# Export a report to CSV or PDF

> Set the report up the way you want it and click Export. CSV is for a spreadsheet, PDF is for the copy somebody hands over. Both hold every matching row, not just the page on screen.

Source: https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/reports/export-a-report-to-csv
Section: Reports and analytics. For: Owners, Admins, Dispatchers, Technicians.

Set the report up the way you want it, then click Export at the right of the toolbar and pick a format. CSV is for a
spreadsheet; PDF is for the copy somebody hands over. Both hold every matching row, not just the page on screen.

**Who can do this:** Owners, Admins, Dispatchers, Technicians

## Export what is on screen

1. **Shape the report first**

   Set the date range, add your filters, choose the grouping, pick the columns, and sort it. The export is a copy of
   what you have built, so anything you change afterwards is not in the file.

2. **Click Export and pick a format**

   It sits at the right of the toolbar, beside Saved views and Save as. Choose **CSV** for a spreadsheet or **PDF** for
   a copy you are handing to somebody. The file downloads immediately.

![Reports, report toolbar](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/report-toolbar-export.png)

## What ends up in the file

Every matching row. Not the 100 rows on the page you were looking at, and not a truncated sample.

The file carries the columns you chose, in the report's own order, with your grouping applied. Underneath the rows
there is a totals row, labelled "Total" in the first column. That row is always taken over every matching row, so
on a grouped export it is the whole report's total, not any one group's.

## How numbers are written

Nothing is exported as a formatted string, so every numeric column can be summed in a spreadsheet without any
cleaning up first.

| Kind of column | How it exports            | Heading           |
| -------------- | ------------------------- | ----------------- |
| Money          | A plain number in dollars | Carries "(USD)"   |
| Hours          | A decimal                 | Carries "(hours)" |
| Percentages    | A number from 0 to 100    | Carries "(%)"     |

The file also carries a UTF-8 byte order mark, which is what makes Excel open accented names correctly rather than
turning them into punctuation.

## The file name and the school's clock

Files are named after the report and the window, like `revenue_2026-01-01_2026-01-31.csv` or
`airworthiness_2026-01-01_2026-12-31.pdf`.

Those dates are your school's dates, measured on the school's time zone, so the file name and the window on screen
always agree. If nobody has set the school's time zone yet, see
[Date ranges, date basis, and your school's time zone](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/reports/date-ranges-and-time-zones).

## Why Export is greyed out

Export is disabled when the report has zero matching rows. There is nothing to write.

Widen the date range or drop a filter, and it comes back. If the table reads "Nothing matched", that is the same
condition stated in words.

## Which format to pick

**CSV** when the file is going into a spreadsheet. Every numeric column is written plain so it can be summed without
cleaning up first, and there is a totals row at the bottom.

**PDF** when the file is going to a person. It carries your school's name, the window it covers, the date it was
produced, and the report's own footnote, because a printed page outlives the screen that made it and has to say what
it is on its own. This is the one to use for an IA at an annual, a buyer's mechanic, an insurer, or an inspector.

> **Note:** A PDF is a copy of what the report holds. It is not a substitute for the aircraft's maintenance records, and the
> Airworthiness compliance report in particular is evidence of the sign-offs recorded here rather than a complete
> statement of an aircraft's AD status. See
> [Track Airworthiness Directives](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/maintenance/track-airworthiness-directives).

There is no XLSX export. There is also no export on the Overview dashboard and none on Audit Logs. To get a dashboard
figure into a spreadsheet, click the tile to open the report behind it and export from there.

### A very wide report in PDF

A page has a fixed width and a spreadsheet does not. If your chosen columns cannot be fitted legibly, the PDF turns
sideways first, and if that is still not enough it drops columns from the right and names the ones it dropped on the
page. It will not shrink a report until it is unreadable, and it will not quietly leave columns out without saying
so. If you need every column, export the CSV.

## Opening the file in Excel

Double-clicking the file works. Because the numbers are plain and the encoding is marked, you can select a money
column and read the sum in the status bar straight away.

> **Tip:** If you export the same thing twice and the totals differ, check whether the report has a column measured to today
> rather than to the end of the window, such as "Days since last flight" or "Days open". Those move overnight by
> design. See [Report numbers that look wrong](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/reports/numbers-dont-match).

## The Cancellations page has its own separate export

`Operations → Cancellations` (web console) is a different screen from the Cancellations and no-shows
report on the Reports page. It has its own summary section, its own search box, its own Category and Notice
filters, and its own Export button.

The two overlap, so pick deliberately: use the Cancellations page when you want to search and read individual
cancellations, and the report when you want to group, save the view, or have it emailed on a schedule.

![Cancellations](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/cancellations-insights.png)

## Next

- [Email a report on a schedule](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/reports/email-a-report-on-a-schedule): The same CSV, sent automatically every day, week or month.
- [Save a report as a view](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/reports/save-a-report-view): So you do not have to rebuild it before every export.