This article will walk you through how to publish your inspection report from the web and the app. You'll also find some frequently asked questions about publishing reports.
What is Publishing?
Publishing is the term used to finalize a report and send it out to the recipients, usually the client and their real estate agent. When you publish the report, it will trigger your "Report Ready" emails and/or texts set up in your Automations tab, or your Actions tab if you use Spectora Advanced.
How to Publish Reports from the Web
Publishing Individual Reports
To publish a single report without affecting others:
Quick Publish from the Inspection Details Page:
Locate the specific report in the inspection details.
Click the "…" (three dots) next to the report.
Select "Publish" to publish only that report.
Quick Publish from the Report Preview:
Open the report preview.
Click the "Publish" button in the left sidebar.
This section will show you how to publish your completed report via the Spectora web page.
Click on your inspection
Check that your reports are complete*
Click "Publish All"
Check all messages you want to send out or uncheck any messages you do not want to send
You'll see your pre-written Automation or Action messages. You can change any verbiage in the message you want before sending
Click "Send All"
Note: Using the "Publish All" button ensures that all reports are published together, and the calendar reflects the correct sent/published status.
 💡 Quick tip: Click on the video above to expand it in another window. |
*Note: You (or your company) may require all reports to be completed prior to publishing. If the setting is enabled, then all comments/items/sections of the report must be filled out before the "Publish All" button is clickable. This setting is under Settings > Report Options > Report Tools: If all sections are marked complete but the report still appears incomplete, look for duplicate sections or ensure all items are filled within the report.
How to Publish Reports from the Mobile App
This section will show you how to publish your completed report via the Spectora mobile app.
Locate your inspection in the app and tap it to open
Check that your reports are complete*
Swipe up on the "Reports" tab to complete your report(s)
Once your report(s) is complete, tap the paper airplane icon
With Automations, the app does not give the option to disable any messages prior to publishing
To publish the report(s) and all messages, tap "Publish"
With Spectora Advanced, you can enable or disable any Actions messages prior to publishing
Once you've enabled/disabled your Actions, tap "Publish Report(s)"
Tap "Publish" to confirm
 💡 Quick tip: Click on the video above to expand it in another window. |
Automations are the automated emails and texts that are part of the base software. To view and edit your Automations, click here. Actions are part of Spectora Advanced. To learn more about Spectora Advanced and Actions, click here.
Frequently Asked Questions:
I don't see the Publish button — what should I check?
Ensure your user account has the "Publish Reports" permission. An account admin/tech can assign this permission under the Team menu.
How do I publish a reinspection report without republishing the original?
Open the inspection, click the three dots next to the reinspection report, and select "Quick Publish." This ensures only the reinspection report is published.
I published the report but the client hasn't paid or signed the agreement. Can they still view the report?
Nope! The report is automatically locked until payment is made and all agreements have been signed. All inspections through Spectora default to requiring payments and signed agreements in order to unlock.
I published the report and need the client to be able to see it before they pay. What can I do?
You can unlock the report manually! Click here to see how to unlock a report.
My report is complete but I can't publish!
Double-check that all sections of your report have turned green. When a section turns green it indicates that section is complete. If you're seeing all sections green, try unchecking and re-checking a comment. Sometimes the report needs a little refresh to see everything is complete and this does the trick.
Click the Preview/Publish button from the web editor before publishing. This helps fix common issues with outdated or missing data and refreshes the completion status.
If your report seems complete but won't publish, ensure all mandatory fields and sections are properly filled. Review flagged areas for missing ratings or inputs.
Ensure that your mobile app inspection is fully synced with the web. Refresh your connection by syncing and ensure no server sync issues are causing delays.- Open the report and click through each section and item to ensure they register as complete. This step can help resolve issues where the report appears complete but cannot be published.
Incomplete Sections: Ensure all required sections/items in the report are marked complete (green checkmark). For example, incomplete sections like "Exterior" or unrated items like "Chimney" must be completed or marked as non-applicable.
Copied Reports: If you copied a report and it doesn’t appear, refresh the page to see the new report listed.
I published the report but my clients and agents didn’t receive any emails or texts — what should I check?
Trial accounts cannot send emails or texts. If you’re on a free trial, notifications are disabled regardless of your automation setup. Share the report link or PDF with your client manually until you’re on a paid plan.- Trial accounts cannot send emails or texts. If you’re on a free trial, notifications are disabled regardless of your automation setup. As a workaround, you can copy the report email text from Spectora, paste it into your personal email client, and include the Client Portal link for the client to access the report.
Check your Automations library. Go to Settings → Automations and confirm your “Report Ready” automation is active — not paused or deleted. If it’s missing, no notifications will fire when you publish.
Check your subscription status. An inactive or lapsed subscription disables all email and text notifications even when a report shows as published.- Confirm email triggers: When a report is published, Spectora immediately triggers the associated client and agent emails. If emails did not send as expected, confirm the report’s publish time to ensure it aligns with the expected notification schedule.
Try resending manually. Open the inspection, find the report, and use the Resend option. If emails still don’t arrive after resending, contact support — this may be a backend delivery issue requiring investigation.- Note on resending notifications: Clients will see updates to the report without republishing, but emails and texts will not resend unless explicitly selected during the publishing process.- Viewing and managing sent notifications: To review who received emails and texts for an inspection, open the inspection’s Details page. Scroll down to the Emails box (left) to see all emails sent for that inspection and click an entry to view or resend. Check the Texts box (right) to see all texts sent. For an account-wide overview, navigate to Automations to view and edit all configured emails and texts for inspections.- Server Outages: Publishing issues may arise due to server outages, such as those affecting Google Firebase. These outages can prevent syncing, downloading, or publishing reports. During such events, avoid syncing or publishing reports until the issue is resolved. You can monitor server status on the Google Firebase or Spectora status pages.- Disabled Notifications After Initial Publishing: If notifications were disabled when the report was first published, subsequent notifications must be manually triggered even if notifications are later re-enabled. Ensure notifications are enabled before publishing.
Automation Logic Settings: Automation may fail if conditions are too restrictive. For example, using stacked "AND" conditions requires all conditions to be met simultaneously. Switching to "OR" conditions can improve reliability. Additionally, if the automation is set to "only trigger once," it will disable itself after the first run. Adjust these settings in the Automation section under Actions or Advanced Automations.
Emailing Published Reports: On the Spectora Advanced plan, you can use "Publish with Send" to email individual reports. On the standard plan, Quick Publish the report, copy its URL, and manually email it via the inspection’s email section.
If you have any questions or feedback, write into our chat bubble or email support@spectora.com!
