topic Re: SAS 9.4M7 ODS PRINTER PDF: Large Blank Space Before Continuation Text When a PROC REPORT Cell Sp in SAS Programming

SAS 9.4M7 ODS PRINTER PDF: Large Blank Space Before Continuation Text When a PROC REPORT Cell Spans

JohnChen_TW1218 — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 01:43:04 GMT

Hi Community,

In SAS 9.4 TS1M7, a single long DISPLAY cell in PROC REPORT spans two physical pages in ODS PRINTER PDF. On the continuation page, the remaining text is positioned near the bottom of the report body, leaving substantial blank space below the repeated column headers. VJUST=TOP has no effect. Specifying CELLHEIGHT prevents the blank space but either clips the content or forces a fixed bottom border. Is there a hot fix or supported method to flow the continuation text from the top of the next page while retaining one logical table row?

Re: SAS 9.4M7 ODS PRINTER PDF: Large Blank Space Before Continuation Text When a PROC REPORT Cell Sp

SASKiwi — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 02:58:50 GMT

Can you post a test program that reproduces the problem plus a screenshot of the PDF produced? We can run it in a later maintenance release to see if it behaves the same.

Re: SAS 9.4M7 ODS PRINTER PDF: Large Blank Space Before Continuation Text When a PROC REPORT Cell Sp

JohnChen_TW1218 — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 03:57:47 GMT

Thank you SASKiwi.

Here is the test program:

data test;
    length A1-A8 $10 A9 $1776;

    A1 = "ABCDEFGHIJ";
    A2 = "1234567890";
    A3 = "QWERTYUIOP";
    A4 = "ZXCVBNMASD";
    A5 = "TESTDATA01";
    A6 = "SASDATA123";
    A7 = "ABCDEFGHIJ";
    A8 = "9876543210";
    A9 = repeat("X", 1775);

    output;
run;

ods noresults;
ods listing close;
ods escapechar='!';
options missing=' ';

options nodate nonumber papersize=A4 topmargin="1.0in"  leftmargin="0.75in" bottommargin="0.75in" rightmargin="0.75in" orientation=landscape /*papersize=(11in 8.5in)*/;
footnote3 j=l;footnote4 j=l;

ods proclabel="Test";
ods document name=ListingCONTENTS(write);

title1 j=l "123"
       j=r "456";
title2 j=l "ABC"
       j=r "DEF";
title3 " ";
PROC REPORT DATA = test NOWD
    SPLIT= '|'
    COLWIDTH=8 SPACING=2
    CENTER
    HEADSKIP
    CONTENTS="Test Data";
    column A1-A9;
    define A1     /DISPLAY CENTER style(column)=[cellwidth=16mm] 'A1';
    define A2 	  /DISPLAY CENTER style(column)=[cellwidth=14mm] 'A2';
    define A3     /DISPLAY CENTER style(column)=[cellwidth=16mm] 'A3';
    define A4     /DISPLAY LEFT   style(column)=[cellwidth=32mm] 'A4';
    define A5     /DISPLAY LEFT   style(column)=[cellwidth=26mm] 'A5';
    define A6     /DISPLAY CENTER style(column)=[cellwidth=23mm] 'A6';
    define A7     /DISPLAY CENTER style(column)=[cellwidth=20mm] 'A7';
    define A8     /DISPLAY LEFT   style(column)=[cellwidth=26mm] 'A8';
    define A9     /DISPLAY LEFT   style(column)=[cellwidth=84mm] 'A9';

    TITLE5 j=center height=9pt "Test";
    FOOTNOTE3 height=9pt "Note:";
    FOOTNOTE4 height=9pt "Footnote1";
    FOOTNOTE5 height=9pt "Footnote2!nFootnote3";
    FOOTNOTE6 height=9pt "Footnote4!nFootnote5!nFootnote6";
    FOOTNOTE7 height=9pt "Footnote7";
    FOOTNOTE8 height=9pt "Footnote8";
    FOOTNOTE9 height=9pt "Footnote9";
    FOOTNOTE10 height=9pt "Footnote10!nFootnote11";
RUN;
    TITLE5 ;
    FOOTNOTE3 ;
    FOOTNOTE4 ;
    FOOTNOTE5 ;
    FOOTNOTE6 ;
    FOOTNOTE7 ;
    FOOTNOTE8 ;
    FOOTNOTE9 ;
    FOOTNOTE10 ;
QUIT;

ods _all_ close;
ods printer pdf file="D:\ImportantDontDelete\john.chen\Documents\Test.pdf" style=Styles.mystyle dpi=600;

proc document name = ListingCONTENTS;
    replay;
run; quit;

ods printer pdf close;

Test.pdf is the output.

Re: SAS 9.4M7 ODS PRINTER PDF: Large Blank Space Before Continuation Text When a PROC REPORT Cell Sp

SASKiwi — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:42:00 GMT

I ran your test program on M8 and got identical results to you.

I'd suggest opening a Tech Support track as they are more likely to know about maintenance level differences and any fixes.

Re: SAS 9.4M7 ODS PRINTER PDF: Large Blank Space Before Continuation Text When a PROC REPORT Cell Sp

FreelanceReinh — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 10:08:56 GMT

Hi @JohnChen_TW1218,

At least on my workstation, the older TS1M5 maintenance release does not produce that unwanted white space (using Pearl style instead of your "MYSTYLE").

Re: SAS 9.4M7 ODS PRINTER PDF: Large Blank Space Before Continuation Text When a PROC REPORT Cell Sp

JohnChen_TW1218 — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 02:48:14 GMT

I found the cause! The verticalalign=middle setting in our custom style was causing the large blank space in the continued page. Removing it or changing it to top fixed the issue.