Why is the content in my PDF running off the right side of the page?

It's important to remember that PDF documents generated by CIMS are really just PDF renderings of specific HTML pages. When you click the PRINT PREVIEW button for a particular document, you are seeing the same HTML page on-screen that will ultimately become the PDF document when you get the PDF export.

Unlike a word processor, which will cut content right in the middle in order to wrap to the specific size settings that you have specified, a web browser will generally only line-break content at recognized end-of-content markers: spaces, punctuation marks, etc. If a string of content does not have any of the normal end-of-content markers, then the web browser will instead usually expand the box wrapping the content to fit the content. When that happens, you can get a ripple effect throughout the document such that all content expands to match the one box that has been outsized.

Very long URLs for links are a common source of content that runs to multiple lines without any of the normal end-of-content markers, and are the most common cause of PDF layout in CIMS going awry and running off the right side of the page.

To fix this problem, find any very long URLs in your content and, using a link shortening service such as http://bit.ly or http://tinyurl.com, substitute a shorter URL for the original one. Once you have done this, refresh the Print Preview and you should see everything line up correctly. Then you can generate your PDF and it, too, will be laid out without the run-off issues.
Last Updated: 8/4/2015