With Spectora, each report you generate offers the opportunity to tailor its presentation specifically for both the client and the agent. These customizable report settings provide a spectrum of options, allowing you to fine-tune various aspects of the inspection report's appearance. From adjusting the layout and formatting to selecting specific elements to display, you have the freedom to create a report that best suits the preferences and needs of both parties involved in the inspection process.
In this article, we'll show you how to find, enable, and disable these report settings; plus we'll dive into each setting to explain what they mean!
Finding and Enabling Report Settings
First, let's go over how to find your report settings and how to enable or disable them. Follow along with the steps below!
Click on the inspection to open the Inspection Details page
Click on the report name to open the web editor
Click the 3 dots in the top right corner
Click "Report Settings" in the dropdown menu
Click on a category to open it
To enable a setting, check the box next to the setting name
To disable a setting, uncheck the box next to the setting name
Click "Save" once you've finished enabling and disabling your preferred settings
Report Settings
Now that we've gone over how to find, enable, and disable the report settings, let's talk about what each setting means.
Report Name
Report Name
This is the client-facing name of your report.
You can easily change this name! Click here to see how.
Header Text
Header Text
You might find it necessary or preferable to include a disclaimer in your reports or convey essential information about the inspection procedure to your clients. Using the header text box allows you to add or edit additional text at the top of your reports.
Full Report Header Text
Display Options
Display Options
Display Item Ratings Grid in Report
You might have encountered the Overview tab/grid in another inspector's report, a sample report on our website, or even within your own inspection report. This tab displays the grid for your Item Ratings, including the Inspected (IN), Not Inspected (NI), Not Present (NP), and Defect (D) boxes that you select during the report completion process.
This setting will turn the rating grid on or off in your report
To see how to enable or disable this grid, click here.
Display Category Counts Summary
The Category Counts bubbles indicate the quantity of each defect (blue, orange, and red) selected in the report.
Display 'Items Inspected' Count
The Items Inspected bubble shows how many total items were inspected in the report; including defects and informational comments.
See how to enable and display this setting by clicking here.
Display Inspector Signature
By enabling this setting, your signature will automatically pull your signature into your report from your profile.
Display Standards of Practice
In every template or report, you have the option to modify the Standards of Practice visible to your clients.
This is super helpful if you have state-specific information that needs to be present in the report.
Display Contractor Recommendations
This setting allows you to show specific recommendations to your clients for which type of contractor may be best suited for a repair. (ex. 'Licensed Electrician' can be listed for any electrical issues)
Smart Layout for Informational Commments
Enabling smart layout in your PDF display options sorts comments by size rather than their order in the editor, aiming to reduce white space.
If you notice differences in your comments between the editor and the report, it's likely that this feature is activated.
Comments exceeding 70 characters are placed at the end of the section, along with those containing multiple pictures.
Defect Label
This is the client-facing word you prefer for defects (ie Issues, Comments, Observations, Recommendations, etc.)
PDF Options
PDF Options
Within the report settings, you can customize how your PDF report looks.
Display Defect List
This setting automatically adds a list of all the defects listed in the report.
The list is added to the beginning of the report and includes clickable links to each defect.
Page Break Sections
Enabling this setting will make each section of your report start at the top of a new page.
Page Break Inside Comments
Turn on to allow comments to split and span multiple pages (saving whitespace).
Turn off to push comments to the next page if it won't fit.
Footer Text
This enables your preferred text to display on the bottom-left of each page of the PDF.
Display Category Counts in Summary PDF
Enable this setting to include the bubbles listing defect category counts in the Summary PDF.
Text-Only Summary (no photos)
Enable this setting to have an alternate summary format of your report that does not include photos.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I hide specific Items or Defects from the summary?
You can only hide all the defect categories. If a category is selected to be displayed in the summary, then every defect associated with that category will be shown.
One of my defect categories isn't showing on the summary, how do I fix this?
Is there a way to make these settings appear on all of my reports?
Do page breaks for sections apply to the summary PDF?
Unfortunately, page breaks for sections do not apply to the summary PDF.
In the summary, we list observations directly. In the full report, we go through each section first and then its observations. Since the report is organized by comments, not by sections, there isn't a way to start each section on a new page.
How do I remove the blue maintenance items from my report summary?
When working on your report, you can click into your Report Settings > Summary Options, then you should see boxes that you can un-check for "include in summary" - this will allow you the option to remove specific categories from your report summary!
If your template is set up to have specific categories not included in the report summary, you will not see options in the Report Settings > Summary Options to add that category back into your report summary.
If you have any questions or feedback, write into our chat bubble or email support@spectora.com!