- SMTP must be configured for reports to be sent. Refer to [SMTP configuration documentation](ref:smtp) for more information.
- The [Grafana image renderer plugin](/grafana/plugins/grafana-image-renderer) (v3.10+) must be installed or the remote rendering service must be set up. Refer to [Image rendering](ref:image-rendering) for more information.
When a report file is generated, it's temporarily written to the corresponding folder (`csv`, `pdf`, `png`) in the Grafana `data` folder.
A background job runs every 10 minutes and removes temporary files.
You can set how long a file should be stored before being removed by configuring the [`temp_data_lifetime`](ref:temp-data-lifetime) setting in your `ini` file.
The report creation process is multi-step, but you don't need to complete these steps in order and you can skip steps by clicking a step name at the top of the page.
1. Click one of the following buttons in the top-right corner of the screen:
- **Send now** or **Schedule send** - The report is sent according the schedule you've set.
- **Save as draft** - You can save a draft at any point during the report creation or update process, even if it's missing required fields. The report won't be sent according to its schedule while it's a draft.
- **Discard** - Delete the report draft. This action can't be reversed.
| Source dashboard (required) | Select the dashboard from which you want to generate the report. |
| [Template variables](#template-variables) | Select the variable values for the selected dashboard. This option is only displayed if the dashboard has variables. |
| [Time range](#time-range) | If you leave the field empty, reports use the saved time range of the dashboard. Optionally, you can change the time range of the report. |
| Add another dashboard | Add more dashboards to the report. |
The query variables saved with a report might become out-of-date if the results of that query change.
For example, if your template variable queries for a list of hostnames and a new hostname is added, then it won't be included in the report.
If that occurs, the selected variables must be manually updated in the report.
If you select the **All** value for the template variable or if you keep the dashboard's original variable selection, then the report stays up-to-date as new values are added.
- **Configure multiple PDFs** - Click the **Combine all dashboard PDFs in one file** checkbox if you want to generate one PDF file for all the dashboards included in the report. This option is only displayed if your report includes multiple dashboards.
- **Configure report header** - Click the **Show template variables** checkbox to show dashboard variables.
- **Orientation** - Set the report orientation in **Portrait** or **Landscape**. Refer to the [Layout and orientation table](#layout-and-orientation) to see examples.
| Simple | Portrait | Generates an A4 page in portrait mode with three panels per page. | {{<figuresrc="/static/img/docs/enterprise/reports_portrait_preview.png"max-width="500px"alt="Simple layout in portrait">}} |
| Simple | Landscape | Generates an A4 page in landscape mode with a single panel per page. | {{<figuresrc="/static/img/docs/enterprise/reports_landscape_preview.png"max-width="500px"alt="Simple layout in landscape">}} |
| Grid | Portrait | Generates an A4 page in portrait mode with panels arranged in the same way as at the original dashboard. | {{<figuresrc="/static/img/docs/enterprise/reports_grid_portrait_preview.png"max-width="500px"alt="Grid layout in portrait">}} |
| Grid | Landscape | Generates an A4 page in landscape mode with panels arranged in the same way as in the original dashboard. | {{<figuresrc="/static/img/docs/enterprise/reports_grid_landscape_preview.png"max-width="500px"alt="Grid layout in landscape">}} |
Available in public preview (`pdfTables` feature toggle) in [Grafana Enterprise](ref:grafana-enterprise) v10.3+ with the [Grafana image renderer plugin](/grafana/plugins/grafana-image-renderer) v3.0+, as well as in [Grafana Cloud](/docs/grafana-cloud/).
When there's more data in your table visualizations than can be shown in the dashboard PDF, you can select one of these two options to access all table visualization data as PDF in your reports:
| Frequency | You can schedule reports to be sent once, or repeated on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis, or sent at custom intervals. You can also disable scheduling by selecting **Never**. For example, you might want to [send the report using the API](#send-a-report-using-the-api). |
| Time | Choose one of the following:<ul><li>**Send now** sends the report immediately after you save it. To stop sending the report at some point in the future, add an end date.</li><li>**Send later** schedules a report for a later date. When you select this option, the required **Start date**, **Start time**, and **Time zone** options are displayed.</li></ul> |
| Send on the last day of the month | When you schedule a report with a monthly frequency, and set the start date between the 29th and the 31st of the month, the report is only sent during the months that have those dates. If you want the report to be sent every month, select the **Send on the last day of the month** option. This way, the report is sent on the last day of every month regardless of how many days there are in the month. |
| Report name (required) | The name of the report as you want it to appear in the **Reports** list. The report name also populates the email subject line. |
| Recipients (required) | Enter the email addresses of the people or teams that you want to receive the report, separated by commas or semicolons. |
Click **Send test email** in the top-right corner of the screen to verify that the configuration works as expected and to verify that emails are working.
You can choose to send this email to the recipients configured for the report, or to a different set of email addresses only used for testing.
