# Export and Share

Three formats for three different readers.

The export honours your current filters and column choices, so set the view up before you export rather than trimming afterwards.

## Highlights of exporting

- **Three formats and a print option**, all behind the three-dot menu beside Run Report.
- **The export is what is on screen**: filters, columns and comparison periods all carry.
- **A dialog stands between the menu and the file**, asking for a name and offering a password.
- **An export is a snapshot**, and re-running it later may not match.

## The export menu

There is no Export button. The menu hides behind the **three-dot control to the right of Run Report**, which is the first thing worth knowing here because it is easy to miss.

![The Sales by Customer report with a menu open from the three-dot button to the right of the blue Run Report button. It offers Excel (.xlsx), PDF and CSV as file formats, with Print separated beneath them by a divider. The report table stays visible behind.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/reports/report-export.png)

*Excel, PDF and CSV, with Print set apart below because it goes to paper rather than to a file.*

### The dialog each format opens

Choosing Excel, PDF or CSV does not download anything yet. Each opens a small dialog first, and only **Print** goes straight out.

### Choosing a format

| Format | Best for | Keeps formatting |
| --- | --- | --- |
| PDF | Sending to a bank, a lender or your accountant | Yes |
| Excel (.xlsx) | Further analysis with formulas intact | Partly |
| CSV | Importing into another system | No |

> **Tip:**
>
> **Send PDF to people, CSV to systems**
>
> A PDF cannot be accidentally edited before it reaches your bank, which is usually the point. A CSV can be, which is also usually the point.

## What travels with the export

- The **date range** is printed on the report, so the recipient can see what period they are looking at.
- Filters and grouping are applied. A filtered report exports filtered.
- A comparison period exports as extra columns, which can be wide in PDF.
- Columns you added in the picker travel too, including the foreign-currency pairs.

> **Warning:**
>
> **An export is a snapshot, not a link**
>
> Re-running the same report next week can give a different answer if anything has been backdated into the period. When a figure has been sent to a bank or an accountant, keep the file you sent rather than trusting that you can regenerate it.

## The month-end pack

For most businesses the pack an accountant asks for is the same every month. What you can actually produce is narrower than the standard list, so agree the substitutes with them before the first close rather than at it.

- **Lock the period first**

  Anything posted after you export changes the numbers you sent. Locking is what stops that quietly happening.
- **Run what is available on the same date range**

  The usual pack of Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet and Trial Balance is not built yet, so the closest set today is General Ledger and Account Type Summary for the period, plus Receivable Summary and Payable Summary as at the period end. Your accountant will want to know that is what they are getting.
- **Export each as PDF**

  One format, one date range, one folder. A pack with two different periods in it is the thing that gets queried.
- **Keep the files**

  They are your record of what you reported, and they will not regenerate identically after a backdated entry.

> **Tip:**
>
> **Star the five**
>
> Favourites in the Reports List turns the monthly hunt into a single click, and it keeps everyone on your team running the same reports rather than several similar ones.