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Print Character Sheets

Nolan T. J. said: This is likely. I'll try and swing back to provide an update before year's end. A caveat: we'll probably want to check with some of our licensing contacts ahead of implementation. See? They're working hard on it. Just give them time! It's only been over a year since this post, and simple text replies take a long time to create. I mean, even an apology can take weeks!
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Edited 1567539703
Don't do this, go here. Snark aside... Sorry, it was a bit unreasonable to do all those steps. This should work a bit better.  [Citation needed] Turn this into a bookmark (Ctrl + D) javascript:(function()%7Bif%20(!document.getElementById('printCss'))%20%7Bvar%20newBase%20%3D%20''%3Bfor%20(k%20in%20document.styleSheets%5B0%5D.rules)if%20(document.styleSheets%5B0%5D.rules%5Bk%5D.conditionText%20!%3D%20'print')newBase%20%2B%3D%20document.styleSheets%5B0%5D.rules%5Bk%5D.cssText%3Bdocument.querySelector('link%5Bhref*%3Dbase%5D').remove()%3Bvar%20insert%20%3D%20document.createElement('style')%2C%20baseStyle%20%3D%20document.createElement('style')%3Binsert.setAttribute('type'%2C%20'text%2Fcss')%2C%20insert.setAttribute('media'%2C%20'print')%2C%20insert.setAttribute('id'%2C%20'printCss')%3Binsert.innerHTML%20%3D%20'body%3E*%7Bdisplay%3Anone!important%7D.charactersheet%2C.ui-dialog%2C.ui-dialog-content%7Bheight%3Aauto!important%3Bdisplay%3Ablock!important%7D.ui-dialog%7Boverflow%3Avisible!important%3Bposition%3Arelative!important%3Bwidth%3A100%25!important%3Bleft%3A0!important%3Btop%3A0!important%3Bbackground-color%3A%23fff%3Bborder-width%3A0%7D%23editobject%2C%23floatingtoolbar%2C%23footer%2C%23page-toolbar%2C.nav.nav-tabs%2C.ui-dialog-titlebar%2C.ui-resizable-handle%7Bdisplay%3Anone!important%7Dbody%7Boverflow%3Avisible%3Bbackground%3A%23fff%7D'%3BbaseStyle.setAttribute('type'%2C%20'text%2Fcss')%3BbaseStyle.innerHTML%20%3D%20newBase%3Bdocument.getElementsByTagName('head')%5B0%5D.insertBefore(baseStyle%2C%20document.querySelector('head%3Elink'))%3Bdocument.getElementsByTagName('head')%5B0%5D.appendChild(insert)%3B%7Dwindow.print()%7D)() Click it when you want to print out the Top, Open character sheet on the VTT. It takes quite a bit of time to load each print preview but it should work right out of the box. [Updated it to be significantly faster 10/8/18] Make sure you select "print background graphics" or whatever it is called on your particular flavor of browser. Character sheet specific layouts would probably mostly be in control of each sheet creator but if some sheet is particularly bad you can PM me and I'll see if I can do something about it if I have the time. For instance: Pathfinder Community Sheet javascript:(function()%7Bif%20(!document.getElementById('printCss'))%20%7Bvar%20newBase%20%3D%20''%3Bfor%20(k%20in%20document.styleSheets%5B0%5D.rules)if%20(document.styleSheets%5B0%5D.rules%5Bk%5D.conditionText%20!%3D%20'print')newBase%20%2B%3D%20document.styleSheets%5B0%5D.rules%5Bk%5D.cssText%3Bdocument.querySelector('link%5Bhref*%3Dbase%5D').remove()%3Bvar%20insert%20%3D%20document.createElement('style')%2C%20baseStyle%20%3D%20document.createElement('style')%3Binsert.setAttribute('type'%2C%20'text%2Fcss')%2C%20insert.setAttribute('media'%2C%20'print')%2C%20insert.setAttribute('id'%2C%20'printCss')%3Binsert.innerHTML%20%3D%20'body%3E*%7Bdisplay%3Anone!important%7D.charactersheet%2C.ui-dialog%2C.ui-dialog-content%7Bheight%3Aauto!important%3Bdisplay%3Ablock!important%7D%23editobject%2C%23floatingtoolbar%2C%23footer%2C%23page-toolbar%2C.nav.nav-tabs%2C.sheet-mode%2C.sheet-selectedlabel-check%2C.sheet-selectedlabel-check%2Bb%2C.sheet-showsect%2C.sheet-top-buttons%2C.ui-dialog-titlebar%2C.ui-resizable-handle%2Csheet-main%3Anot(.sheet-section)%7Bdisplay%3Anone!important%7D.ui-dialog%7Boverflow%3Avisible!important%3Bposition%3Arelative!important%3Bwidth%3A100%25!important%3Bleft%3A0!important%3Btop%3A0!important%3Bbackground-color%3A%23fff%3Bborder-width%3A0%7Dbody%7Boverflow%3Avisible%3Bbackground%3A%23fff%7D.sheet-h2-section%2C.sheet-section%3Anot(.sheet-section1)%7Bpage-break-inside%3Aavoid%7D'%3BbaseStyle.setAttribute('type'%2C%20'text%2Fcss')%3BbaseStyle.innerHTML%20%3D%20newBase%3Bdocument.getElementsByTagName('head')%5B0%5D.insertBefore(baseStyle%2C%20document.querySelector('head%3Elink'))%3Bdocument.getElementsByTagName('head')%5B0%5D.appendChild(insert)%3B%7Dwindow.print()%7D)() Tries to make sections not be cut between pages.  