PDS Reports Troubleshooting & FAQs
Find answers to questions about PDS OnDemand setup, error messages, and other issues related to reports.
PDS OnDemand Setup
- Saving and finding reports:
- When you save a report to your computer through OnDemand, it's important to select a location you're familiar with and can get to later. To help get you to the right place, there are buttons to navigate to My C: Drive, My Desktop, or My Documents on your computer. Click one of these buttons to make sure you're saving your report in the right place.Tip:
- In OnDemand, the J: Drive is your local drive. We recommend saving to a folder within the J: Drive.
- The S: Drive is the OnDemand server drive. We do not recommend saving files to the S: Drive.
- Still can't find your report? To see where OnDemand maps, open the File Explorer, check the properties of your Desktop, then see which drive it's located in and which drive OnDemand maps to. Next time you save a report, you can set the data path to a location under the drive that OnDemand is set to.
- If you accidentally saved your report to the OnDemand server (the S: Drive), you can move it to your computer. In OnDemand, go to the File Manager, navigate to where the report file is, then copy the file to a location on your computer.
- Does the drive you want to save to seem to be missing from your computer? Try closing out of OnDemand and logging back in.
- See our video on saving files to your desktop in OnDemand. Click here to watch now:
- When you save a report to your computer through OnDemand, it's important to select a location you're familiar with and can get to later. To help get you to the right place, there are buttons to navigate to My C: Drive, My Desktop, or My Documents on your computer. Click one of these buttons to make sure you're saving your report in the right place.
-
Printer configuration:
- Make sure your printer is working and installed in OnDemand.
- First, print a test page outside of the PDS program to verify that your printer is working properly.
- Go to . If you don't see your printer, click Add.
- Try changing the print driver. Go to , select your printer, and change the driver to a specific one.
- OnDemand only supports basic printing. If you're trying to use advanced options (like printing to a specific printer tray), you can save the report to a file, open it in a viewer such as Adobe, then print from there using that application's advanced options.
- Make sure your printer is working and installed in OnDemand.
-
Emailing in OnDemand:
- To email reports, your settings must use the OnDemand server option. On the File menu in your PDS program, click . On the Email Server Setup tab, make sure the OnDemand option is selected and you are using the Simple Email.
- If a mass email takes a long time to send through OnDemand, it's likely due to an attachment. Try moving the attached file from your local drive to the OnDemand S: drive, then attach it to the email from that location. Each email, including attachments, should be no larger than 10 MB.
- You must enter a valid Reply To email address.
Error Messages
Getting an error message in PDS when you try to do something with your report? Check out these tips.
| Error | Tips |
|---|---|
| Not enough memory | You may see an error message about this or your program may lock up. When this happens, try reducing the report size by making any images smaller. For steps, see Reduce Letter Size. |
| Disk Free Space error | Try changing the save location of your report to a new folder under your J: drive (or an equivalent drive you use). |
| Share Violation | You may see a "Severe Error: Share violation" warning when previewing a report in OnDemand. This is likely due to permissions. Check your security settings in the OnDemand properties to ensure you have full control. |
| Print Driver error | If you get this error in OnDemand, go to , and change the drive. Then restart your computer, and your report should print. |
| Cannot export directly to Excel | If OnDemand cannot export directly to Excel, you can export your report as a CSV. Then, open the file in Excel and save it as an XLS file. |
| Canvas does not allow drawing | To correct this, go to and click Reset Printers. Then, close OnDemand and log back in. |
| Empty dataset error | If you see this error after running your report, it could be due to locked files. Your PDS administrator can unlock the files in the OnDemand Portal, or contact PDS Support for help. After that, you'll need to log out and back in. |
| Access violation in module | This usually means that you don't have the appropriate permissions. Your PDS administrator can enable full control file permissions on the program folder, or contact PDS Support for help. After that, you'll need to log out and back in. |
| System-related errors (such as duplicate index value) | If the error message mentions something related to the system, this requires technical intervention. Contact PDS Support for help. |
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why is my report blank?
- There are a few reasons your report may not show any records. Check these things to figure out the cause:
-
Report Options – Click the Back button to review each window in the report process. Look very carefully at each option you selected. It's possible that an option you chose is conflicting with your report results.
-
Selections – At the end of the report process, there are different selections for each report. Double-check that these are correct. Did you select Active records when you actually need to include Both active and inactive? Did you select Parishioners when you actually need to include families marked as Non-Parishioners? Are some families marked as Send No Mail/Email? In that case, you may want to select the option to Ignore the 'Send No Mail/Email' on the Family Screen. For more on selections, see Filter the Data in Reports.
If all else fails, you can try switching to Simple Selection - Never Saved in the selections window to use the default settings for the report.
