skipped. The generated PDF maintains the exact formatting and structure of your original report.

• Supports "normal", "grouped", and "summarized" reports.
• Supports PDF generation, printing, and emailing the data with correct formatting.
• Preserves all dimensions and data without reverting any part of the report.

For example, here's the same report generated using SSFeatures' PDF generator.

Notice that none of the rows or cells are missing, and the PDF closely resembles the original report.

PDF Generation Customization

SSFeatures offers the same customization options as SmartSheet’s native PDF generator, including paper size, margins, orientation, scaling, logos, sheet name, row numbers, timestamps, page numbers, and header notes.

Demo Video

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can you tell me more about the security and privacy of this feature?

  • SSFeatures generates the PDF entirely within your browser, ensuring that no data is sent to our servers or databases. Once the PDF is created, it opens in a new tab for downloading. Your data remains secure and private within your browser.