Why am I seeing this?
When a client report gets stuck on “Generating” and never completes, it’s almost always because one or more sections in the report are trying to pull data that doesn’t exist for the selected date range. The fix is usually quick: exclude the empty sections or adjust your date range to match the data you actually have.
Key Takeaways
- A report that spins forever on “Generating” almost always means one or more included sections have no data for the selected date range.
- The fix is to either exclude the empty section, adjust your date range to cover a period where data exists.
- Old design templates (landscape view) are a secondary cause. If your template doesn’t use the new design, switch it. The old design is legacy and no longer maintained.
What typically causes this?
- No data for an included section — you’ve included Performance, Security, SEO Ranking, Uptime, or Analytics in the report, but the add-on was only recently activated or used and has no results for the date range you selected. The report has nothing to pull and hangs indefinitely.
- Google Analytics disconnected or no property linked — the Analytics section is included but your GA account either isn’t connected or has no property matched to the site. The report can’t retrieve data and fails to generate.
- Old design template — you’re using a template that doesn’t have the “Use new design” option enabled. The old design is legacy and can cause reports to hang or fail to produce a PDF.
- Corrupted template — a template created years ago may have become corrupted over time, particularly if it was never updated to the new design.
How do I fix this?
Step 1: Check which sections have data for your date range
This is the fix for the majority of cases. You need to confirm that every section included in your report actually has data for the date range you selected.
- From your ManageWP dashboard, open the affected website.
- Check each add-on you’ve included in the report (Performance, Security, Uptime, SEO Ranking, Analytics) by clicking on it in the left sidebar.
- Look at whether it has results within the date range you’re trying to generate the report for. If an add-on was activated after your report’s start date, it won’t have data for the earlier portion of that range.
- Go back to Client Report → New Report and either:
- Uncheck the sections that have no data, or
- Adjust the date range to only cover the period where data exists (make sure to include today or the most recent date with data)
- Click generate. The report should complete without issues.
If you want those sections in future reports, activate the relevant add-ons now and let them collect data for a few days before generating the next report.
Step 2: Fix Google Analytics if it’s the problem section
If the report hangs specifically because Analytics has no data:
- Go to the website’s dashboard and click Analytics in the sidebar. If it says “No data available for this period,” the GA connection is broken or no property is linked.
- Go to Profile → Settings → 3rd Party Services and check your Google Analytics connection.
- If a connection exists, hover over it and click Disconnect, then reconnect it.
- After reconnecting, go to the website’s Settings → Google Analytics tab and confirm a property is linked to the site.
- Once Analytics shows data on the dashboard, include it in the report again.
Alternatively, if you don’t use Google Analytics for this site, you can switch to WordPress Analytics (click “Switch to WordPress Analytics” on the site’s Analytics screen) or simply uncheck the Analytics section from your report.
Step 3: Switch your template to the new design
If the issue isn’t data-related, your template may be the problem. The old design is legacy and no longer maintained, which can cause reports to hang or fail to produce a PDF.
- From the affected website, go to Client Report → Templates.
- Select the template you’re using and click Edit.
- Enable the Use new design checkbox.
- Save the template and try generating the report again.
If the template is very old and enabling the new design doesn’t fix it, create a fresh template with the new design enabled from scratch. This resolves cases where the template itself has become corrupted.
What to keep in mind for next time?
The client report pulls data from your active add-ons for the date range you select. If there’s nothing to pull, it hangs. Before generating a report, quickly confirm that the sections you’ve included (Performance, Security, Uptime, SEO, Analytics) actually have results for that period. This takes 30 seconds and prevents the infinite spinner entirely.
When you add a new site or activate new add-ons, give them a few days to accumulate data before including them in reports.
Still stuck?
If you’ve confirmed data exists for all included sections, you’re using the new design, and the report still won’t generate, contact ManageWP support with:
- The website URL you’re trying to generate the report for
- The template name you’re using
- The date range you selected
- Which sections are included in the report
That information lets the support team reproduce the issue and investigate further.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I include a section even if data only exists for part of my date range?
Yes, as long as there’s at least some data within the range. The report will show whatever is available. The problem only occurs when there’s zero data for the entire selected range.
Do I need to switch all my templates to the new design?
It’s strongly recommended. The old design is legacy and no longer maintained. It can cause generation failures, PDF rendering issues, and compatibility problems that the new design has resolved. Switching is a one-time change per template.
I connected a new add-on but it’s still not showing in the report. Why?
Add-ons need time to collect data after activation. A Performance check takes a few minutes, a Security scan runs on its next scheduled interval, and SEO Ranking needs keywords populated first. Wait until you can see results on the add-on’s dashboard screen before including it in a report.