-
Additional Selections – If you defined any additional selections, remember that these are applied on top of the regular report selections. So if you chose to include Active members on the Selection Information tab but then added an additional selection using Mem.Deceased Date, that would result in a blank report since those are contradictory selections (because deceased members are considered inactive). To resolve the issue, you could either change Active to Both or remove the additional selection. Also, make sure that you're using the correct fields for the data you want to include. Then, double-check the conditional relation that you chose, and ensure it makes logical sense with for the field value you entered or selected. For more on additional selections, see Using Additional Selections.
-
Date Range – Did you define a date range in either the Select Funds window or the Additional Selections tab? If so, make sure the date range doesn't conflict with your fund period, batch date, or other date-related values on records.
-
Letter Body – Are you getting a blank page after each letter? This could be caused by extra space at the bottom of your letter. Go back to the Letter Layout window, click Modify the Body of the Letter, and remove any extra lines at the end of the letter.
-
Certificate Margins – Are your certificates blank? Check the margin style to make sure your printer can work in those margins. Then, double-check your report selections and confirm that the member you expect to see has that sacramental information on their record. You'll also want to confirm that the appropriate sacraments are defined in your sacrament setup.
Tip: You can always review your selections to learn why certain records were or were not included. -
- Why is the data in my report cut off?
- Your report data may not fully display due to your margins or font size. Try adjusting the margins from Smallest Margins to another option, or try changing the font size.
- How do I print single-sided or double-sided?
- There is no universal setting in PDS for all reports to print duplex (double-sided). You must select the option in your printer's properties when running a report. Depending on your printer, you may be able to set it to always print duplex. Once your printer properties are set to duplex, PDS provides the option to print Duplex - Horizontal or Duplex - Vertical. Or, to print only on one side of the page, select Simplex.
Example of Printer Properties PDS Select Printer Window This is an example of the available properties for a specific printer. Your printer settings may look different.
If these options are not available to you, you can always use the "print to file" feature to save the report as a PDF, then print it using a PDF viewer that has the ability to print duplex.
- Why isn't my report printing?
- If there's an issue with printing your report, always check to make sure your printer is on and working properly. Try printing a test page outside of PDS, and if this doesn't work, consult your printer's documentation for help.
If your printer isn't displaying as an option to select in PDS, you may need to add it to your computer's devices. Check out your system's documentation for help with that. If you're using OnDemand, you can add or reset your printer in the OnDemand Printing area. You may need to log out and back in to see the printer in your list.
If you know your printer is working properly, restart the program. If you're in OnDemand, log out and back in. Then try printing again.
If you still can't print from PDS, use the "print to file" feature to save the report as a PDF, then print it using a PDF viewer outside of PDS.
- Why isn't my report sending by email?
- Make sure your Email Server Setup configuration is correct. For more information, see Emailing a report.
- Where was my report saved?
- When you run an export report, you can set the location on your computer where it is saved. To find which location was set, you can run the same report again, and when you get to the Export Properties window, the Filename location displays from the last run. That is where you can go on your computer to find your report.
If you used the "print to file" feature to save your report, you were prompted to save it in a certain location. If you remember the file name you saved it as, you can use your File Explorer to locate it on your computer. If you're using OnDemand, try searching in the "OnDemand Downloads" folder, which may be in the J: drive, C: drive, or another drive that you selected.
- My report returned X numbers of records when I expected Y number. What happened?
- Confirm that your report selections are correct. If you added conditions, try selecting the Use Optimizer option at the bottom of the Additional Selections tab.
Troubleshooting Checklist
Here are some items to check that may be causing an issue with your report.
ID Range: If you defined a range of IDs for your report, make sure the IDs are not non-numerical. If some IDs contain letters, the report will not know to include these in the numerical range. To work around this, you can select the individual records to include in your report on the appropriate Selections tab at the end of the report process.
Fund Date Range: If you don't see the transactions you expect to see in your report, double-check the actual transaction dates in the batches against the Date Range to Print you selected during the report process. You may need to adjust your date range.
Margins: If the data is not fully printing on your report, check your margins. Here's how to adjust margins.
Font Size: If the data is not fully displaying in your report, check your font size. Here's how to change font size.
Printer: Always check to make sure your printer is on and working properly. Try printing a test page outside of PDS, and if this doesn't work, consult your printer's documentation for help. If you still can't print from PDS, you can use the "print to file" feature to save the report as a PDF, then print it using a PDF viewer.
Selections: Pay attention to which selections you choose at the end of the report process. Each of the tabs in the selections window contribute to which records are included in or excluded from your report. For more information on setting and checking your selections, see Filter the Data in Reports.