PDF reports and the PDF editor

What a PDF report is

A sheet is good for working. A PDF is good for giving to someone: a guest list for the caterer, the month's expenses for the family, an attendance register for the school office, a price list for a customer.

You do not design the PDF yourself. You ask Flicx Companion for it in plain words. It reads the sheet, lays out the pages and shows you the result. You then ask for changes until you like it, and only then save it.

Text in any language goes in as it is in the sheet: Tamil, Hindi, English or any other.

Ask for a report

1. Open the sheet you want a PDF of.
2. Open Flicx Companion.
3. Type what you want and send it. For example: Make a PDF report of this sheet.
4. Wait a little. The report opens as a preview beside the chat.

Say what the PDF is for and the Companion chooses a layout to suit. Some requests to try:

• Make a PDF of this month's expenses with a chart by category
• A simple PDF of the guest list, names first
• A PDF of the students grouped by class, with a box to tick for fees paid
• A checklist PDF of my to-dos for the Ooty trip
• An attendance register for 12 July 2026 with a place for the teacher to sign

Please noteEach message you send uses one Companion credit, including each change you ask for. See Credits.

The preview beside the chat

When a report is open on a computer, the Companion grows into one large window. The chat stays on the left and the PDF is on the right, so you can read the page and ask for changes at the same time.

1. The chat. Type the next change here.
2. The look buttons. They change how the report looks without sending a message.
3. Save and, beside it, Download the PDF.

Under the report's name a small line tells you where things stand, for example Draft 1 · not saved. The number goes up each time the report changes.

At the bottom of the preview the app reminds you: Say what to change. Nothing is saved until you save it.

If the Companion is docked to the side, the report takes the place of your page and the chat stays on the right.

A phone has room for one of them at a time. Two buttons at the top, Preview and Chat, switch between the page and the chat.

What a report can hold

A report is built from parts, one under the other. The Companion picks the parts that suit your sheet, and you can ask for any of them by name.

1. Headline figures: up to eight big numbers in tiles, such as the total, the amount paid and the amount still to pay.
2. Text: a few plain sentences on what the sheet shows.
3. A chart: bars standing up, bars lying sideways, or a line for something that changes over time.
4. A table: the rows of your sheet, with a total row at the end when there are amounts.
5. A tick list: a box beside each line. The boxes can be ticked on the screen or on paper.
6. Signatures: lines to sign above, for up to four names.

Three more parts are not in the drawing:

• A list of cards: one card for each row, with its name as the heading. Good when rows hold long text.
• Details: lines with a label and a value, such as Name, Phone and Address. Good for one person or one order.
• Points: a short list with dots or numbers, for remarks or next steps.

A table can also have a column to tick, such as Present, Paid or Received. The app draws a real box in each row.

TipThe table takes its rows straight from your sheet, so every row is included. If your sheet has a row pinned at the bottom, that row becomes the total row of the table.

Looks, borders and page direction

The small buttons above the preview change the look at once. They do not send a message and they do not use credits.

1. Drag selection lets you point at a part of the page. See Point at a part of the page.
2. The four ready-made looks: Modern, Classic, Minimal and Formal. The one in use is highlighted.
3. Your own template. The button shows its name, or Custom if you have none yet.
4. Portrait or Landscape. The button shows how the page stands now. Press it to turn the page.
5. Border on or Border off. The button shows how it is now. Press it to add or remove a thin frame round every page.

To get a template of your own, ask the Companion to design one. For example: Design a navy template with serif headings and plain tables. It becomes your own template. It is remembered on that device, and its button then puts it on any report.

Other things about the look are changed by asking in the chat:

• The colour: Use dark green for this report.
• The words at the top and bottom of every page: Put Sri Lakshmi Stores at the bottom left.
• Page numbers: Remove the page numbers.
• The small line under the title: Add the subtitle March 2026.

A wide sheet reads better on a page turned sideways. Press Portrait to switch to Landscape, or ask the Companion to leave out columns you do not need.

Simple lists and grouped lists

Not every PDF needs figures and a chart. For a contact list, a guest list, a price list or a class roll, ask for a simple PDF.

