Qlik Tabular Report - Hyperlink not working in PDF report

[bsharma_velcro]

Hi,

I have created a report in Tabular using Page feature (from  Levels and pages option). I have created a "Table of contents" in the first sheet where I need to give hyperlink for each of the pages/sheets.

Since I am using Page feature, the final report sheets are yet to be created (will be created during report run time). While creating the hyperlink to the individual sheets, I am using Hyperlink function of excel to create the hyperlink

eg:

=HYPERLINK("#Main!A1","Main Sheet")

This works great if I preview the report in Excel. However, doesn't work in PDF.

I cannot use Insert -> Link option in excel to enter the hyperlink as the sheets are not created yet in the template.

Any idea how can I get the hyperlink working in pdf!

Regards,

Bhaskar

[Frank_S]

Hello @bsharma_velcro 

I spoke to a colleague that was helping you in the support case and asked them to redirect you here in the community for assistance.

Please upload a sample tabular report template and sample app as we will test it for you here to see if we can make it work.

We will then test in xlsx format, then in pdf format (as you have done) to reproduce the result you are seeing and determine if there is a workaround.

Kind regards...

[Frank_S]

I've done some tests and can't make it work. It seems to be a limitation of PDF exporting rather than tabular report limitation.

For example if you try to print/export your tabular report directly to a pdf within Microsoft excel save/print features, it doesn't work for me there either. The exported MS excel PDF does not enable a link when saved/exported/downloaded

Also excel wants to print the PDF sheets individually out of excel directly so it seems another problem with MS excel/pdf save/print feature. MS excel want to print 1 pdf per sheet even when choosing print entire workbook in the print options.

Therefore it appears to be a limitation of PDF export from excel and not a tabular report limitation.
See attached.

Kind regards...

[bsharma_velcro]

Thanks @Frank_S. 

Working of the hyperlink is very vital for our reports as they are long reports with many pages. Without hyperlink it will become difficult for users to navigate.

Can you please suggest any workaround to this!

Regards,

Bhaskar

[Frank_S]

Hi again...as mentioned it seems a microsoft limitation not a tabular reporting issue.

Please test this in MS excel directly as suggested and you should see the same problem. I provided sample files as well.

Perhaps you can mention this in the microsoft help community here for a workaround if one exists but it seems a microsoft excel limitation:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us

Kind regards...

[BhaskarSharma]

Hi @Frank_S,

We could get the hyperlinks work if we use Levels instead of Pages while creating the template. Since Level allows us to create the entire report in a single excel sheet, and the name of the sheet doesn't change during runtime, we can use excel's Insert -> Link feature, and the hyperlinks thus created work well once converted to pdf.

The problem with this workaround however is you no longer have control on the page breaks, so your report spills over to unintended pages. Even though the page-breaks appear well in place when previewed in excel, when you preview the report in pdf, the excel page-breaks are not respected.

Interestingly, if I take the excel preview of the report and convert to pdf (manually), the page-breaks appear in right places. However, when it's done by Qlik, the page-breaks are all over the places.

Regards,

Bhaskar

[BhaskarSharma]

Hi @Frank_S.

I had to use a different account to raise last question, as I had some issue logging in.

I have uploaded the template, excel preview file (with perfect page breaks) and pdf preview file (with page breaks all over) in the case 00296187. Appreciate if you could review and suggest how we can resolve the page break issue in pdf. This will solve the issue with hyperlink as well.

Regards,

Bhaskar

[Frank_S]

Hello again..

Have discussed this at length with R&D and found some issues with the following.

By reviewing your template and your report output,iIt appears that there is a problem with your Print Area (which appears to be outside your page breaks area).

Image 1: Notice the dash blue line just below the second green horizontal bar of which is your 'exported' page / print / margin area.

Your template is on the left

Image 2: Images are printed on 2 pages due to print / layout / page break settings in MS excel. Again Notice the dash blue line that runs through your images and tables meaning they will be printed on the next sheet.

For example, in image 2 above of your output (right side of image), you can clearly see how the page setup in MS excel is cutting the images nearly in half.

Image 3 is your output 'Page 5' (noted on bottom right corner of image) that is consistent with your print settings shown in image 2 above.

If your Print Area, Print margins and page break areas are the same then that will hopefully help your result. Please check with your MS excel experts to assist you with aligning print/pagebreak/layout settings to achieve the results you need.

Kind regards...

[bsharma_velcro]

Thanks @Frank_S. Now this is interesting; because, when I look at the excel preview on my laptop, all the page breaks are in perfect order. When I transform the excel preview file to pdf manually, the page breaks are in perfect order as well. The page break goes for a toss only when Qlik does the pdf conversion.

Looking at the images you shared, clearly the page breaks in excel changed at your end. Is it possible that the system resolution is somehow dictating where the page breaks are appearing!

To test it further, could you please

(1) confirm what resolution does Qlik operate on for pdf conversion 

(2) share the system resolution where you opened the excel preview, so that I try replicate the same on my system and test again

Also, if possible can we have a short connect sometime tomorrow! 

Regards,

Bhaskar

[Frank_S]

Please provide your issue details to the support case ending in ***6187 created for this issue so it can be investigated more thoroughly.
We will continue to manage the issue from there.

Kind regards...