Dashboard Export - the PDF output is not showing data

[MsF-2000]

Hi All

We have a requirement where user needs to send mail a dashboard periodically. The Dashboard is made using Dashboard studio so the Export is available, I configured the export option and sent a mail but the PDF output showing no data on individual panels, it gives the output while the panel are searching for the result.

The dashboard has  time picker in it, no matter which value I set it ( last 4 hours to last 30 days) the result is same.

Has anybody faced the issue similarly, have any workaround is there for this.

Please help.

[asimit]

Hi @MsF-2000,

The issue you're experiencing with Dashboard Studio PDF exports showing empty panels is likely due to timing problems. When exporting dashboards to PDF, Splunk uses Chromium which has default timeouts that may not allow enough time for your searches to complete.

Here are solutions to try:

1. Adjust the Chromium timeout settings in limits.conf:
A- Increase `render_chromium_timeout` (default is 30 seconds)
B- Set `render_chromium_screenshot_delay` to allow more time for searches to complete

2. Optimize your underlying searches:
A- Ensure searches use acceleration features when possible
B- Consider using report acceleration or summary indexing for complex queries
C- Check if any individual panels take longer than 30 seconds to load

3. Try scheduled PDF delivery instead of on-demand export:
A- Configure scheduled reports with PDF delivery
B- These often provide more time for search completion than interactive exports

4. For Dashboard Studio specifically:
A- Avoid using global inputs when possible as they can delay rendering
B- Consider converting complex panels to Simple XML if persistent problems occur

If modifying limits.conf settings, contact Splunk Cloud Support as they'll need to make these changes for you.

Has anyone checked how long the dashboard takes to fully load all data when viewed in the browser?

[livehybrid]

Hi @MsF-2000 

How long do the searches take to execute when you run the dashboard yourself?

It sounds like you might be being impacted by "render_chromium_timeout" which is the max amount of time chromium (which generates the PDF) waits before taking the export. The default value for this is 30 seconds:

render_chromium_timeout = <unsigned integer>
* The number of seconds after which the Chromium engine will timeout if the
  engine still needs to render the dashboard output.
  This setting does not impact the render_chromium_screenshot_delay.
* Default: 30

Alternatively you could look at increasing render_chromium_screenshot_delay (0 by default).

Check out the specific docs for these settings at https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Admin/limitsconf#:~:text=3600%20(60%20minutes)-,...

Its also worth checking out "Modify the timeout setting for rendering the dashboard"

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