How to Share an AI-Generated Report With Stakeholders

HTML or PDF for an AI-generated report?

When Claude or another tool produces a report, it's usually HTML: a real page with charts, collapsible sections, and a layout that adapts to the screen. You then have to decide how to get it to the people who asked for it, and the format choice is the whole game.

HTML keeps it alive. Charts stay interactive, the layout reflows on a phone, links work, and you can update it in place.
PDF freezes it. That's the right call when the point is a fixed, archivable artifact (a record for compliance, a signed-off version). It's the wrong call when the report has anything interactive, because that all dies in the export.

Most reports going to stakeholders want to stay HTML. Reach for PDF when "this exact version, on file" matters more than interactivity.

What stakeholders should feel opening it

The experience is part of the credibility. When a VP or a client opens the link, it should:

Load fast at a clean URL, not a 40-character share token.
Render correctly on a phone, because that's where half of them will open it.
Show no leftover LLM chrome (no "generated by," no debug panel, no placeholder data).
Require no account to create, just a sign-in they already have.

Option 1 - Publish behind company auth

For a report going to colleagues or named stakeholders, publish the HTML as a gated artifact:

dsp publish ./report.html

You get a permanent, company-scoped URL. The reader clicks it, signs in once with their company Google or Microsoft account, and sees the live report with every chart working, on whatever device they're on. No public link, no per-seat cost for adding more readers.

Three things this gives a report specifically. You can see which identities opened it, by verified name, which answers "did the leadership team actually read the Q2 analysis." Reviewers leave inline comments on the exact figure or paragraph they're questioning, and that feedback routes back to you or the model that wrote it. And when the numbers change, you fetch the current version and republish with the artifact ID and base version, so nobody is ever reading a stale link.

Option 2 - Export to PDF

When a stakeholder explicitly needs a file (to archive, to attach to a record, to sign off on a fixed version), export the report to PDF and send that. Accept the trade: interactivity is gone, and you'll regenerate the PDF every time the data changes. Use it for the archival job, not as the default delivery.

Option 3 - Automate the recurring ones

If the report runs on a schedule (a weekly metrics digest, a monthly summary), don't republish it by hand. Generate the HTML in your pipeline, fetch the artifact's current version, and publish with --id plus --base-version so the same link always shows the latest run behind company auth. (See the GitHub Actions walkthrough linked below.)

Before you send

A 30-second pre-flight saves an awkward follow-up:

Open the link in an incognito window to confirm it loads clean for someone who isn't you.
Sanity-check the numbers and that no placeholder or sample data slipped through.
Remove any debug output or commentary the tool left in.
Check it on a phone.

Side by side

	Email the file	PDF	Public deploy	Publish behind company auth
Stays interactive	❌	❌	✅	✅
Renders on mobile	⚠️	✅ (static)	✅	✅
Company-only	Depends	Depends	❌	✅
See who read it (verified)	❌	❌	❌	✅
Update in place	❌	❌	⚠️	✅
Good for an archival record	⚠️	✅	❌	⚠️ (export when needed)

FAQ

Should I send an AI-generated report as HTML or PDF?+

HTML if it's interactive or you'll update it, which covers most reports going to stakeholders. PDF if someone needs a fixed file to archive or sign off. The mistake is defaulting to PDF and flattening an interactive report nobody can then explore.

How do I make the report look professional, not like a raw AI output?+

Publish the HTML so it renders at a clean URL with its real layout intact, and strip any leftover model chrome before sending. Behind company auth there's no public token in the link and no app for the reader to install, which is most of what "professional" means here.

Can I see whether stakeholders actually read the report?+

Yes. Because readers sign in with their company account, the view record shows which identities opened the artifact and when. That's a verified signal, unlike an anonymous open count.

How do I update a report after I've shared the link?+

Fetch the current version, then republish to the same artifact with its ID and base version. The URL stays the same, the readers' bookmarks keep working, and version history lets you roll back. PDFs and emailed files can't do this; you'd resend a new copy each time.

Can I share the report with someone outside the company?+

Yes. Grant access to their email with a one-time code so a named client or board member can read it without the report becoming public, and revoke it when the engagement ends.