• A plain list. Say a simple PDF of this list. You get one clean table with no lines and no shading: small grey headings, and the columns kept apart by space alone.
• A grouped list. Say group it by family, or by customer, day or category. Each group's name is written once in bold, with its members under it and a gap before the next group.

If your sheet already has its rows grouped, a simple PDF of it comes out grouped the same way. See Grouping.

For a busy sheet with many columns of figures, or a sheet people will write on after printing, a table with lines is easier to read. Ask for a table with lines.

Change it by asking

Read the preview, then tell the Companion what to change. It changes that one thing and shows the report again. It does not start a second report.

• Remove the chart
• Move the table above the chart
• Leave out the Phone column
• Add a place for two signatures at the end: Suresh and Fatima
• Change the heading to Fees collected in June
• Make the tick list two columns

While a change is on its way, the page dims and a small line says what is happening.

You can also ask for a paper with a layout of its own, such as an invoice, a quotation, a certificate, a letter or a name card. For these the look buttons are not shown. Ask in words for every change.

Point at a part of the page

Sometimes "that bit in the middle" is hard to put in words. You can draw a box round it instead.

1. Press Drag selection above the preview. The words Drag over the part to send appear on the page.
2. Hold the mouse button down and drag a box over the part you mean, then let go.
3. A small picture, selection.png, appears above the message box.
4. Type what to do with that part and send.

To stop without choosing anything, press Drag selection again.

Save, download or close

A report is only a preview until you save it. Nothing goes into your Library before that.

1. Save as a draft keeps the PDF in the Drafts folder of My files and leaves the preview open, so you can carry on. Saving as a draft again writes over that same draft.
2. Replace the current writes this version over the file you opened from the Library. The old version is not kept, so the app asks you to confirm. This choice appears only for a report opened from the Library.
3. Save as a new one asks for a name, then saves a new PDF and closes the preview.

You can also just tell the Companion save it. It shows a card saying where the PDF will go, and saves when you agree.

• Download the PDF, the arrow beside Save, puts a copy on your device. It does not add anything to your Library.
• The back arrow at the left closes the report. The app asks Close the report without saving? If you agree, the preview is thrown away.

Where reports are kept

Where to find itTop bar›Library›My files›Reports

A new report is saved in a folder called Reports in My files, unless you name another folder. The folder is made the first time it is needed. Drafts go to the Drafts folder.

To choose another place, say so: Save it in the Wedding folder. After saving, a short message tells you the folder it went to.

A saved report is an ordinary PDF. You can open, download, share, move or rename it like any other file. See Library.

Open a saved PDF again with Edit PDF

A report you saved last week can be opened again and changed, without starting from nothing.

1. Open the Library and find the PDF in My files. Press the three dots on it.
2. Choose Edit PDF. The Companion opens with the PDF in the preview.
3. Ask for your changes, or use the look buttons.
4. Press Save, then Replace the current to keep one file, or Save as a new one to keep both.

You can also ask the Companion: Open my March expenses PDF to edit.

Please noteOnly a PDF that was made in Flicx Sheet can be changed in place. Any other PDF opens with the message Opened to look at. You can read it, save a copy under another name, or ask the Companion to make it again as a report. The layout is then built afresh, so it will not look exactly the same.

Edit PDF is offered for PDFs in My files. A PDF attached to a cell of a sheet does not show it.

Common questions

I closed the preview by mistake. Is my report gone? If you had not saved it, yes. Ask for it again, or use Save as a draft early when a report matters.

Why are there no look buttons on my PDF? They are shown for reports built from the parts described above. A paper with its own layout, such as an invoice, or a PDF not made in Flicx Sheet, does not have them.

Do the look buttons use credits? No. Only messages you send use credits.

Will the PDF change when I change the sheet later? No. A PDF is a picture of the sheet at that moment. Open it with Edit PDF and ask the Companion to bring it up to date, or ask for a new report.

Are all my rows in the table? When the table is taken from the sheet, every row of the sheet is used.

What is the small mark on every page? Reports carry a small Flicx Sheet mark at the top left of each page and a faint one in the middle.

Can I make a report on my phone? Yes. Ask the Companion in the same way, and use Preview and Chat to switch between the page and the chat.