question Issue with large Excel from Data Visualization (18,000+ records) – getting error PDF in Export in ITSM forum

Issue with large Excel from Data Visualization (18,000+ records) – getting error PDF in Export

DP_3105 — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 13:05:21 GMT

Hi Community,

I’m facing an issue while exporting a report on Email using Data Visualization in Excel format from ServiceNow. The report has more than 18,000 records, but instead of downloading an Excel file, it generates a PDF with the following error:

"We were unable to generate the report due to a server error. null"

Has anyone faced this issue before? Is there a configuration/limitation on the number of rows that can be exported to Excel, or any workaround to successfully export large reports?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Re: Issue with large Excel from Data Visualization (18,000+ records) – getting error PDF in Export

Ankur Bawiskar — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 13:06:27 GMT

@DP_3105

18k record is small count.

Did you try to clear instance cache using cache.do and then logout and login again and then test?

If my response helped please mark it correct and close the thread so that it benefits future readers.

Re: Issue with large Excel from Data Visualization (18,000+ records) – getting error PDF in Export

Dr Atul G- LNG — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 13:07:59 GMT

Hi @DP_3105

It should work. It might be a cache issue, or possibly related to what table you're trying—there may be some redundancy involved.

Try to break the data in chunk and test once.

Re: Issue with large Excel from Data Visualization (18,000+ records) – getting error PDF in Export

DP_3105 — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:27:29 GMT

So I have found that the issue is related to file type so when I am selecting Excel(.xls) then this issue is occurring but for Excel(.xlsx) it is working fine. But in our production instance we have only two options available which are PDF and Excel. This Excel option gives the file in Excel(.xls) format is it possible to change its format ?

Re: Issue with large Excel from Data Visualization (18,000+ records) – getting error PDF in Export

Dhana3 — Sun, 28 Sep 2025 16:46:58 GMT

Hi @DP_3105 ,

This seems to be a cache issue. have you tried clearing the cache and trying again?

regards,

Dhanashree