TOPIC: Does Anybody Think A Table Of Contents Would Be Useful In The Report?

every inspector in the central NY provides a hard copy along with the uploaded PDF - common practice

Posted by: Frank P. Macak ? 
every inspector in the central NY provides a hard copy along with the uploaded PDF - common practice

I would tear out the last few remaining hairs on my head if that became the standard in my area. Sometimes the common practice is a pain, but it really does drive what I have to do at times. BTW, could someone explain to me the benefits of "uploading" a report. Don't you have to email passwords and related info to the parties if you are going to upload the reports? Wouldn't just emailing the finished report be easier. Send it and you're done.

And to stay on topic, my style of reporting tends to agree with Drew and Russell. I don't add any features which make it easier for the client(really it's the Realtors) to skip or ignore stuff. The table of contents on the side of adobe is more than enough to get my clients where they need to be. I do understand how that could be helpful if your local practice demands a paper copy. I just wouldn't use it here in Illinois.

certain ISP's or offices/workplaces will block e-mails with larger attachments, so the client might not get the report on time. Getting large files from ISP can also be quite slow, and possibly timeout the connection. Also with the downloads, I can log in and see how many people downloaded the report.

Is knowing the number of downloads a "copyright" policing benefit?  You know, making sure more people aren't downloading than you expected?

1. You get a receipt of when you uploaded the report, verified by a 3rd party (us) which is helpful in any legal issues.
2. Your reports are stored on our servers for 5 years for you to access any time. I have guys on vacation use it to send out reports that are requested, and it's saved many hides when computers crash.
3. Client gets a DIRECT link, to your website if you have one with us, to out server if you don't. This drives up your hits, rank and allows all the family they forward the report onto to see your report.
4. Agent logs in and views all reports you've done for them for 5 years, great for marketing (for those that don't still want it faxed....).
5. You get a receipt when the client or agent views the report, again, verified by a 3rd party.

those are way better reasons.