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Is there some special formatting that should be in place to ensure that the entire answer or report prints without cutting off text on the right side of the page?

Environment:

Printing, Analytics, Answers
Oracle B2C Service

Resolution:

The following provides information on printing both reports and answers.

Printing Reports

You can make a report fit the width of the page so it will print properly.  When printing a report to fit the page, default page width settings are automatically used and page breaks set in the report are not applied to the printed report.

To print a report to fit the page:

1. Open the report you want to print.
2. Click the Home Tab, and click the Print Button.
3. Select File then Page Setup (or Print Preview) to modify page options.

Whether you print a report from the administration pages or from a scheduled report that is sent in web format, you run into the same printing issues as with any web page. If the report is too wide for the printer, the right side of the page is truncated.

Consider printing the report in landscape mode instead of portrait (generally found under Orientation options).

If the report is wider than the landscape orientation, consider editing the width of the columns used in the report and specify narrower widths where possible.

In addition, you can export the report in an Excel format and print the entire report using Excel. If the report is generated from a scheduled report, send the subscription using the Excel format and then print the report from there.

Printing Answers

When printing answers from the end-user pages, there are several factors that may affect how the answer prints.

If the end-user prints an answer using the print feature in their browser, that is, File > Print, the right-hand part of the answer may be cut off due to the page width. The preferred method for printing an answer is to click the Print Answer feature located in the left section of the page when viewing an answer. This feature is designed to print the answer in a "printer-friendly" version of the answer. When using the Print Answer feature, the text should wrap around so that the right-hand part of the answer is not cut off.

Another issue that may affect the printout of an answer (even when the Print Answer feature is used) is including HTML tables within an answer. HTML tables can be configured to be a certain width, and if that width is wider than the allowed print space, the right-hand part of the answer could be cut off when printing the answer. The fix to this is to reformat the table and specify narrower column widths.

Due to variations in printers, browsers, and operating systems used by your end-users, there is no "fixed" answer as to how wide an HTML table can be and still print correctly. Generally, the maximum width of the printed page is 600-640 pixels. Keep in mind, this includes the width of the Product and/or Category fields that are printed on the left-hand side of the page, if those fields are enabled. The actual page width used when printing answers varies depending on the lengths of the names of your products and categories which forms the width of the left-hand box when using the Print Answer button.

If you find that table content gets truncated when the answer is printed, consider the following options:

1. Consider using percentage for width versus pixels. The table editor within the answer workspace defaults to pixels. This can be changed to a percentage by editing the Table Properties > Width option. Modify the width and test until the desired result is achieved.
   
                              
   
   
2. Consider modifying the column widths within your table to be narrower. Keep track of the total width of the HTML table and decrease the table width first to be less than 500 pixels, and continue to modify the table as necessary to determine what the best width is.
   
   Note: After modifying the overall table width, you may determine that the table itself needs reformatting due to the narrower columns.
   
   
3. Reformat the table by removing columns or including different types of lists to present the information. For example, in the original table, one column may contain the name of a feature and a second column may provide a description of that feature. Consider combining those columns into one column. You could use bold or colored text for the feature name and include the description in regular text all within one column.