Report PDFs

Every report in Pasco Cloud can be downloaded as a professional PDF document — complete with your template branding, structured field responses, photos, signatures, and automatic page numbering. These PDFs are the definitive output for compliance records, client handovers, and regulatory submissions.

What the PDF Includes

The generated PDF is a complete, self-contained document that includes:

• Header — template logo (or a document icon fallback), report title, document number, template type, date, and organisation/project information.
• Section numbering — hierarchical numbering (for example, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1) matching the template's section and field structure.
• Field responses — all your answers, laid out cleanly. Short values (text, numbers, checkboxes) use a compact two-column layout. Longer content (multi-line text, tables) uses full-width rendering.
• Multiple-choice badges — selected options rendered as coloured badges for quick visual scanning.
• Slider bars — visual slider representations with track, filled portion, and min/max labels.
• Photos and media — images rendered at full size in a two-per-row grid with captions. Both reference images (from the template) and response images (from the person filling in the report) are included.
• Signatures — freehand signatures rendered at their captured size.
• Instruction fields — displayed in a styled box to distinguish them from data fields.
• Conditional logic — fields that were hidden by conditional logic do not appear in the PDF.
• Flagged fields — fields that triggered flag conditions are highlighted for attention.
• Footer — configurable text slots plus automatic page numbers and generation date.

Headers and Footers

PDF headers and footers are configurable per template — set once, applied to every report generated from that template.

Header

The header appears on the first page and includes:

• Template logo or avatar (pulled from the template at the time the report was created).
• Report title and document number.
• A blue accent underline for visual separation.

Footer

The footer appears on every page and has three text slots:

• Left — defaults to "Private & confidential" (customisable).
• Centre — customisable text (for example, your company name).
• Right — customisable text.

Two toggles control automatic content:

• Show page numbers — appends "Page X of Y" (enabled by default).
• Show generated date — appends the PDF generation date (enabled by default).

Footer configuration is set in the template's Edit Details modal under the Headers & Footers section. The configuration travels with the report via the template snapshot, so reports always use the footer settings from when they were created.

PDF Preview

You can preview the PDF before downloading it:

• From the report detail page — click the PDF Preview tab or the preview button.
• From the report builder — the builder saves your changes before navigating to the preview, so you always see the latest version.

The preview is an HTML/CSS approximation displayed in the browser as A4-proportioned pages. It uses the same blue accent colour scheme and layout rules as the actual PDF, giving you a reliable sense of the final output.

💡 Tip

Use the PDF preview to check your layout before submitting. It is much easier to spot formatting issues, missing photos, or incomplete sections in the preview than after the PDF has been generated.

The preview toolbar includes zoom controls, page navigation, print, share, and download PDF buttons.

Downloading

PDF download is available at any report status — including drafts. This is useful for:

• Checking the PDF layout while still working on a report.
• Sharing a draft with someone for informal review before formal submission.
• Downloading an approved report as a final compliance record.

The download filename uses the document number — for example, INS-003.pdf. This makes it easy to organise files in your own document management system.

PDF Generation Details

PDFs are generated server-side using pdf-lib — a lightweight library that gives full control over the document layout without requiring a browser engine.

Key technical details:

• Content flow — a dedicated engine tracks vertical position across pages and inserts page breaks automatically when content would overflow.
• Two-pass rendering — content is rendered first, then footers are added with accurate "Page X of Y" counts.
• Template pages — each template page starts on a new PDF page for clean visual separation.
• Draft watermark — draft reports include a watermark across each page.
• Professional fonts — standard Helvetica for clean, universal readability.
• Modular architecture — each field type has its own renderer, making the PDF output consistent and maintainable.

HTML Preview vs PDF

The browser preview and the actual PDF are produced by different rendering systems. The HTML preview is an approximation — it matches the PDF closely in terms of colour scheme, layout, and content, but there may be minor differences in spacing, page breaks, and font rendering.

ℹ️ Did you know?

The PDF is the authoritative document. For compliance, regulatory, and contractual purposes, always use the downloaded PDF as the definitive version. The HTML preview is a convenience tool for checking content before download.

Table and Letter Sections

Templates can include specialised section types that render differently in the PDF:

• Table sections — rendered as proper tables with column headers, row data, and borders. Ideal for inspection checklists and itemised records.
• Letter sections — rendered as flowing prose with filled values inserted inline. Useful for correspondence, notices, and formal letters that need a narrative structure rather than a form layout.

What's Next?

• Working with photos and signatures? Read Files, Signatures & Images.
• Need automatic numbering? See Document Numbering.
• Want to set up workflows? Learn about Approval Workflows.
• First report? Follow the Tutorial: Completing Your First Report.