Troubleshooting PDF Export Issues

Preceden can't always convert a timeline to a PDF. It happens most often with a large timeline that includes a lot of images, because the tool Preceden uses to generate PDFs may break when a timeline is that big.

If your export fails, try these steps:

1) Uncheck the Event List option when generating the PDF

The Content options in the PDF export dialog, with Timeline checked and Event List left unchecked

Preceden will then try to generate a PDF of just the timeline visualization, which may make the PDF small enough for the export to work.

If that works and you still want the event list as a PDF, export it separately:

The same Content options reversed, with Event List checked and Timeline unchecked, to export the event list on its own

2) If your timeline includes images, hide them on the timeline

Go to Appearance > Content Visibility and uncheck Images under Display on Timeline:

The Content Visibility settings in Appearance, where unticking Images under Display on Timeline keeps event images off the timeline

There is a second Images checkbox further down that section, under Display in Popup & Event List. That one controls the images in the event list rather than the ones drawn on the timeline, so uncheck it as well if you are exporting the event list.

Then export your timeline again. If you want both the Timeline and the Event List, try with both first, and if that fails, try just the Timeline as described in step 1.

3) Split your timeline into smaller timelines

If your timeline still won't export, split it into two or more smaller timelines and export each one on its own.

We know this is a hassle, and we're sorry for the frustration. Unfortunately, it's a limitation of the tool we use to generate PDFs and not something we can control.

Other Export Error Messages

The steps above are for the most common failure, where the timeline is too big to render. Preceden shows its other export problems the same way, in a red bar at the top of the export dialog, and each message means something different:

This timeline is too large to convert to a PDF. This is the one the steps above fix. The converter ran out of memory partway through building the file. For a PNG or PowerPoint export, the message says "an image" or "a PowerPoint file" instead of "a PDF".
The PDF needs to include either the timeline, the event list, or both. Nothing was generated at all. Under Content in the Download PDF dialog, both Timeline and Event List are unchecked, so there would be nothing in the file. Check at least one and try again.
The download timed out. Preceden waits ten minutes for an export before it gives up, so the timeline may well still have been rendering. If you were exporting the timeline and the event list together, export them one at a time as described in step 1.
Something went wrong while preparing the download. Please contact support. The export failed for some reason other than running out of memory. Email [email protected] with the timeline's name and the format you were exporting, and we can look up what went wrong.
There was a problem contacting the server. Please contact support. The request never reached us, or the reply never made it back. A dropped connection is the usual cause, so this one is worth simply retrying before anything else.

While an export is running, the Download Now button reads Preparing File…, and it stays that way until the file downloads or one of these messages appears. Nothing retries a failed export in the background, so you do need to start it again yourself.

The out-of-memory message, the timeout and the last two messages apply to PNG and PowerPoint exports too, because all three formats are generated the same way.