Print and Present Views and Gantt Charts
Use the Print/Presentation pane to specify all the settings you need to create PDF presentations and prints from views and Gantt charts. For the latest on printing and presentation modes in version 11+, see the Printing and Presentation document in the Tilos Community.
Ways to access
To choose between printing and creating a presentation, select Tools > Options > Functions > Printing mode.
then
With an integrated, time-distance, or list view in the active window, select File > Print or Create Presentation in the main menu.
Right-click in a view and select Print or Create Presentation from the context menu.
Note: For Gantt chart-specific settings, see Prepare Gantt Charts for Printing.
Options
Picture scaling for presentations
When preparing a PDF presentation, you can set the scaling for the images it includes. This is done by resampling the pictures in the presentation by a given DPI (dots per inch).
Note: Tilos cannot currently create a layered PDF.
In the Picture quality list, select an option:
The scaling you choose can affect the quality of images, so your choices are:
<none> - Use the original picture resolution, which creates high-quality images and the largest file size (~1.064 kB)
Best (300dpi) - Create good quality images and a slightly smaller file size (~1.064 kB)
Medium (96dpi) - Create moderate quality images and file size (~556 kB); or 150dpi?
Low (60dpi) - Create poor quality images, but the smallest, file size (~307 kB); or 96dpi?
Selecting <none> creates the PDF the fastest; all other methods take ~10x the length of time to generate and open the PDF in Adobe Reader/Acrobat. Image scaling has no effect on the output of scalable vector graphics (SVGs).
Select presentation image quality - When preparing to create a PDF presentation, you can now choose from these dpi (dots per inch) options for the image:
High (300 dpi)
Medium (150 dpi)
Low (96 dpi)
No scaling (use picture resolution; this is the default setting)
Reducing the quality of a presentation image (by resampling) reduces the size of the PDF. Using these settings can help you produce PDFs with smaller file sizes (if lower image quality is acceptable).
Select presentation detail level - When preparing to create a PDF presentation, you can now choose the level of detail:
Full details (default and recommended) - Prints the maximum level of detail based on your settings (independent from what is visible on the screen).
As visible (zoom level) - Depending on the view zoom level, Tilos displays (on screen) only those objects that are still displayable. This option prints the level of details currently visible on screen.
Note: Sometimes, finely detailed line styles are printed with a lower resolution. Tilos ALWAYS prints the level of detail that correlates to the visibility on the screen. This behavior was similar in the older versions, but it was not a bug; it was, rather, dependent on the setting:
100% - The details visible on screen are printed when using 100% zoom; this is recommended as it will likely create the most accurate quality and file size.
Full details - All possible details for the view are created, which will create the largest output files. In addition, objects (e.g., calendar elements) that are NOT visible on the Tilos main screen may be visible with this setting.
Current visible details - This will take the current zoom (in the preview window) as a base for the details. This is the most flexible, as you can choose the level of detail you need.
Presentation Mode
In addition to classic printing to a local printer driver, Tilos provides the functionality to create PDF and SVG (scalable vector graphic) files directly from within the software. This new printing functionality is called “Create presentation”.
From an Integrated view, you can open Presentation Settings to create a single PDF or SVG (.svg).
From a Gantt chart you can create a new view called “Gantt Chart Presentation”. This Integrated view enables you to create several pages (depending on how many pages your Gantt Chart includes). SVG files are web-safe for dashboards, and can be opened and printed via web browsers. SVG is an interactive/bi-directional format, so you can, e.g., also annotate each image with comments.
Rather than manage the complexity of Microsoft Windows-based printing, Tilos now leaves the printing of PDF to Adobe Acrobat Reader. Each PDF is a single file, possibly with multiple pages depending on the view you are printing. After installing Tilos 11, the new “Presentation” printing mode is activated. Set your default printing mode in Tools > Options > Functions tab > Printing Mode.
The toolbar icon changes based on your Printing Mode selection and the view type.
Use the Print pane to control print settings and organize a view for printing. Changes to view dimensions can be made graphically or in the Tab - View. To make printing simpler, you can choose between a basic and an advanced mode.
Basic and Advanced Print Modes
The first time you open the Print pane, click the Advanced button to see all of the settings (described in "Setting Print Properties" on page 1141 Configure the settings for the way you regularly need to print and save your choices as a template. Then, you can simply click Basic and use that simplified set of settings until you need to make changes.
To print a Gantt chart, use the Print Form View that includes all of the parameters (size, printer, margins...) you need. The print form view printing parameters are set for an Integrated view. Then, you just have to choose the print form and mode you want to use:
Print modes
All Activities on one page - In this case, the Print Form View height must be adjusted automatically by Tilos (smaller or higher than the original vertical size), the width must stay as defined in the Print Form View
Multiple pages - Tilos keeps sizes defined in the Print Form View and calculates how many pages are needed to print all Activities.
The print form view is limited to a single cell, and all projects and templates default to a specific page format, A3, for example. When you select your Print Form View, click the Edit button to change it without changing your current view; the form opens in a new pane.
View-Driven Setup for Printing
For a defined page size (e.g., A0 landscape), these steps are recommended for organizing a view:
Choose the size for your printout, using the Printer Page, Height and Width, and Portrait/Landscape orientation options.
Review the pagination in the view. The chosen print size will be shown in the view as blue dotted rectangles, giving you a visible impression of the current page size (blue line) and the current view size (view borders).
Create/set the sizes of columns and rows of the view so that it fits within the page size borders.
When editing the plan, use the Zoom function to get a detailed frame for editing. You may also use the split-screen method. Do not change the column/row sizes during editing as the view will no longer fit in the selected page size.
Project Data-Driven Setup for Printing
You can also, however, work in the other direction, letting your planning and the project data define the size of the page:
Define the view with rows and columns to the desired size.
Check the Print view size box to let Tilos calculate the page size needed, and use this custom page size for printing.
If the page size is too big for your printer, select another available page size or let Tilos calculate the zoom factor to fit the view on the current page.
If the zoom factor is too large (e.g., 10%), all text will appear very small. In this case, do not change the text size, but decrease the view size by adjusting the cell width and height. Recalculate the zoom factor again.
Scalable Vector Graphics
Scalable vector graphics (SVGs) files (.svg) are web-safe for dashboards, and they can be opened and printed via web browsers. SVG is an interactive/bi-directional format, so you can, e.g., annotate each image with comments.
Use Classic Print Mode
Rather than manage the complexity of Microsoft Windows-based printing, Tilos leaves the printing of PDF to Adobe Acrobat Reader. Each PDF is a single file, possibly with multiple pages depending on the view you are printing.
For details on classic print options, see below or in these topics in the installed help system:
Printing Views and Charts
Setting Print Properties
Printing a Gantt Chart/Preparing Gantt Charts for Printing
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