SQL Reporting Services: Why does my report shrink when it's emailed?

Question

I created a simple report and uploaded it to my report server. It looks correct on the report server, but when I set up an email subscription, the report is much narrower than it is supposed to be.

Here is what the report looks like in the designer. It looks similar when I view it on the report server: [http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/4893/designqj3.png]

Here is what the email looks like: [http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/9297/emailmy8.png]

Does anyone know why this is happening?

Answer 1

I don't see anything but my first guess is that the fonts are vastly different. The designer has one font and the email is a flat, no-frills kind of thing with a simple font. Without concrete examples, this is just a guess.

Answer 2

I don't think it's a font thing, because the text is being wrapped a lot, and it looks about the same size.

The images show in my preview, but not in the final post. So, here are links to them.

Report in the designer: [http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/4893/designqj3.png]

Email result: [http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/9297/emailmy8.png]

Answer 3

What report output format did you specify for the scheduled job? It seems to me you used HTML, which will autoscale depending on the output browser (HTML adapts).

If having the same layout is important then use PDF as the output format. Then, if the user wants to print the report you know exactly what it will look like and that it will fit nicely on the page.

Answer 4

Can you try a different format? pdf or xls maybe. In my experience web archive looks goofy. Don't know why.

Answer 5

Yeah, I'm using HTML. I would prefer to stick with that, because the users can just read it in their mail clients. PDF or XLS would require them to open an attachment.

I know that the HTML resizes itself to fit the browser, and that's a good thing. The problem I would like to fix is the wasted space - in the email client, the HTML shrinks too much.

Answer 6

I am also facing the same issue. the report becomes much narrower and its not looks good at all for the end user. I don't understand why its happening in SSRS. If anybody knows the solution, please share with me.

Answer 7

This is a common issue. I am having the same problem as well. Would love to know of any workarounds for this issue as well. I think this seems like a really big miss on SSRS part. Mainly because: 1.) High level executives are not going to open attachements to get their data. They have enough email coming through at all times that the info should be visible in the email 2.) It needs to be formatted well enough in email for them to be able to forward to other parties/use in other ways without causing embarassement.

It is really hard to say how great of a product Reporting Services really is, when a simple request to have a table generated from SSRS in an email looks this horrible.

Answer 8

I notice that the screenshots show Outlook 2007. Perhaps you're not aware that Microsoft somewhat hobbled the HTML capabilities of Outlook in 2007, and now it uses the Word HTML engine, and not the more advanced Internet Explorer one? Might this explain the lacklustre appearance?

http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2007/01/10/microsoft-breaks-html-email-rendering-in-outlook/

Answer 9

This issue is fixed in SQL Server 2005 SP3 (it is part of cumulitive update package build 3161)

Problem issue described below.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935399

Basically Full Outlook 2007 Client Uses MS Word HTML Rendering Engine (Which Makes Web Archive Report Looked Jacked Up). NOTE: Web Outlook 2007 Client Uses IE HTML Rendering Engine (Which makes Web Archive Report Look Okay).

We have installed the patch on DB housing Reporting Services and it does fix the issue. Emails look all nice and fancy now.

Answer 10

I have converted to SSRS 2008 from a Vista server and get the exact same results in Outlook 2007. Last week on our SSRS 2005 server, we updated to SP3 (which has that hot fix) and it didn't help.

Has ANYONE found a solution?

Answer 11

I got around this problem by doing the following:

1. Add a Page Header to the report
2. Add a line to the page header. Set the width of the line to the desired page width.
3. Set the line colour to white (eg to hide the line)

Hope this helps someone else,

Answer 12

Thank you girlC0d3r, great workaround! :)

Answer 13

Hey I tried the header work around and it doesn't work. I have also migrated all my reports to a sql 2005 reporting server but still no joy.

Any other ideas.

Answer 14

girlC0d3r is along the right lines (no pun intended), but the line will likely be shrunk along with the rest of the HTML in the email. A workaround I used yesterday was to create an image 1px high by 600px wide (or whatever), the same color as the background, and bring it into the report as an embedded image. Place it above or below the body of your report. This should force the intended width in the final email. I used this technique successfully in a report yesterday.

Answer 15

I got around this problem by doing the following:

1. Add a Page Header to the report
2. Add a line to the page header. Set the width of the line to the desired page width.
3. Set the line colour to white (eg to hide the line)

Hope this helps someone else,

Following on from girlC0d3r's solution, images aren't always guaranteed to be shown in an email.

A better solution to widening the report to prevent the content from wrapping is to have a long unbroken string of characters with no whitespace.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

By giving the text the same color as the background of the email (e.g. white) they'll widen the report and be invisible to the user.