You have the data in a table on your phone: today's deliveries, a site inspection, a client's order list, a month of attendance. Now someone wants it as a report. The usual route is to email the Excel sheet to yourself, open a laptop, paste the table into Word, format it, export a PDF and send it. That can take half an hour for something that should take a minute.
Here is how to go straight from the table on your phone to a polished PDF with Table Notes, and what makes a report look professional rather than like a screenshot of a spreadsheet.
What makes a report look professional
Clients judge a report in the first few seconds. A few things make the difference:
- A clear header with your company name, logo and the report title.
- A footer with your address and contact details, so the document stands on its own when it is forwarded or printed.
- Only the relevant columns. Internal notes and helper columns don't belong in a client document.
- Readable layout. A wide table in portrait mode gets squeezed; the same table in landscape is easy to read.
- Only the relevant rows. One client's orders, this month's visits, the open items.
Step 1: Get the right rows on screen
Start by filtering the table to exactly what the report should cover: a date range, one customer, one site, or a status like "Completed". In Table Notes you can save a filter you use often, such as "This month, Completed", so preparing the same report next month is one tap.
Step 2: Choose and order the columns
Hide columns the recipient doesn't need, and arrange the rest in a logical order: identifier first (name, invoice number or site), then the details, with amounts at the end where totals are easy to read. You can hide and rearrange columns without deleting anything, so your full data stays intact.
Step 3: Export to PDF with your header and footer
When you export a table to PDF in Table Notes, you can add:
- A header: your company letterhead text, such as the business name and report title.
- Your logo.
- A footer: your company address and contact details.
You can also choose the page orientation. Table Notes suggests portrait or landscape based on how many columns you have, and you can change it. If a table has many columns, landscape usually keeps it readable.
Step 4: Send it from your phone
Once the PDF is ready, share it straight from your phone by email or WhatsApp, the same way you would share a photo. No laptop, no copying between apps.
Reports that work well this way
- Delivery or service reports with a photo of the delivered goods and the customer's signature captured on screen.
- Site inspection reports for surveyors and contractors, built from data collected in the field (see the offline data entry app guide).
- Price lists and product catalogues for sending to customers.
- Attendance sheets for a month or a pay period.
- Expense statements for your accountant or a client you are billing (see the expense tracker Excel sheet guide).
- Patient or client lists for a clinic or practice, filtered to one day's appointments.
When to send an Excel sheet instead of a PDF
A PDF is the right choice when the recipient should read the report, not change it. If they need to work with the numbers (an accountant reconciling expenses, a manager combining several reports in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets), export an Excel sheet instead. Table Notes can export the same table either way, so you can send a PDF to the client and an Excel file to your accountant from the same data.
Tips for better reports
- Use Select columns for status and category. Consistent values make the report look tidy and make filtering reliable.
- Use Amount columns for money so figures are formatted consistently and can be totalled.
- Name your table well. "Site Visits – Sharma Builders" reads better than "Table 3".
- Check one PDF on a big screen the first time you set up a report, then reuse the same setup.
The takeaway
A professional report is mostly preparation: the right rows, the right columns, your header and footer, and a sensible layout. With your table already on your phone, there's no need for Word, an office suite or a laptop. It can be done in a minute, and the PDF can be in your client's inbox or WhatsApp before you leave the site.