Introduction

Reports often contain valuable business data, but different organizations require different layouts when sharing or printing them. While the standard report view is useful for on-screen analysis, exported Excel files often need custom headers, grouped data, merged cells, branding, formulas, and print-friendly formatting. The Design Template feature in uKnowva HRMS allows administrators to completely customize the appearance of reports when they are exported as Excel files.

Unlike the report builder, which defines what data is displayed, the Design Template focuses on how that data appears in the downloaded Excel workbook. Using an intuitive spreadsheet-style designer, you can organize headers, data rows, footers, formulas, grouping, formatting, and print settings without affecting the report displayed inside uKnowva HRMS.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to configure and use the Design Template feature to create professional Excel report layouts.

Step 1: Open or Create a Report

To begin, go to the side navigation panel and click on the Analytics menu, and from the list of sub-menus, select Reports. 

Now, locate and open the report that you want to customize.

You can either create a new report or edit an existing one. If you are unfamiliar with creating reports, you can follow this tutorial: How to Create a Custom Report in uKnowva HRMS.

Once the report opens, navigate to the Details tab.

Here, select the required Report View and choose the columns that you want to display in your report. After selecting the view and columns, uKnowva automatically generates a preview of the report records.

The Design Template becomes available only after a report view and at least one column has been selected.

Step 2: Open the Design Template Tab

Click the Design Template tab.

This feature provides a spreadsheet-style designer where you can build the layout of your Excel export. 

The Design Template affects only the downloaded Excel file. It does not modify the report displayed in the browser, CSV exports, PDF exports, API responses, or scheduled report attachments. These outputs continue to use their existing layouts and formatting, ensuring that only the Excel export reflects the customized design created using the Design Template.

If you are using the AI Report Builder, the Design Template remains unavailable until the report has been fully configured and saved. Once the report is saved, reopen it to begin designing the Excel layout.

Step 3: Configure the Data Layout

The Data Layout section controls how information is arranged inside the exported Excel workbook.

If you want repeated values to appear as a single merged cell across multiple rows, use the Rowspan Columns option. Select one or more columns whose consecutive identical values should automatically merge in the exported spreadsheet.

Next, configure the Row Group Column if you want Excel to insert a group separator whenever the value in a selected column changes. This helps organize large reports into clearly separated sections without merging any cells.

If required, select a Row Group Count Column. This displays the total number of records within each group inside the exported Excel file, making grouped reports easier to analyze.

Step 4: Configure Excel Page Settings

The Excel Page Settings section allows you to customize the print layout of the exported workbook.

You can load an existing preset using the Load Preset option or select a previously saved preset to automatically apply predefined print headers and footers.

If you want to create additional presets for future use, click the Add New button to create a new preset, or follow this article to learn How to create a New Excel Page Settings Preset.

To view all the available presets, simply click the View All button. 

You will be redirected to the list of all saved presets, where you can view, manage, or select an existing preset for your report's Excel export settings.

After selecting a preset, you can click the View button to see its details or the Edit button to modify the preset as required.

These settings affect only the Excel Print Preview and Page Layout when the workbook is opened in Microsoft Excel. They do not modify the browser report, CSV export, or PDF export.

Step 5: Design the Excel Layout

After configuring the page settings, begin designing the worksheet.

The designer provides a spreadsheet-like editing experience where you can build the layout exactly as you want it to appear in Excel.

You can format cells using options such as Bold, Italic, Underline, font family, font size, text color, background color, text alignment, cell merging, and full-screen editing.

The layout consists of three different sections:

• Header Zone

• Data Zone

• Footer Zone

The Header Zone is used for titles, headings, company names, or other information that should appear once at the beginning of the worksheet.

The Data Zone contains the report data. This row automatically repeats for every record included in the report.

The Footer Zone is used for totals, summaries, remarks, or other information that should appear after all report records.

When the designer loads, it automatically creates placeholders for the selected report columns. These placeholders are replaced with actual report values during Excel export.

If you want to mark a row as a Header Zone, Data Zone, or Footer Zone, right-click anywhere on the desired row. A context menu will appear with options such as Mark as Header Zone, Mark as Data Zone, Mark as Footer Zone, Clear Zone, Insert Row, Delete Row, and more. Select the appropriate option based on your requirement.

Alternatively, you can select the desired row and click the Header Zone, Data Zone, or Footer Zone button available in the toolbar to assign the respective zone.

Step 6: Add Formulas and Aggregate Values

The Design Template also supports Excel-style formulas.

You can insert formulas into appropriate cells, especially inside the Footer section, to automatically calculate totals, averages, counts, and other aggregate values when the report is exported.

The system validates formulas before saving the template and displays easy-to-understand error messages if any formula is incorrect.

This enables you to generate Excel reports that include automatic calculations without manually editing the workbook after export.

Step 7: Save the Report

Once you finish designing the layout, review the formatting, grouping, formulas, and page settings.

Click the Save Report button to save both the report configuration and the Design Template.

The template is stored along with the report. Whenever the report is exported as an Excel (.xlsx) file, uKnowva automatically applies the saved layout, formatting, merged cells, grouping, and formulas.

If you later edit the report, the saved template is automatically loaded so you can continue modifying the design whenever required.

Conclusion

That's it! 

You've now successfully learned how to customize Excel report exports using the Design Template feature in uKnowva HRMS.

By using the Design Template, you can create professionally formatted Excel reports with customized layouts, grouped data, merged cells, formulas, and print settings while keeping the original report view unchanged. 

If you have any questions or need additional support, feel free to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..