Create your first PDF and let your respondents download a personalized PDF report, directly after taking your questionnaire. A winning way to increase engagement and a powerful tool to generate more conversions.
Professional Enterprise 
ReportR DistributR What is the Report PDF functionality?
Just like you can show your respondents a customized outcome screen or send a follow-up email based on results, the PDF feature will formulate a personalized report for your respondent, with customized advice, feedback, tips or any other content that you have set up, all based on their questionnaire answers.
Here's an example of how a generated PDF report could look like:
Here are some ideas on how you can use the PDF report:
- Generate a PDF report after answering a management assessment and include praise when the respondent is doing well and advice for improving management style.
- Offer customized marketing tips after the respondent has answered a marketing questionnaire.
- Promote relevant goods and services with a customized PDF report generated after taking a lead generation quiz.
What is the difference between the previous and the Renewed Report Builder?
At the previous ReportR version you needed to preview your PDF in order to see your work. With the new Report Builder, you can see live your content, you can drag and drop elements to move them around in your PDF and you almost need no code at all! We added more functionalities to ensure that the creation of your PDF is easiest than ever and more user friendly.
Let's see how you can create your first PDF step by step.
- Cover and Final page
- Header and footer
- Basic widgets
- Chart widgets
- KPI widgets
- Layout widgets
- Logic rules
- Design tab
- Extra options
- Share your PDF
- Previewing your PDF
1. Cover and Final page
Start off by logging in, building your assessment.
While you still have your assessment open, you can click on the Report Button and click on the +Create a new report.
A new modal will appear, where you would have to select a template. You can choose the Empty, to start from scratch.
In the new modal, select the Individual report.
Alternatively, click the Reports button, which you'll find in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
You'll see a list of all of your current PDFs. Click Create PDF and in the box that comes up, choose the questionnaire for which you want to create a PDF report.
If you have a lot of questionnaires, you can also use the search button to write the name or the suffix of the questionnaire you are looking for. Select your questionnaire and click Next. Like before, you need to select a template and then click on the Individual report.
If you've already started a PDF report with the new Report Builder, simply click on the PDF Name that appears in the left-hand column on the page and you can continue editing it.
When your PDF opens, the first thing you will see is a blank page that is your cover page. The cover page is an essential part of your PDF report and has to be attractive. A well-designed cover creates curiosity about the inside content and thus, compels the respondent to read it.
2. Header and footer
The pages after your cover page by default have a header and footer.
If you would like to modify the text, you would have to go to the Design tab, open the header and footer menu and adjust the text. You can add variables if you want, for example first and last name.
If you don't want a header and footer you can simply delete all the text.
Don't forget to save your work when you change tabs! For example you have to save your work before leaving the widgets tab and again after you modify something at the design tab or extra options.
3. Basic widgets
3.1 Page widget
3.2 Text widget
3.3 Horizontal line
3.4 Image widget
3.5 Table widget
3.6 Top-flop widget
3.1 Page widget
Drag and drop the page widget to add a new page to your PDF report.
3.2 Text widget
Drag and drop a text widget on your page to add your content. You can use the text editor to make your text more interesting by changing the font, color, size, adding emoticons and variables.
3.3 Horizontal line
Drag and drop a horizontal line on your page to divide your content. You can select between solid, dotted, dashed or double line.
3.4 Image widget
Drag and drop the image widget on your page to add pictures to your personalized report, to make it more interesting.
3.5 Table widget
You can add a table to display your data. Simply add the rows and columns you want, add variables and customize the look of your table.
3.6 Top-flop widget
The top-flop widget is a useful feature to show respondents the areas in which there has been an improvement (top) or the areas which scored lowest (flop). Drag and drop it on your page to add it to your PDF.
3.7 Responses table widget
Responses table is a dynamic type of widget that will add records automatically to the table once you have set it up. You can set the maximum number of records to show and set the table to sort records from low to high or high to low.
3.8 Formula ranking widget
Formula ranking widget allows you to display the results of selected formulas ranked from lowest score to highest score or highest to lowest.
