Table of Contents
How can I reduce the length of my catalog's PDF?
How can I hide the “Download as PDF” button from Department pages?
Pages Missing from Catalog PDF
Unable to Generate a PDF
Text Cut/Split Between Pages
PDF Missing Course Information
Changes Made to Requirement Levels in Curriculum Aren’t Reflected in Catalog PDF
Text is Too Close to Photos in PDF
Related Articles
FAQs
How can I reduce the length of my catalog's PDF?
Overview | Adjust PDF Settings | Control Field Visibility | Apply Catalog Filters
Eliminate Unnecessary Page/Section Breaks | Use a Two-Column Display
Overview
It's important to balance the need for information against overall PDF length.c
If you need to reduce catalog PDF length, there are several modifications you can make to achieve that.
Those approaches are outlined below.
Adjust PDF Settings
Overview | Implement Changes to PDF Content | Adjust Display Format Settings
Reduce Body Text Font Size
Overview
Each of the below settings can be configured at Catalog > Settings > Catalogs > PDF Settings.
Implement Changes to PDF Content
You might be including more in your PDF than you need to.
Adjust Display Format Settings
You can adjust the “Display Format” to reduce the length of your PDF.
Reduce Body Text Font Size
A reduction of 1-2 points can keep the document readable but would result in a significant cut in its overall length.
Control Field Visibility
You can determine at the field-level which data is included in the catalog PDF.
See Catalog Configuration Overview and Building & Assigning Catalog Page Templates to learn more.
Apply Catalog Filters
You can add Catalog filters to ensure that the correct subset of Curriculum Management data is displayed in each Catalog (which will, in turn, also impact PDF length).
Eliminate Unnecessary Page/Section Breaks
Default behavior in Coursedog is to NOT have page breaks in the PDF.
However, it’s possible the ability to insert a page break at the end of each webpage's content – which can add up to nearly a full page of whitespace – is turned on for you.
If you’re seeing page breaks, reach out to your Customer Success contact and request the page break feature be turned off.
Use a Two-Column Display
Using a two-column display can also help reduce the length of your catalog PDF by fitting more content onto each page.
The two-column display is enabled by default. However, if you are seeing a single-column display and wish to switch to two columns, reach out to your Customer Success contact for help adjusting.
How can I hide the “Download as PDF” button from Department pages?
If you follow these instructions, a “Download PDF” button will automatically appear on the Departments pages in your Catalog.
If you want to include Departments when generating a complete PDF but do not wish to include the “Download as PDF” button on individual Department pages, reach out to your Coursedog contact – there’s a configuration on the backend that they can disable for you.
Troubleshooting
Pages Missing from Catalog PDF
Problem Overview
You’ve made custom pages, but none of them are showing up in your PDF.
Explanation
Check each of the following, as they could all impact missing pages:
Have you published the latest changes?
When generating the catalog PDF, did you select “Include the entire catalog content in generated document” or at least ensure the custom pages were among the checked items?
Are the pages navigation items? Pages have to be included in a navigation for them to populate.
Unable to Generate a PDF
Problem Overview
It looks like you’ve successfully generated a PDF, but you see an error message that says “Failed to load PDF document” when you attempt to open it.
Explanation
This can happen if the PDF is pulling in too much content.
Solution Overview
Add filters to the catalog, as mentioned above under “Apply Catalog Filters”.
For example, if your catalog has zero filters applied but you have many inactive courses and programs, just adding filters that say to only display active courses and programs in your catalog could potentially resolve this issue.
Text Cut/Split Between Pages
Problem Overview
A word or words at the bottom of a page are split between the bottom of that page and the top of the next (shown below).
Solution Overview
We are working on a long-term solution for this, but for now a workaround is to either:
Switch from a two-column display to a single-column (just note this could add to your PDF length).
Change which fields are displayed to reduce the length of content for each course/program.
Reach out to your Customer Success contact for help adjusting from a two-column to a one-column display.
PDF Missing Course Information
Problem Overview
Your PDF includes basic information like course number and name but is missing everything else.
Explanation Overview
There could be a couple different settings at play here.
Check both of the solutions listed below to see if modifying settings could fix the problem.
Possible Solutions
Check the Course Template (Catalog > Settings > Page Templates > Course Template) to ensure both of the following are true:
PDF Visibility for the desired fields isn’t set to “hidden”.
Visibility settings for the cards that contain the missing fields aren't set to “hidden”.
Solution 1
Solution 2
Changes Made to Requirement Levels in Curriculum Aren’t Reflected in Catalog PDF
Problem Overview
You made changes to the requirements / requisites field on a template in Curriculum and your Catalog UI reflects those updates, but the Catalog PDF does not.
For example, you’re seeing improper nesting within the requirement levels and/or empty requirement levels for levels that have been fully removed in Curriculum.
Explanation
Changes made to the requisites field in a Curriculum template do NOT propagate to the corresponding Catalog template if the requirements/requisites field already exists on the Catalog page template.
Solution
Remove the requirements/requisites field from the impacted Catalog page template, and then re-add it.
Text is Too Close to Photos in PDF
Problem Overview
Your photos look OK when viewing a page in Coursedog and/or the Catalog itself, but in the Catalog PDF, the text appears to run into the photo.
Solution
A fix is in the works for this but in the meantime: Adding a border to your photo(s) will help prevent this from happening.