Exporting to PDF

[Jacob64]

Hi All,
Within our organization we have the wish to  export a request with all its variables to a proper readable PDF.
From a user perspective it seems that most users expect to use the export option and choose Export to PDF (portrait).
But doing this brings the a only partly populated form with out all the variable, or as users call it the questioned information.
When asking servicenow to tell me how we can make a proper export to PDF i get the following answer:
"Servicenow created this export function to export data like lists etc to excel or PDF coming from a single table. When trying to export the Request form with all its variables we are trying to export data from more than 1 table (the request table and the variable table) and the export function was not made for that purpose"
Also servicenow reverse to the forwing knowledge articles: "KB1899870" and "KB0752531".

The alternative is the use of the "printer friendly version" functionality that is available at the right side under the personal menu. There we can select printing to PDF. The document will have all the variables.
So we have a workaround for this.

However this a not directly a user friendly way according to the users and i try to get a more friendly way to export to a PDF document that does not require additional clicks or selections.

I was thinking of a additional button that makes this easier but perhaps you guys have a nice solution available?
Does anyone have a solution for this?

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @Jacob64 

The workaround is the best solution for now, without going into any customization. Also, the two KAs you shared will be accessible via the customer ID, not the personal ID.

You can post your question here as well.

https://www.servicenow.com/community/knowledge-managers/gh-p/knowledge-managers-

[Jacob64]

Thank you Atul,

For my self I was thinking of adding a icon, in the main top bar of the ServiceNow backend screen, that does the same as the "printer friendly version" but then directly tot a PDF. Nothing really new just a shortcut so to say.
In earlier versions of ServiceNow a similar icon was always available there so it thought to bring that back.

Kind regards
Jacob.

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @Jacob64 

Yes, you can create a custom solution, but it can be time-consuming, and if it doesn’t work or impacts other components, ServiceNow might not support it. I know it’s not the best user experience, but the printer-friendly view is the only reliable option. If you’re considering a custom solution, please make sure to treat the upgrade as a major part of the process.

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@Jacob64 

You can have a custom solution in place and use PDF Generation API but it will be somewhat time consuming and complex.

You can stick to OOB printer friendly version to avoid heavy scripting

check this link which has script from Piyush

Generate PDF file for catalog variables and attach it to RITM 

you can check the PDF Generation API for this

Generating Custom PDFs - using the new PDFGenerationAPI

another method

Generate PDF and attach to the record

When catalog item is submitted, attach variables to RITM as a PDF 

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