4. Chart widgets
4.1 Column chart
4.2 Bar chart
4.3 Pie chart
4.4 Gauge chart
4.5 XY Chart
4.6 Bubble chart
4.7 Spider chart
4.8 Custom chart
4.1 Column chart
Add a column chart to show respondents' results at a glance. This is a great way of displaying data because it is easy to compare the columns.
4.2 Bar chart
Add a bar chart to show respondents' results or another data set at a glance. This way you will display your data with rectangular bars.
4.3 Pie chart
The pie chart is a great way of displaying data in proportions and representing a rough estimate of percentage.
4.4 Gauge chart
Add a gauge chart to show the average or actual scores or percentage results for question blocks or formulas. Respondents can see at a glance if they've scored towards the top-end or bottom-end of the scale.
4.5 XY Chart
The XY chart is a great way to show your respondents the relationship between two variables. They can compare and evaluate their answers on the XY chart and see where they or their answer stands at. You can add as many variables as you like.
4.6 Bubble chart
Bubble chart allows your respondents to see their results from different questions but also compare them to other components.
4.7 Spider chart
The spider chart is a great graphic way to compare results from different questions and visualize performance.
4.8 Custom chart
The Custom Chart widget, unlike the other widgets, allows you to upload your own data through a CSV file. This way you are able to select exactly the data you want to show in your chart, down to the last detail.
5. KPI widgets
5.1 KPI widget
5.1 KPI widget
KPI widget allows you to add a shaded circle or proportion of a charging battery, to display your Key Performance Indicators based on an individual data point.
5.2 Formula KPI widget
Formula KPI widget allows you to display the results of formulas that you have set up. You can use this widget to have a quick visual representation of your formulas.
5.3 Question block KPI widget
Add a PDF Question Block KPI widget to your report to show respondents how they scored. This widget is most useful when you have question blocks in your questionnaire together with custom scoring.
6. Layout widgets
Layout widgets allow you to control where your content is placed on each PDF page. It is a very simple and efficient way to create columns with different content. So for example you can place side by side a text widget and an image, or two different charts, or create banners.
All you need to do is to drag the column layout you prefer and then drag and drop another widget in the column you want.
There are a lot of different layouts that you can select from, to make sure that you don't need CSS code anymore. Here are some examples:
One column with a border that contains an image and a text widget.
This is how it looks like when you print the PDF.
This is a two columns example, all you have to add the two columns layout, and add one text widget to each column.
Here is an example of how the 2-10 columns layout looks like. It is the ideal layout to create a banner. Upload your logo using an image widget to the left inside the smaller column and add your text to the right by using a text widget inside the bigger column.
7. Logic rules
The logic rules can be applied on the widget level to provide personalized feedback and show content when certain conditions are met. If you are thinking to create "widget logic" or "conditional content", read on!
Select the widget you want to work on, on the right hand side, click the settings icon:
Click the Edit rule button:
A pop-up Your logic rules will open. By setting up if/then conditions, you can decide which widgets are displayed when these rules are met and therefore give your respondents conditional content and personalized feedback based on their answers.
There are several possibilities of setting up the conditional content.
Check out our article: Logic rules for conditional content.
8. Design tab
The Design tab contains the settings you need to customize the color scheme, font, and more to create a PDF just the way you want it. Let's take a look at all the settings separately.
8.1 Colors
8.2 Font
8.3 Page Orientation
8.4 Paper Format
8.5 Margins
8.6 Logo
8.1 Colors
Click on the color selector to choose the shade for the primary and secondary colors used throughout the report.
The primary color will be used in the header and footer and the secondary color will be used as the font color on the cover page, and other instances in the report such as question block KPI thresholds.
8.2 Font
- Font: simply click the arrow and scroll down the list to select the font you want.
- Font Sizes: you can change the font sizes by clicking on the number and using the arrows that appear, or type the font size in yourself. When you type text in the PDF editor, the sizes (small, medium, etc.) will be the font sizes you have set here.
8.3 Page Orientation
By default, the page orientation of the report is Portrait. Here you can change it to Landscape if you wish.
8.4 Paper Format
You can change the report paper size to Letter. A4 is set by default.