Hides dropdown headers, macro buttons, etc 5E OGL Use default version above. Shrink to 95% and minimum margins if using "Letter" paper
Noon said: Snark aside... Sorry, it was a bit unreasonable to do all those steps. This should work a bit better.  [Citation needed] Turn this into a bookmark (Ctrl + D) javascript:(function()%7Bif%20(!document.getElementById('printCss'))%20%7Bvar%20newBase%20%3D%20''%3Bfor%20(k%20in%20document.styleSheets%5B0%5D.rules)if%20(document.styleSheets%5B0%5D.rules%5Bk%5D.conditionText%20!%3D%20'print')newBase%20%2B%3D%20document.styleSheets%5B0%5D.rules%5Bk%5D.cssText%3Bdocument.querySelector('link%5Bhref*%3Dbase%5D').remove()%3Bvar%20insert%20%3D%20document.createElement('style')%2C%20baseStyle%20%3D%20document.createElement('style')%3Binsert.setAttribute('type'%2C%20'text%2Fcss')%2C%20insert.setAttribute('media'%2C%20'print')%2C%20insert.setAttribute('id'%2C%20'printCss')%3Binsert.innerHTML%20%3D%20'body%3E*%7Bdisplay%3Anone!important%7D.ui-dialog%2C.ui-dialog-content%7Bheight%3Aauto!important%3Bdisplay%3Ablock!important%7D.ui-dialog%7Boverflow%3Avisible!important%3Bposition%3Arelative!important%3Bwidth%3A100%25!important%3Bleft%3A0!important%3Btop%3A0!important%3Bbackground-color%3A%23fff%3Bmin-height%3A200vh%3Bborder-width%3A0%7D%23editobject%2C%23floatingtoolbar%2C%23footer%2C%23page-toolbar%2C.nav.nav-tabs%2C.ui-dialog-titlebar%7Bdisplay%3Anone!important%7Dbody%7Boverflow%3Avisible%7D'%3BbaseStyle.setAttribute('type'%2C%20'text%2Fcss')%3BbaseStyle.innerHTML%20%3D%20newBase%3Bdocument.getElementsByTagName('head')%5B0%5D.insertBefore(baseStyle%2C%20document.querySelector('head%3Elink'))%3Bdocument.getElementsByTagName('head')%5B0%5D.appendChild(insert)%3B%7Dwindow.print()%7D)() Click it when you want to print out the Top, Open character sheet on the VTT. It takes quite a bit of time to load each print preview but it should work right out of the box. [Updated it to be significantly faster 10/8/18] Make sure you select "print background graphics" or whatever it is called on your particular flavor of browser. Character sheet specific layouts would probably mostly be in control of each sheet creator but if some sheet is particularly bad you can PM me and I'll see if I can do something about it if I have the time. For instance: Pathfinder Community Sheet javascript:(function()%7Bif%20(!document.getElementById('printCss'))%20%7Bvar%20newBase%20%3D%20''%3Bfor%20(k%20in%20document.styleSheets%5B0%5D.rules)if%20(document.styleSheets%5B0%5D.rules%5Bk%5D.conditionText%20!%3D%20'print')newBase%20%2B%3D%20document.styleSheets%5B0%5D.rules%5Bk%5D.cssText%3Bdocument.querySelector('link%5Bhref*%3Dbase%5D').remove()%3Bvar%20insert%20%3D%20document.createElement('style')%2C%20baseStyle%20%3D%20document.createElement('style')%3Binsert.setAttribute('type'%2C%20'text%2Fcss')%2C%20insert.setAttribute('media'%2C%20'print')%2C%20insert.setAttribute('id'%2C%20'printCss')%3Binsert.innerHTML%20%3D%20'.sheet-h2-section%2C.sheet-section%3Anot(.sheet-section1)%7Bpage-break-inside%3Aavoid%7D.sheet-mode%2C.sheet-selectedlabel-check%2C.sheet-selectedlabel-check%2Bb%2C.sheet-showsect%2C.sheet-top-buttons%2Cbody%3E*%2Csheet-main%3Anot(.sheet-section)%7Bdisplay%3Anone!important%7D.ui-dialog%2C.ui-dialog-content%7Bheight%3Aauto!important%3Bdisplay%3Ablock!important%7D.ui-dialog%7Boverflow%3Avisible!important%3