Report settings

Where reports are designed

Everything about printed result reports lives in Admin > Patient Communication > Report Builder. The page lists your report templates. Each template decides which released results it prints and how the printed pages look.

The lab default template is the main template. Its header, footer, and design are the starting point for every other template: any setting of another template can follow the default instead of having its own value. See Inherit settings from the default template below.

Select Print Settings above the template list to preview an example report and set Blank header space (mm) and Blank footer space (mm). These spaces stay completely empty on every page when staff turn off Print header and footer on the report print page, for use with preprinted stationery. Each space accepts 0–55 mm; use 0 for no reserved space. The example updates as you edit; select Save print settings to apply your changes. Templates that inherit the default header and footer inherit these spaces too.

Use Preview with header and footer to compare the two outputs. Select Edit header and footer to open the default template’s image and text settings. If an image upload fails, the previously saved image is kept.

Printed reports are always in English

Released reports print in English, whatever language you use the system in. Write titles, headings, column headings, notes, and footer text in English. Fields that print on the report do not accept Arabic text.

The builder screen

Select Open builder on a template to open it full screen. The builder works like the Website Builder:

• Left — Report sections: Template settings at the top, then the sections in print order.
• Middle — Print preview: produced by the same print engine as real released reports, so it shows exactly what will print: layout, English text, your logo, and your header and footer images. It updates as you edit, before you save. Click any section on the preview to edit it, or click the header or footer to open the Header & footer settings.
• Right — Editor: the fields of the selected section, or the template settings.

The top bar shows whether you have Unsaved changes. Select Save (or press Ctrl+S / Cmd+S) to apply your changes; until then, printed reports keep the saved version. Use Undo and Redo (Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z) to step through your edits. If a field needs attention, saving stops, the section or settings tab is marked in red, and the message shows under the field.

The ⋯ menu has Start from a preset, Discard unsaved changes, Delete template (not available for the lab default template), and Help.

The builder needs a tablet or computer screen.

Preview with real data

By default the preview uses a sample patient with demo results. To check a template on real data, open Preview with in the top bar and choose an order. The list shows recent orders with released results; search by order code or patient name. The preview then shows only the results this template collects, with a badge such as "3 of 7 released results". Nothing is saved or printed.

• Full size opens the preview in a new tab.
• Test print sends the preview to your printer, so you can check margins and paper size.

Report sections

Sections print in order below the patient details. Select Add section and pick one; it is added after the selected section.

Section	What it prints
Results table	Result rows in a table. Choose the columns, group results by category or lab unit, limit it to certain tests, and rename column headings (for example "Normal Range" instead of "Reference Range"). Tick Previous result to print the patient's last earlier result of each test with its date; the column prints only when a test on the report has one.
Results as fields	Each result as a label, value, and reference line. Useful for urine and stool examinations.
Text	Free text such as patient instructions or a disclaimer.
Bullet list	One bullet per line, such as standard comments.
Approval signatures	The name of each person who approved the results, with a role label such as Lab Director.
Empty space	Extra vertical space.

Drag sections (or use the arrows) to reorder them, use the copy icon to duplicate one, and the bin to delete it. Turn a section's switch off to keep it in the template without printing it.

Grouping a results table by Lab unit prints each unit on its own page, followed by the unit manager signature. Each ordered profile prints on its own page after the unit's other tests, with the same unit heading and signature. The unit name prints once at the top of each of its pages, and the tests keep their category headings below it. Choose how the unit heading looks under Lab unit heading in the table's settings: a filled band, outlined box, underline or plain text, its position, text size, text and background colours, and capital letters. Set units up in Lab units.

Start from a preset replaces the sections and design with a ready layout: Classic, Department pages, Compact, Formal, or Minimal. The name, header, footer, and rules are kept, and nothing is saved until you select Save.

Template settings

Select Template settings at the top of the section list. The settings are in four tabs.

Inherit settings from the default template

In every template except the lab default, each printed setting has an Inherit from the default template button under it. When it is on, the setting is greyed out and shows the default template's value, and the template prints whatever the default template uses. When you later change the default template, every template that inherits that setting changes with it.

• Select the button again to use this template's own value. It starts from the default's current value, so nothing changes until you edit it.
• Inherit all in this tab turns inheriting on for every setting in the tab; Use own settings in this tab turns it off.
• Open default template opens the default template in a new tab.
• The header and footer are inherited as a whole: the choice of image or text, the image, and the note.
• New templates inherit the header, footer, Page style and Patient details from the start, so the top of every report looks the same.
• The template name and When to use rules always belong to each template.

If you make a template the lab default, it keeps the values it was inheriting as its own.

General

Template name is for staff only. Printed title prints at the top of each page. Subtitle is an optional line under the title, such as a department name.

