How to: Subscribe to a Report (Report Manager)

You can subscribe to a report to have it delivered to you automatically. A subscription specifies the type of delivery, delivery time, report output format, and for reports that have parameter input fields, any user-defined parameter values that should be used in the copy of the report you receive. Reporting Services provides Report Server E-mail delivery and File Share delivery, but you might have fewer or additional delivery types to choose from depending on how your report server is configured.

Note

Reporting Services also includes a SharePoint document library delivery extension, but you can only specify that delivery type in subscriptions that you create on a SharePoint site for reports that run on a report server configured for SharePoint integrated mode. For instructions, see How to: Create and Manage Subscriptions (Reporting Services in SharePoint Integrated Mode).

This topic provides instructions for creating an e-mail subscription and a file share delivery subscription.

Before you can subscribe to a report, the report data source must be configured to use stored credentials or no credentials. For more information, see How to: Store Credentials for a Data Source (Report Manager). If it does not, the New Subscription button is not available.

This topic does not explain how to create a data-driven subscription. For instructions on how to create a data-driven subscription, see Tutorial: Creating a Data-Driven Subscription or the online help for the Create a Data-driven Subscription page in Report Manager.

To create a file share subscription

  1. Start Report Manager.

  2. In Report Manager, on the Contents page, navigate to the report you want to subscribe to. Click the report to open it.

  3. Click the Subscriptions tab, and then click New Subscription.

  4. In Delivered by, select Windows File Share.

  5. In File Name, type a file name for the report.

  6. Select Add a file extension when the file is created. This option adds a three-character file extension to the file name. The file extension is determined by the report output format you select.

  7. In the Path text box, type a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path to an existing folder where you want to deliver the reports (for example, \\<servername>\<myreports>). Include double backslash characters at the beginning of the path. Do not specify a trailing backslash.

  8. In Render Format, select a report output format for file delivery. Choose a format that corresponds to the desktop application that will be used to open the report. Avoid formats that do not render a report in a single stream or that introduce interactivity that cannot be supported in a static file (for example, HTML 4.0).

  9. In the User name and Password text boxes, specify the credentials required to access the file share, using the format <domain>\<user name> for the user name.

  10. Specify overwrite options. If you click Do not overwrite the file if a previous version exists, the delivery will not occur if an existing file is detected. If you click Increment file names as newer versions are added, the report server appends a number to the file name to distinguish it from existing files of the same name.

  11. Specify when you want the report delivered:

    • To schedule a delivery time, click When the scheduled report run is complete and click the Select Schedule button. A schedule page opens.

    • To select a predefined shared schedule that already has the date, time, and recurrence information that you want to use, click On a shared schedule, and then select the schedule to use.

    • To deliver the report when a report snapshot is updated with a newer version,clickWhen the report content is refreshed. If you are subscribing to a report that retrieves data at scheduled intervals, the schedule used to refresh the data determines when your subscription is processed.

      Note

      This option is available only for snapshots that are already associated with an update schedule.

  12. For parameterized reports, specify parameters to use for the report for this subscription. The parameters can be different from those used to run the report on demand or in other scheduled operations.

The report is delivered as a static file. If the report includes interactive features (for example, links to additional rows and columns), those features are not available.

To create an e-mail subscription

  1. In Report Manager, on the Contents page, navigate to the report you want to subscribe to. Click the report to open it.

  2. Click the Subscriptions tab, and then click New Subscription.

  3. In Delivered by, select E-Mail. If this delivery type is not available, your report server has not been configured for e-mail subscriptions.

  4. In the To text box, the recipient name in the To: field is self-addressed using your domain user account. Report server configuration settings determine whether the To field is self-addressed with your user account. For more information about changing the configuration settings e-mail addresses, see Configuring a Report Server for E-Mail Delivery.

    Note

    Depending on your permissions, you might be able to type the e-mail address you want the report delivered to. To specify multiple e-mail addresses, separate them with a semicolon (;). You can also type additional e-mail addresses in the Cc, Bcc, and Reply-To text boxes. This requires that you have permission to manage all subscriptions.

  5. Select the delivery options as follows:

    • To embed or attach a copy of the report, select Include Report. The format of the report is determined by the rendering format you select. Do not choose this option if you think the report size will exceed the limit defined for your e-mail system.

    • To include a URL link to the report in the body of the e-mail message, select Include Link.

    Note

    If you clear both of these options, only the notification text in the Subject line is sent.

  6. Choose a rendering format from the Render Format list box. This option is available if you select Include Report to embed or attach a copy of the report.

    • To embed the report in the body of the e-mail message, select Web archive.

    • To send the report as an attachment, choose any of the other rendering formats.

  7. Select a priority from the Priority list box. In Microsoft Exchange, this setting sets a flag for the importance level of the e-mail message.

  8. Specify when you want the report delivered:

    • To schedule a delivery time, click When the scheduled report run is complete and click Select Schedule. A schedule page opens for you.

    • To select a predefined shared schedule that already has the date, time, and recurrence information that you want to use, click On a shared schedule, and then select the schedule to use.

    • To deliver the report when a report snapshot is updated with a newer version,clickWhen the report content is refreshed. If you are subscribing to a report that retrieves data at scheduled intervals, the schedule used to refresh the data determines when your subscription is processed.

    Note

    This option is available only for snapshots that are already associated with an update schedule.

  9. For parameterized reports, specify parameters to use for the report for this subscription. The parameters that you specify can be different from those used to run the report on demand or in other scheduled operations.