Bposition%3Arelative!important%3Bwidth%3A100%25!important%3Bleft%3A0!important%3Btop%3A0!important%3Bbackground-color%3A%23fff%3Bborder-width%3A0%7D%23editobject%2C%23floatingtoolbar%2C%23footer%2C%23page-toolbar%2C.nav.nav-tabs%2C.ui-dialog-titlebar%7Bdisplay%3Anone!important%7Dbody%7Boverflow%3Avisible%3Bbackground%3A%23fff%7D'%3BbaseStyle.setAttribute('type'%2C%20'text%2Fcss')%3BbaseStyle.innerHTML%20%3D%20newBase%3Bdocument.getElementsByTagName('head')%5B0%5D.insertBefore(baseStyle%2C%20document.querySelector('head%3Elink'))%3Bdocument.getElementsByTagName('head')%5B0%5D.appendChild(insert)%3B%7Dwindow.print()%7D)() Tries to make sections not be cut between pages.  Hides dropdown headers, macro buttons, etc When I do this in Chrome with the D&D styled 5E sheet (based on the Roll20 OGL sheet), it just gives me the top left corner of the D&D logo and the rest is blank. Guessing I'm doing something wrong.
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Edited 1539702641
Updated my post with a version for 5E OGL. Don't have enough dev time to fix it for real so you'll have to bear with this new temp version until I do. Just set the zoom to 95% or shrink the margins if it gets cut off weird. I'll update both this and the above when it is more refined. The default version should now work pretty good for the 5E sheet (and possibly even more now). Let me know if that didn't make things at least usable. Also please don't quote the whole post as all the code in my original post has already changed and I'd like to avoid out of date quotes floating around confusing people who want to grab the latest version.
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Edited 1540615695
Mines still breaking off the name from the sheet on to another page using that bookmark, not on all characters, but for sure on three.  However I'm using the 5e Shaped Template so I don't know how that contributes if at all.
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Edited 1540695826
I don't play 5E. I don't know what that is. Can you take a screenshot? or PM me and I'll help.
1540814679
Andreas J.
Forum Champion
Sheet Author
Translator
Noon said: I don't play 5E. I don't know what that is. 5E is a shorthand for Dungeons&Dragons 5th Edition or D&D5E. It's so popular and wide-know that people at times drop the "D&D" part as unneccesery.
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Edited 1540817899
lol I meant the "Shaped Character Sheet" part. The default 5E OGL sheet looks fine on my end. Like I said, I'm going to need a screenshot to help debug.
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Edited 1541026339
Maybe transmogrify and move to a empty game with no handouts so that there is only one page?  Ether way it look like that before I started making handouts for players.
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Edited 1544368798
+1 for Pathfinder sheet from Paizo
+1
+++++1
When will we be able to print Character Sheets?
John E. said: When will we be able to print Character Sheets? Posted September 14, 2017 Nolan T. J.  said: This is likely. I'll try and swing back to provide an update before year's end. A caveat: we'll probably want to check with some of our licensing contacts ahead of implementation.
1547574704
Kenton
Forum Champion
Translator
From a purely technical standpoint, this isn’t a difficult feature, however, we want to make sure we design it in a way that’s useful. Our main concern is that playing with and making changes on the printed sheet would have to be manually entered back into Roll20 if they were to be reflected on Roll20. To help us plan this feature, can you let us know how you would use printed character sheets? So far in the thread I've seen: To save character data as a backup Using printed sheets when you have the opportunity for in-person play sessions of your Roll20 games Anything else I missed? Any other uses that you have for your games?