Design

• Accent color — the title line, headings, and dividers. Pick a dark, readable color.
• Page style, Text size, and Spacing — the overall look. Text size changes the results only; the patient details and report title keep the same size. Smaller text fits more results per page; the report adds pages automatically.
• Patient details — how the patient and order box looks.
• Doctor title prefix (English) and Doctor title prefix (Arabic) — the title printed before the referring doctor's name, such as Prof. Dr. or أ.د. The English prefix is used for English names and the Arabic prefix for Arabic names. If a doctor's name already starts with a title such as Dr., the prefix replaces it so the title is not printed twice. Leave a field empty to print the name exactly as entered.
• Table style, Section headings, and Abnormal results — how tables, headings, and flags (H, L, HH, LL, *) look.
• Page elements — turn the order barcode, the report version strip, and unit manager signatures on or off.
• Content margins — where the patient details and results sit, in millimetres:
  • Space above the content moves the content down from the header. A negative number starts the content on top of the header image, for header images designed with empty space for it. The content can overlap the image and the space above it, never more, so it stays on the page; a text header cannot be overlapped.
  • Space below the content keeps the results away from the footer. A negative number lets the content run over the footer image.
  • Side margins is the space between the page edges and the content.

Header & footer

Blank header space (mm) and Blank footer space (mm) reserve space when printing without letterhead. They do not add to the image margins or content offsets. These values follow the template’s header and footer inheritance.

For both the header and the footer, choose:

• Image — select Upload image or drag an image onto the field (JPEG, PNG, or WebP, up to 5 MB and 4000 × 1200 px, sized for the full A4 width).
• Lab name and contact details — a text header with your logo, and a text footer with the lab, branch, and print date. Header note and Footer text appear only for this choice.

Space above the header, Space below the footer, and their side margins place the header and footer on the page, in millimetres. Use 0 side margins for an image that spans the full page width.

Check the print preview after changing margins, and use Test print to confirm them on paper. The report adds pages automatically when less space is left for results. Every page always keeps room for the results: if the header, footer, and margins together would take too much space, the extra space is reduced and very tall images are printed smaller.

Set the lab's header and footer on the lab default template. Other templates print them while Inherit from the default template is on, or use their own when it is off.

When to use

Choose which results this template prints:

• Selected tests or categories — fill in tests, categories, or sample types. A result must match every rule you fill in. Turn on Only when the order has all selected tests if the template should be skipped unless the whole set is released.
• Everything else (catch-all) — prints every released result that no other template collects. Turn on Lab default template to make it the lab's default. Other templates can inherit its settings, and its design and header also style the CBC and culture pages.

The lab default template always prints every result no other template collects, so in its When to use tab the settings are fixed: it is always active and always the catch-all. To use a different default, open the other template and turn on Lab default template, or select Set default on the template list.

Priority decides which template wins when two match the same result: the lower number wins. Active turns a template on or off without deleting it.

A branch can use a different default template from Branches > Default Clinical Report Template.

Built-in templates for CBC and cultures

Every lab has two built-in templates that print automatically for their test type. They cannot be deleted, but everything on them can be changed in the builder:

• CBC Report — every CBC prints on its own page. Its blocks are the sample line, red cells, white cells, differential, platelets, histograms, comment, flag legend and unit manager signature. The result tables print in the order and with the section headings set on the CBC test (see Tests), starting where the first table sits in the template; a section you added on the test uses the settings of the first table. Rename the section headings, choose the columns, print the differential as percentages, absolute counts or both, and set the histogram curves, size, style and colours. Histograms print only when the CBC analyzer sent them with the results.
• Culture & Sensitivity Report — every culture prints on its own page with the sample line, direct microscopy, culture result, antibiotic sensitivity, notes, comment and signature.
  • Culture result prints as a labelled list (Organism A, Colony count, Remarks), or choose Layout > Result line and organisms table. Turn on Sample line to start the list with the specimen; then hide the Specimen line section so the specimen does not print twice.
  • Antibiotic sensitivity is grouped by default: for each organism, the antibiotics it is highly sensitive to, then moderately sensitive to, then resistant to, each under its own heading such as Highly (Organism A) For. Rename the three group headings, show the organism as a letter or by name, change the bullet and heading background, number the antibiotics, and print long lists in two or three columns. To print one table with a column per organism, choose Layout > Table with one column per organism, then pick the result format (S — Sensitive, S, Sensitive or High / Moderate / Resist) and the legend.
  • In both layouts choose the antibiotic order, the sensitive, intermediate and resistant colours, and whether MIC values print. Antibiotics always print by their full name. Each section heading can use an accent line, underline, grey band or plain style.

Tests with several results, such as Complete Urine Analysis, Stool Analysis and Semen Analysis, print with your other templates like any test: under the test name, with their sections and their own comment. To give one of them its own layout, such as Complete Urine Analysis without the Unit column, create a template, choose Selected tests or categories in When to use, and pick the test under Tests.

Drag sections to change where they print, switch a section off to hide it, and add text, bullet lists, approval signatures or empty space where you need them. Built-in sections can be hidden and moved but not removed. Until you change a design setting, these templates follow the design, header and footer of the lab default template.

Managing templates

From the report template list you can:

• New report template — name it, pick a starter layout, and the builder opens. A starter layout sets the results table, text size and spacing; the patient details and title follow the lab default template.
• Preview a template in a new tab with sample data.
• Duplicate it. The copy starts inactive so you can edit it safely.
• Set default to make a template the lab default.
• Restore defaults to reset the built-in template. Its header and footer are kept, and your own templates are not changed.

The lab default template cannot be deleted.

If the wrong template prints

Open the template in the builder, choose the order in Preview with, and check the badge. If it says the template prints no results from the order, check the tests, categories, and sample types in When to use, the template's Priority, and that it is Active.