8.5 Margins
Adjust the page margins by using the arrows to increase or decrease margin size or enter the required value. Margins will be the same on all pages excluding the cover and final page.
8.6 Logo
Click Add logo to upload a logo that will be shown on the download screen that respondents see when downloading the PDF directly from the survey, or scheduled email.
- Show final page: toggle to make the final page Active.
- Text: type the text to appear on the final page. Learn how to use the editor icons to upgrade the look of your text.
- Add image: click to add an image that will be shown beneath the final page text.
- Final page margins: use the arrows or enter a value to set final page margins to the desired size in mm.
9. Extra options
Click on the Extra Options tab to access the General Settings that you can change.
- Template Name: the template name will show in the tab when you open the PDF in a browser.
- PDF filename: choose what the PDF file will be called when it is downloaded. Click on Variables to add more variables to the name, or to change the variable to be used in the file name.
- Page Numbers: toggle to Show page numbers at the bottom of each page of the PDF.
Don't forget to periodically click Save changes so your changes will be saved.
10. Share your PDF
Once you've got your PDF looking just right, it's time to share it with the world. Click on the Share tab to access Share settings. Toggle the button to activate the PDF template and click on Copy so you'll have the link to provide for downloading the report.
Differences between the two PDF Links:
- The first PDF link, is cacheable, which means that you will be charged only per response. A new page will open when loading the PDF and then the download your report button will appear.
- The second link is non-cacheable, which means that you will be charged each time the link is clicked. It is used for aggregated data, meaning when you don’t want to cache a report, but always want to have the latest data. A new page will open when loading the PDF and then the download your report button will appear.
Use the button on the final screen to allow respondents to access their personalized report, like in the example below:
If you want to change the color of your 'download' button, go to the Design tab and change the Primary color from Colors.
To do this, save the PDF and then click on the Questionnaire tab to head back to the questionnaire editor. In the final screen message options, you can toggle to add a download button to the final screen.
Now you can edit the download button label as well as paste the download link you have copied from the PDF share settings. Note that the download button label cannot exceed 20 characters.
Alternatively, you can send the share link to respondents in a follow-up email after they have completed the questionnaire.
Sometimes when you copy-paste the PDF link, the format of the variable that is included in the link changes, and instead of *|SESSION_SIGNATURE|* you paste *%7CSESSION_SIGNATURE%7C*. As a result you have an error message when you try to download the PDF, that the action is unauthorized. So make sure that your link has the correct format and it looks like this
https://api.pointerpro.com/v2/report-templates/12345678992122641265/sessions/*|SESSION_SIGNATURE|*/download?cached=true and not like this https://api.pointerpro.com/v2/report-templates/12345678992122641265/sessions/%7 SESSION_SIGNATURE%7C /download?cached=true
Another way to share the reports is by sending aggregate PDF reports to your contacts, using the PDF Scheduler.
11. Previewing your PDF
- To download a test version of the PDF template you will require at least one response in your survey. The test PDF will always be generated based on the data of the last response.
- If you make any changes to your PDF in the editor (such as adding new widgets or changing widget logic), you will need to retake the survey to test the changes.
Just click Save and then Preview anytime you want to test what you've done so far.
What's next?
- Renewed Report builder: PDF step by step example: Check out our step by step guide to create an attractive and stylish PDF. It includes videos but also very detailed instructions.
- You can use PDF scheduler if you want to send a PDF report to specified contacts on a regular basis, send team members a weekly report, email the marketing department with a report every Sunday etc. The reports sent out by the scheduler are aggregate reports with all data totaled, as opposed to personalized reports with just one set of information.
- Logic rules for conditional content to set rules on the widgets in your report builder so that certain content is displayed only when the logic rules are met. This is ideal when you the PDF report offers personalized feedback and needs to show conditional content depending the response to the assessment.
- Conditional Rendering is a way of displaying elements based on a condition. It allows you to create simple conditions inside a widget and reduce the number of widgets and rules. With Conditional Rendering, you can render different UI markups based on certain conditions.
Don't want to build it yourself? Contact our professional services team