It may be that some only use the digital copy as a backup. I do this all the time for games that are played in places that don't have good / open internet access, which is not all that uncommon. The sheets need to print and an attractive / usable layout and with proper pagination.  This may require the sheet developer to create a web/mobile client view and a paper view since the "best" layout for all the use cases can be significantly different.
During game play, I like to take notes, scratch off inventory, add to inventory, remove lost items, add found items, adjust treasure weather spent or found, just generally draw funny faces as we play and adventure. Having my character sheet as a hard copy will make this much more fun. Then I am not fiddling around my character sheet covering the VTT while GM or players are moving around the map for any reason. I usually will go back into my character after game sessions and then finalize all populated fields that need adjusting. Most GM’s, in my opinion, are not spending that much time looking at each PC during game sessions, as they have a lot going on as well, way more than a player does. And so far I have not had an issue with updating my character a day or 2 after the session, as long as it is fixed prior to next session. Bottom Line, having a hard copy of character will generally make game play a bit smoother. And give you a feeling of the good old days, of doodling all over you character sheet.
1547594358
vÍnce
Pro
Sheet Author
Wow, I can't believe I made this suggestion over 4 years ago... While many of roll20's sheets include a plethora of cool features that cater to the vtt environment, I believe there is still a desire for some player's to print a hard-copy whether it's to be used as a backup, for "on-sheet" note taking, speculation/tweaking, bringing your character to a game outside of a vtt, or to simply hold in your hands.
1547611174
Gold
Forum Champion
kenton h. said: To help us plan this feature, can you let us know how you would use printed character sheets? So far in the thread I've seen: To save character data as a backup Using printed sheets when you have the opportunity for in-person play sessions of your Roll20 games Anything else I missed? Any other uses that you have for your games? 3. Using printed sheet (in my hand, on my table) while playing Roll20 online (with the voice comms, map, token or not, with bubbles or not, maybe having some Handouts open, maybe having some Compendium rules open in windows) thus NOT required to constantly open-close-reopen a Character Sheet window on the screen, and saving the screen real-estate and number-of-clicks from Char Sheet, when your gaming style or game-of-choice calls for it. Many games the character sheet doesn't need to be frequently updated (Name, Personality, Weapons, Skills, etc), just referred to, on-paper. Sometimes the handful of stats that need updates can be done with the Token Bubbles (such as hit points) while otherwise using the paper, or could if necessary be manually typed back into Roll20 later at the end of the game (such as hit points, or new magic items found). It's ok that the paper doesn't automagically update the roll20. The user would be aware of that.
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Edited 1547676032
I also, have no problem using printed character sheets even if it means updating things manually. I do it all the time between several different sources (mostly PCGen and my own personal character storage). I print them out in case roll20 goes down or I can't connect. Updating on them are really easy: is this written in pencil? -> probably not on roll20. Done. Since they'd be the same implementation, it would be useful if all user handouts could be printed. Just blank out the VTT and chat and let sheet creators deal with updating their stylesheets. A unified print environment is all people need to get this up and running.
I use a printed sheets at a couple of in person/pencil and dice games I am in. I like using the Roll20 tools to update my characters but have been transferring the data by hand.. not fun.
Printed sheets are handy while playing, especially for inventory management and quickly looking at the whole sheet if you're checking for a skill lie something.  Easier than flipping through the many tabs some sheets have in game.  It's easier to go back and sync inventory after play is over, especially if you want to add things from the compendium because that requires you disable pop out windows and is just generally tedious.  Printed character sheets are also important to me for backup purposes.  Makes it easy to recreate a character if the GM accidentally deletes it, for example.  Plus you have a copy even if the game gets deleted as so many do 
BilBo 2 pretty said most of what I was thinking about this. Add to it that, as a DM who needs to see everything all at once to be able to keep track of all the npc's skills, spells, and abilities, printing the sheets makes this possible. And, as I roll everything myself, having to change roll20 to reflect my notes and alterations isn't a big deal for me. Screen space, even with multiple monitors, is limited.
I cannot emphasize how much I want to see printed character sheets on Roll20. Screen real estate is limited, and there are many aspects of a character (PC or NPC) that are better referenced, for me, via hard copy. 
