Episode 9: Shaping the PDF
Quote from Karen Hewitt on September 23, 2026, 1:30 pmIn this episode we are talking all about shaping the PDF. When you deliver as PDF, Reportworq uses the worksheet name to build the document's bookmark tree and, if you turn on Table of Contents in the PDF output options, a matching contents page from the same structure is created.
The tree has three levels. Level 1 is the root (defaults to job name), Level 2 is a report node (defaults to the report name), and Level 3 is the leaf for each worksheet (defaults to the worksheet name). With no overrides you get a tidy single-root outline automatically everything else we cover is for when you want something different.
You set all three from the Sheet Name option. When PDF is an output format, Sheet Name shows three fields (Level 1, Level 2, Level 3), each with the same three modes: Do not modify (inherit), Literal Text (type it, tokens allowed), or Cell Reference (read it from a cell). By formula its RW.Tools.SheetName.
The one idea to hold onto: Reportworq builds the outline by reading your worksheets top to bottom, in output order, and grouping neighbors that carry the same label.
Think of it like chapters and sections in a book. As Reportworq moves down your list of sheets, if a sheet has the same Level 1 label as the sheet right above it, the two stay in the same chapter (the root). Give a sheet a new Level 1 label and you start a new chapter and a single PDF can hold several. Level 2 works the same way: neighbors that share a label become sections under one heading, and a new label starts a new section.
Leaving a level as Do not modify just means "same as the sheet above me".
The one catch: Because Reportworq only groups neighbors, two sheets with the same label that are separated by other sheets won't join up; each one starts its own branch. So get your worksheets in the right order first, then label them.
Section breaks (an idea submitted by a customer with this exact use case) let you keep a sheet's pages in the PDF but out of the outline by checking the Omit this worksheet from the PDF Bookmarks and table of contents in the sheet name option. Great for blank divider pages as the pages still print and page numbering stays continuous across them. One gotcha here: a blank divider needs a print area (any range), or an empty sheet renders no pages at all and never reaches the PDF.
Upgraded from Reportworq 5? This is where your old settings live now: PDF Parent Bookmark -> Level 2, custom TOC title -> Level 1, both folded into Sheet Name and carry over automatically.
Attached is an example so you can see the tree build.
PDF_Bookmarks_Examples.xlsx - run it to PDF (with Table of Contents on) to watch the three levels, the cascade, and a section break divider in action.
Post your questions or comments below. That wraps our tour of Output Options! In our next episodes we start diving into building a job (sources & parameters).
In this episode we are talking all about shaping the PDF. When you deliver as PDF, Reportworq uses the worksheet name to build the document's bookmark tree and, if you turn on Table of Contents in the PDF output options, a matching contents page from the same structure is created.
The tree has three levels. Level 1 is the root (defaults to job name), Level 2 is a report node (defaults to the report name), and Level 3 is the leaf for each worksheet (defaults to the worksheet name). With no overrides you get a tidy single-root outline automatically everything else we cover is for when you want something different.
You set all three from the Sheet Name option. When PDF is an output format, Sheet Name shows three fields (Level 1, Level 2, Level 3), each with the same three modes: Do not modify (inherit), Literal Text (type it, tokens allowed), or Cell Reference (read it from a cell). By formula its RW.Tools.SheetName.
The one idea to hold onto: Reportworq builds the outline by reading your worksheets top to bottom, in output order, and grouping neighbors that carry the same label.
Think of it like chapters and sections in a book. As Reportworq moves down your list of sheets, if a sheet has the same Level 1 label as the sheet right above it, the two stay in the same chapter (the root). Give a sheet a new Level 1 label and you start a new chapter and a single PDF can hold several. Level 2 works the same way: neighbors that share a label become sections under one heading, and a new label starts a new section.
Leaving a level as Do not modify just means "same as the sheet above me".
The one catch: Because Reportworq only groups neighbors, two sheets with the same label that are separated by other sheets won't join up; each one starts its own branch. So get your worksheets in the right order first, then label them.
Section breaks (an idea submitted by a customer with this exact use case) let you keep a sheet's pages in the PDF but out of the outline by checking the Omit this worksheet from the PDF Bookmarks and table of contents in the sheet name option. Great for blank divider pages as the pages still print and page numbering stays continuous across them. One gotcha here: a blank divider needs a print area (any range), or an empty sheet renders no pages at all and never reaches the PDF.
Upgraded from Reportworq 5? This is where your old settings live now: PDF Parent Bookmark -> Level 2, custom TOC title -> Level 1, both folded into Sheet Name and carry over automatically.
Attached is an example so you can see the tree build.
PDF_Bookmarks_Examples.xlsx - run it to PDF (with Table of Contents on) to watch the three levels, the cascade, and a section break divider in action.
Post your questions or comments below. That wraps our tour of Output Options! In our next episodes we start diving into building a job (sources & parameters).
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