---
title: Build printable reports
description: Generate formatted documents from your catalog — summary lists, collection inventories, image contact sheets, and missing-metadata worksheets.
section: guides
order: 19
updated: 2026-07-01
verified: 2026-07-01
related: [guides/exporting-data, guides/collections-and-permissions, guides/custom-fields]
features: [report-builder, bulk-export]
---

# Build printable reports

Produce a formatted document from your catalog — a summary list for a meeting, an inventory of a collection, a contact sheet of images, or a worksheet of records that still need cataloging. Reports are documents for people to read and print; to move data into another system, use [Export](/docs/en-US/guides/exporting-data) instead.

You need the **editor** role or above to generate and download reports; deleting a report from the history requires **admin**.

:::note
This release produces **HTML documents** that print well from your browser. Direct PDF output is planned as a follow-on release.
:::

## Create a report

Go to **Admin → Operations → Report Builder**.

1. **Template** — pick what kind of document to produce (see [Templates](#templates)).
2. **Records** — choose the report's scope:
   - **All artifacts** — everything in the institution.
   - **One collection** — a single collection.
   - **Filtered (browse query)** — paste the URL of a filtered Browse page, or arrive here through [Create a report from a Browse view](#create-a-report-from-a-browse-view). The report uses exactly the filters that page shows.
3. **Title and subtitle** — the document's heading. Leave the title blank to use the template name.
4. Adjust the template's options, review the **preview**, then select **Generate report**.

Generation runs as a background job; the list below the form shows each run's status. When a report is ready, its `report.html` file downloads from the list — open it in a browser and print from there.

Reports include everything you can see as a member, including members-only and private records, and the document's header says so. Review a report before sharing it outside your institution.

## Templates

- **Artifact Summary List** — one table row per artifact. Choose the columns from the same field catalog exports use, including your institution's custom fields; the defaults are identifier, title, type, date, creators, and collection.
- **Collection Inventory** — an inventory listing (identifier, title, type, date, visibility), grouped into one section per collection when the scope spans several.
- **Missing Metadata** — a cataloging worksheet. Pick the rules to check — no date, no creator, no description, no image, unreconciled concepts (terms without an authority link) — and get per-rule totals plus a row for each artifact with gaps.
- **Image Contact Sheet** — a thumbnail grid with optional identifier/title captions, in three densities (4, 6, or 8 images across).

More templates — catalog cards, rights reviews, location worksheets, labels, and registrar documents — appear in the **Coming soon** list on the page.

## Create a report from a Browse view

With admin mode on, filtered **Browse** pages (institution-wide and within a collection) show a **Create report from this view** button. It opens Report Builder with the current filters preloaded as the report's scope, so the document matches exactly what you were looking at.

## Size limits

Each template has a per-run limit — 50,000 artifacts for list-style templates and 2,000 for the contact sheet. If your scope matches more, the builder tells you before you generate; narrow the scope (filter by collection, type, or date) and split the work into more than one report.

## Preview, downloads, and retention

The preview renders the first 20 matching artifacts through the same pipeline the finished report uses, so layout and content are exactly what you'll get. Finished documents download from the run list; links are private and each download re-checks your institution permission. Files are kept for **30 days**, then removed automatically — the run stays in the list marked **Expired**, and the rerun button generates a fresh document from the same settings against your latest records.

## Related

- To get machine-readable data (JSON, CSV) out of the same scopes, see [Export your catalog data](/docs/en-US/guides/exporting-data).
- Column choices come from your [custom field library](/docs/en-US/guides/custom-fields).