I'd also would like to see printing of sheets for teaching the game to new players. I've been teaching games for groups where everyone is at the table and Roll20 is used as a digital battlemap on a TV screen with DynamicLighting and vision scripts. I want to teach more people to play (a local brewery wants me to come in and teach games), but not being able to print the characters is keeping me from running more of these learn to play sessions. One session I had two players that didn't even want to play, by the end of the session they were asking me on a daily basis when we could have another game. I have taught 14 people in past 6 months how to play D&D 5e and with printed character sheets I could probably teach even more, which would mean more possible future Roll20 customers. I've been looking at other options, but I have a lot invested in Roll20 so I would rather keep using it.
I did find a workaround, using Firefox and and Addon called FireShot, I can open a Popout of a character and use FireShot to print the page to an image or PDF. This doesn't work well on my laptop since the screen is small and the whole character sheet must be visible in order to print it, luckily at work I have large computer monitors so it works. The quality isn't great, but better than nothing. I would still would like to see printable characters in the future.
There are times when I would like to take one of my characters and be able to play it in what I call an analog game (i.e old school around table with friends, dice, pencils, etc.)  Being able to print the character sheet would make that easy. 
after 4 years still no print option?...
Can we get an update on the print option status?
Printing would be such an amazing feature, its the only reason I haven't bought the PHB / other character creation tools on R20.
I would love to see an option where I can export my character sheets as PDFs for offline use. Quite surprised its not a feature actually.
+1, Yes please
1550110075
Kenton
Forum Champion
Translator
Thank you all for your responses! Printing Character Sheets will help keep character data safe and maximize screen space. This Suggestion is waiting for a slot in the development schedule behind some critical feature needs. We'll have a firmer timetable later in the year, and will be sure to update this thread.
1550112476
vÍnce
Pro
Sheet Author
Nice to hear that including an option to print a character's sheet has finally made the dev's radar... Thanks for the update Kenton.
On the radar! Yay!
+1
+1 million to infinity and beyond!!
+1 Would really love to see a printable D&D5E version. Most of my players work off of tablet or laptop, and the switching eats a LOT of game time. Much easier to make scribble notes and temp changes on paper sheet. Thanks for looking into this!
Thanks to the Development Team on the update.  Its appreciated. Printing is necessary for me just because it is so much faster.  When I have them on the table rather than the laptop, I can flip through and see while putting all my DM energy into the VTT environment for the players.  Too much time is lost while trying to click and drag to see things online, yet the online is critical to sharing the information.  The printout just facilitates a quicker and smooth roleplaying experience for my VTTs.
+1 Just joined and using roll20 and started playing and it would be a huge help to have physical copies of the character sheets for both me and my players to make notes 
1552542848
Kenton
Forum Champion
Translator
We continue to tackle things currently in the development schedule, and development for this feature will be scheduled as availability opens up.
I play in Adventure League and some of the venues have really poor internet access so I am currently using OrcPub2 to print my Character sheet. This is less than optimal. Please give us that ability to print out our Character Sheets!
+1 LEMME PRINT (please)
+1 we still need this option.  I want to print and pin these to my wall as quick reference, or to take with me on the run while I plan.
1555510353
Kenton
Forum Champion
Translator
The Bring Your Own Beat update is now in testing on the Development Server  (Pro link), the Marketplace is undergoing improvement, and we continue fixes and testing for the Get A New Look update. As these three wrap up, we expect to be able to start research into effectively supporting Character Sheet Printing without significantly adding to the workload of Sheet Authors.
1555510541
vÍnce
Pro
Sheet Author
kenton h. said: ...Character Sheet Printing without significantly adding to the workload of Sheet Authors. That's what I'm talking about. ;-)  Thanks for the update Kenton.
+1 as ones with laptops don't have to shuffle their screen and can update their sheet at the end of the session.
Woot! Bring this on, please!
Noon said: The default version should now work pretty good for the 5E sheet (and possibly even more now). Let me know if that didn't make things at least usable. Thanks for that Javascript code that actually works pretty well! I get this very usable output when I have these settings for an A4  However, if I try to turn Headers & Footers off, I only get this. Same result if I try any other Scale >83% and H&F off, or No Margins (but scaling can go to 86%) Actually... I accidentally hit Print and it seems like there is a hard Page Break after those buttons at the top? And it kinda looks like that top part is wider than the parts after the buttons... See how the "scroll" graphic is cut off on the right? Could that be forcing the page break? The rest of the page print out really nice, like this... At any rate, still usable and better than the straight print we get from the windowed character sheet. So a big thanks!!