> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.begin.eu/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Downloading a report

> Export a report to CSV, choose decimal hours so a spreadsheet can multiply them, and handle a report that is too large.

You can download a report as CSV, or print it. The file contains the whole report, not the page you can see.

## Export to CSV

Open the report menu and choose **Export report as CSV**. The download starts in your browser, so it needs no waiting and produces no generated-file history.

The file carries every row the report covers, with the same columns, in the same order as the screen.

**Print / Save as PDF** is also available from the same menu, and uses your browser's print dialog.

## Set the duration format before you export

This is the setting that decides whether your spreadsheet can do arithmetic on the hours. It is in the report's display settings, as **Duration format**:

* **Hours and minutes (9:15)** — readable, and what the screen shows by default.
* **Decimal (9.25)** — a plain number.

The screen and the download both use whichever you pick.

<Warning>
  **Multiply decimal hours, never `9:15`.** A value like `9:15` is not nine and a quarter hours to a
  spreadsheet — most read it as a time of day, which is a fraction of a 24-hour day. Multiply it by
  an hourly rate and you get roughly a third of the right answer. Switch **Duration format** to
  **Decimal** before exporting anything you intend to price.
</Warning>

So: read on screen in hours and minutes, export in decimal when the numbers are going into a rate calculation.

## When a report is too large

Begin refuses to download a report it cannot produce completely. It does not give you a truncated file.

A report covering more than 10,000 source rows stops before the download with:

> This report covers more than 10,000 rows — too many to show at once. Narrow the date range or add a filter.

Do one of these:

* shorten the date range — one month at a time rather than a year
* add a filter, for a location, department or position
* group the report, so it summarises rather than listing every record

A summary of a large period is usually what you wanted anyway; the record list is for checking individuals.

## Hours that were still being calculated

If you export while the calculator is still working on somebody, the file says so in a comment line at the top:

> \# Provisional: hours for 3 people were still being calculated when this file was exported, so their hour columns are zeros rather than measured totals

A zero on that row is not a measured zero. Wait for the report to finish calculating and export again.

<Info>
  Lines beginning with `#` are notes, not data. Spreadsheets import them as ordinary rows, so delete
  them before you sort or sum the sheet.
</Info>

## What is not here yet

Native spreadsheet files (XLSX), scheduled delivery and a history of generated files are not part of this release. CSV opens in Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets, which covers the month-end job.

## Next

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="The hour columns" icon="clock" href="/for-managers/reports/hour-columns">
    What each hour figure means before you export it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Presets" icon="copy" href="/for-managers/reports/presets">
    Start from a report Begin ships, and keep the original intact.
  </Card>
</Columns>

## Still need help?

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Contact support" icon="envelope" href="mailto:support@heybegin.eu">
    Email the Begin team and we'll get back to you.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Ask Begin AI" icon="comment-dots" href="?assistant=open">
    Open the AI assistant and get instant answers based on these docs.
  </Card>
</Columns>