Building a report

You can build reports based on report definitions configured by a system administrator. A report can be based on the documents contained within a folder in the Folders view or on a selection of documents in any navigation view.

To build a report:

Browse in the Folders view to the folder containing the documents you want the report to contain. Or select the documents that you want the report to contain in any Navigation view.

Right-click the folder name or selection, point to Folder or Selection accordingly, and select Build Report. The Build Report dialog box appears.

Click options or type values using the descriptions in the following table.

Click OK to generate the report. The report file downloads to your PC where you can save, open, or print the report.

In the File Download dialog that appears, click Save if you want to save the report file on your computer. Click Open if you want to open it immediately for viewing or printing. Click Cancel to abort the report.

Report generation options
Option	Description
Select a report	Select a report definition from the list. This option specifies which document or folder properties are included in the report.
Report format	Select an output format for the report: CSV – Comma Separated Values format for import into other applications. XML – eXtensible Markup Language format for import into other applications. HTML – Hypertext Markup Language that can be opened in a web browser, already styled, and ready to print or send to others.
Report scope	Verify that the report scope is correct. If necessary, click Cancel and modify your selection.
Recursively	Includes the documents contained within sub-folders of the selected folder. This option is only available if a folder is selected.

Report generation options

Option

Description

Select a report

Select a report definition from the list. This option specifies which document or folder properties are included in the report.

Report format

Select an output format for the report:

CSV – Comma Separated Values format for import into other applications.

XML – eXtensible Markup Language format for import into other applications.

HTML – Hypertext Markup Language that can be opened in a web browser, already styled, and ready to print or send to others.

Report scope

Verify that the report scope is correct. If necessary, click Cancel and modify your selection.

Recursively

Includes the documents contained within sub-folders of the selected folder. This option is only available if a folder is selected.

To build a report:

Select the folder in the Folders view that contains the documents you want the report to contain. Or select the documents that you want the report to contain in any Navigation view or saved search.

Note Click Select All on the Edit menu or press Ctrl+A to select all documents in the current view.

Right-click the folder name or selection and select Build Report from the Folder or Document menu, respectively. The Select Report dialog box appears, listing the available report definitions.

Click the name of a report definition from the list and then click Select. The Build Report dialog box appears.

Select options using the descriptions in the following table and click Generate. The report data is output to a file or the application, depending on the format selected.

Report generation options
Option	Description
Select the scope of the report	Select the documents that will be included in the report. If you want to include the documents contained within sub-folders of the current selection, select the (Recursively) option.
Select the format of the report	Lists the standard output formats and any Microsoft Word report templates defined. Select one output format.
Save report in	Enabled if one of the output formats that create an output file (as opposed to sending output to the application) is selected. Type or select a location for the report output file.
Add to existing report	Adds output from the current report to existing output from a previous report.
Open report when done	If one of the output formats that create an output file (as opposed to sending output to the application) is selected, opens the resulting file in its default application.
Copy documents to Local Workspace	Copies the documents that are within the scope of the report to your local workspace so that you can work with them.

Report generation options

Option

Description

Select the scope of the report

Select the documents that will be included in the report. If you want to include the documents contained within sub-folders of the current selection, select the (Recursively) option.

Select the format of the report

Lists the standard output formats and any Microsoft Word report templates defined. Select one output format.

Save report in

Enabled if one of the output formats that create an output file (as opposed to sending output to the application) is selected. Type or select a location for the report output file.

Add to existing report

Adds output from the current report to existing output from a previous report.

Open report when done

If one of the output formats that create an output file (as opposed to sending output to the application) is selected, opens the resulting file in its default application.

Copy documents to Local Workspace

Copies the documents that are within the scope of the report to your local workspace so that you can work with them.

All of the output formats produce a report that contains mostly metadata about the documents in the scope of the report except for Microsoft Word templates. These templates can include additional formatting, text, graphics, and even thumbnail images of the documents. Microsoft Word report templates can only be configured by a system administrator.

Note The Text File output format can be used to create scripts for use by other applications such as AutoCAD. Such scripts can be used to process batches of vault documents for plotting, conversion, and other automation tasks.

Related concepts

About the Meridian Web Client

Understanding the menus

About read only Web Access

Related tasks

Opening a vault

Navigating to a document

Finding documents

Showing project copies WA

Creating a folder

Creating documents

Downloading documents