- Anand Inamdar
- Annu
PDF generation is not working on your server/data center version of Jira?
ARNR needs Google Chrome installed on the Jira server, for PDF generation. Follow the instructions on this page to install Chrome - Support docs
If you have Chrome installed but ARNR is not detecting it, follow the troubleshooting guide.
Create a PDF template
Navigate to the templates page on the ARNR screen & click on the Create button.
You will be brough to the template selection pop-up. Select the PDF template type and below template builder will be launched to design the PDF template.
Default template will be populated. Make any required changes & save them to create a new template.
You can also use ready to use templates available in the template gallery
PDF template fields
Template type
Here, PDF option is selected since we are creating a PDF-type template
Template name
This is for internal reference & doesn’t show up in the actual release PDF file.
Level
Local or Global - Determines whether the PDF template is available to be used in other projects across Jira.
Cross-project - For cross-project templates (which can be managed only from the cross-project ARNR screen), this field is disabled from editing & is set to cross-project by default.
ARNR branding - To define whether you wish to show ARNR branding in release notes.
For Free ARNR app it is default and cannot be unchecked
Advanced settings and Header, Footer - Read below section called - PDF | Further customisation with advanced settings
File name -
This determines the name of the PDF file that will be generated. You can use variables in this field similar to Email subject. Max length is ~100 characters, extra characters will be trimmed at the time of file generation.
PDF content -
The actual release PDF content is generated within the PDF body.
Further customization with advanced settings
Advanced settings in the PDF template are for further customization. Clicking on the advanced settings link brings you options to customize title page, header & footer along with a few other options for your PDF.
Advanced settings
Page settings -
Layout - Whether you want the PDF in portrait or landscape orientation
Paper Size - You get to select the A0-A5 or legal, letter, and tabloid size of the paper here
Margin - Set up a correct margin to display the content(text/images) properly. If you are adding header/footer, you will have to use custom margins of appropriate dimensions.
Apply margins to the title page
Apply margins to the last page
Print bacground
Title page
Enabale title page - With this, you can customize the title page.
This setting allows users to add the contents of the title page within this WYSIWYG editor using all the inline editing options.
You can also insert other elements like a Link, Image, Table, ARNR variables, and PDF variables.
Background image - In addition to the above-mentioned controls, you can also insert a background image to the title page. Click on the Background image button on the editor, in the pop-up upload image.
If you do not wish to insert a dedicated title page, you can skip this setting
Last page - You can enable the last page which has same option available as the title page
Impact on the PDF output when title page is added
When the output of a PDF template with title page configuration is generated, the contents of the title page should always be placed on the title page of the PDF.
Like other pages of the template, all the variables within the title page are also replaced with their relevant values.
In case the background image is inserted in the title page configuration, it appears as the background image only for the title page and not other pages of the PDF.
The contents of the main template by default start from the second page onwards with a mandatory page break after the title page.
If Header & footers are configured, they will be shown from the second page onward and not on the title page.
In case the title page setting is disabled, then header footers appear from the first page of the PDF.
Header & footer
You can format text, add images, tables, links, and align the content in the desired manner separately for header & footer.
Both, header & footer sections allow using variables. There are the traditional variables that you use within the PDF body & then there are some specifically available for PDF header/footer.
Using the ‘PDF variables’ you can insert current/total page numbers along with dates in the header or footer (or in both places).
Only thing to keep in mind - use custom margins when you have header & footer configured. Depending on the size of your header/footer you have to manually adjust the margins otherwise header/footer won’t show up as expected.
What are template levels (Local, Global & Cross-project)?
Customise the PDF template
ARNR templates offer a wide array of customization options, enabling you to create templates in numerous ways with rich and robust functions.
(Output) Variables
Custom variables
Preview a PDF template
We are storing the locale of user in cache which is valid for 30 minutes. If any user changes their Jira language, it might take 30 mins to reflect in the app.
When creating or editing a PDF template, it can be previewed immediately. Just click on the Preview button once the desired changes have been done.
Based on the JQLs used in the PDF template, you will need to input values. e.g. in the above screenshot, user is asked to choose 1 version since the template’s JQLs have 1 version variable in them.
Read on to know more about Generating release notes from multiple versions in a project
This will generate the PDF template preview file in your browser. Depending on your browser setting, it will be automatically downloaded or a confirmation will be asked from you.
If what you see is the desired result, save the template. Below is a sample output file of the PDF generated using ARNR.
