Customizable Multipage Reports as PDF

[Olivia_Schlicht]

Looking for help with creating customizable multipage PDF reports from our Airtable data!

Currently we’re using Google Docs to create a report, each with it’s own master header, with a varying amount (2-50) of cues (records), each cue needing it’s own group header and each having it’s own set of specific data (10-20 columns). Usually they run anywhere from 2-10 pages long. Our recipients need it in this format. We’d love to have it be aesthetically easy to read, with customizable color coding.

Printing as PDF directly from Airtable isn’t working due to formatting, grid spacing, longer descriptions getting cut off, and inadequate headers. Page Designer isn’t working due to only having 1 record per page (even 2 doesn’t work if I “halve” the printing dimensions) - for context, sometimes 1 project (report) has 8-20 episodes, and each episode has 1-30 cues, and each cue can have 2-8 songs… that is a ton of range, so a set dimension for each record just causes excessive blank space, like in the case where there’s only 2.

Since we’re a small company, monthly subscriptions to pricey report-creating software is not ideal. But really open to any solutions that could get us away from copying and pasting all this data from Airtable to Google Sheets!

[Anonymous]

Hi Olivia,

I hope you’re having a great day!

I’d be happy to discuss some ideas with you about PDF page customizations, as well as getting a better understanding of how the Airtable will be an asset to your team and business. As a full time freelancer based in the U.S., I am very familiar with Airtable, Web Design, Zapier / Automations, Digital marketing and other online software.

Once we’ve discussed your vision and goals, I can then provide you an accurate price and timeframe to get the project started!

Schedule a free phone consultation via this link: www.wisedesign.co/schedule

To learn a little more about myself, please visit my website: www.wisedesign.co

If you’d like to connect with me on LinkedIn, please do so here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eckline/

I look forward to hearing from you!

Best,
Eric Kline

[Maria_J]

Hello Olivia,

Hope you are doing great!

I can do the work for you!

I have sent you a Personal message, Please check.

Warm Regards
Maria J

[Airtable_Clerk]

If you don’t have to run the report too often, you can bring up a view and copy/paste the data elsewhere. I’ve copied Airtable data to the Datasheet view of a Microsoft Access database with a complex report defined that uses that data. You can imagine other tools and products that could serve the same purpose that MS Access does for us.

Not an optimal solution for sure, but MS Access is affordable and there are open source reporting packages as well.

[Olivia_Schlicht]

Bummer that it’s PC only. We are all Mac users.

[Airtable_Clerk]

Agreed. There are some open source reporting packages out there but I haven’t tried to connect to them.

[Andrew_Johnson1]

Hi Olivia,
What you are wanting done is right up my alley of expertise and I would be happy in helping you out on this.
You can reach me on andrewjohnson56782@gmail.com
Best Wishes,
Andrew

[Olivia_Schlicht]

Hi Maria, Saw your post on the community forum. How would you approach my request and what are your rates? Do you need any further details from me?

[Maria_J]

Hello Olivia,

Yes, it would be best if you could share more details with me as then it would be easier for me to understand and will send you the estimate further.

You can also email me at maria@cisinlabs.com :slightly_smiling_face:

Warm Regards
Maria J

[ScottWorld]

This would be very tricky to build without paying for both (a) Integromat and (b) one of those pricey document creation tools like Docupilot. But even so, I’m not sure if you could get the exact style & format of the report that you’re looking for.

It’s always possible that Airtable isn’t the best tool for your project. You might want to use Apple’s FileMaker instead, which has the built-in capabilities of doing everything that you want to do.

With FileMaker, you can build beautiful, complex, complicated reports with master headers, varying amounts of records, grouping of records and subheaders for each group, customizable color coding, long descriptions that don’t get cut off, etc. etc. Just as importantly, FileMaker has full PDF capabilities built natively into the product, so you don’t need any extra tools. Everything you need to do is combined together under one roof with FileMaker.

I am both an expert Airtable consultant and a Certified FileMaker Developer. If you’d like to chat more, please feel free to reach out to me through my website at scottworld.com.