How to add your logo to a risk report on Mac
You can do this with RiskOS, a risk register for macOS. One header and footer designer, a live preview, and every export carries your identity.
A risk report rarely stays where it was made. It gets forwarded into a board pack, printed for a committee, attached to a supplier questionnaire, and read months later by someone who was not in the room when the register was built. The header and footer are what tell that reader whose document they are holding, and they are worth setting up once, properly.
Your header and footer are set once and reused. They are held apart from the cover fields of any single report, so the identity on page fourteen is the same one on the cover, in every report RiskOS produces.
Where branding lives
Choose Reports in the sidebar. Alongside the cover fields and the section toggles that decide what a report contains sits Set Up Branding, which opens the header and footer designer. It holds the identity that appears on every page you produce, kept apart from the contents of any one report so you never type it twice.
The designer holds your business name, a tagline, an address, a phone number, an email address, a website and a registration or VAT line, plus the logo itself and an optional variant of it for dark backgrounds. Beside the fields is a live preview of the real header and footer. What you see there is exactly what RiskOS exports and prints, so the preview is where you settle the wording and the proportions before a report goes anywhere.
Set up your header and footer
-
Open the header and footer designer
Choose Reports in the sidebar and open Set Up Branding. The designer opens with the fields on one side and a live preview of the header and footer on the other, so every change you make answers immediately.
-
Enter your business name
Type the name as it appears on your letterhead, including the legal suffix if you use one. This is the line a reader scans first, so resist abbreviating it to something only colleagues would recognise. If you trade under a name different from the registered one, put the trading name here and leave the registered name for the registration line below.
-
Add a tagline only if it earns its place
The tagline sits with the name and suits something a reader needs, such as a department or a practice area. A line of marketing copy under a risk register looks out of place in a board pack. Leaving it empty is a good answer, and the preview shows you the tighter header that results.
-
Fill in the contact block
Add the address, phone number, email address and website you want a reader to use when they have a question about the report. Keep the address to the form you would put on an invoice, and prefer a shared email address that will still be answered if the person who prepared the report has moved on.
-
Add the registration or VAT line
There is a dedicated field for a company registration number, a VAT number or an equivalent identifier. Many organisations are obliged to carry one on documents that leave the business, and a risk report sent to a client, an insurer or an auditor is exactly that kind of document.
-
Drop your logo in
Add the logo as a PNG, a JPEG, a PDF or an SVG. Use the largest or sharpest version you have rather than a small copy pulled off a web page, because the same file has to hold up on a printed A4 page as well as on screen. A file with generous margins baked into it looks lost in a header, so prefer a tightly cropped mark.
-
Add a variant for dark backgrounds
If your mark is dark ink on a transparent or white ground, add the optional dark-background variant as well: the same logo drawn in a light colour. It takes a minute and it removes the one failure that is hard to spot before it happens, which is a logo quietly disappearing into the background behind it.
-
Read the preview, then export one report
Check the preview for what only shows up at size: a name that wraps awkwardly, a logo that dwarfs the text beside it, a typo in a contact line. Then produce a real report and read it end to end. Press ⇧⌘P for the PDF or ⇧⌘E for the HTML file, and look past the cover to the pages behind it.
What each field is for
Every field in the designer is optional, and a header of four well-chosen lines reads better than one of nine. Here is what each field carries and who it is for.
| Field | What to put in it | Why it earns its place |
|---|---|---|
| Business name | The name on your letterhead, legal suffix included | Names the author of the assessment. Never leave it empty. |
| Tagline | A department, a practice area, or nothing | Useful when several teams issue their own reports. |
| Address | The postal address you would use on an invoice | Expected on anything that leaves the business. |
| Phone | A number that reaches someone who can answer | An urgent question should not need a search. |
| A shared address rather than an individual's | Survives staff changes, which reports routinely outlive. | |
| Website | Your public address, without decoration | Lets a recipient confirm who sent the document. |
| Registration or VAT line | Company number, VAT number or equivalent | Often a statutory requirement on documents issued externally. |
| Logo | PNG, JPEG, PDF or SVG | Recognition at a glance, on the cover and every page behind it. |
| Dark-background variant | The same mark drawn in a light colour | Keeps the mark visible on a dark ground. |
Choosing a logo file
Four formats are accepted, and the choice between them matters more in print than on screen. A mark that looks crisp at a hundred pixels across turns soft when the same file has to fill a report cover, so start from the best original you can find rather than the most convenient one.
| Format | Best for | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| SVG | Any logo you have as a drawing | Stays sharp at any size. The first choice where you have one. |
| Logos supplied by a brand agency | Usually the same drawing, and equally sharp in print. | |
| PNG | Marks that exist only as an image | Supports transparency, so the mark sits on the page rather than in a white box. |
| JPEG | Photographic marks and crests | No transparency, so it carries its own background colour. |
The dark-background variant
Most logos are drawn for a light page and stop working the moment the ground behind them is dark. The variant exists so you are not left with one compromise for every situation: supply the light version once, and the report has something to reach for. If your mark is already light, or carries its own solid background, leave the variant empty.
Giving the mark room
Logos often arrive with clear space designed into the file itself. That is right for a poster and wrong for a header, where the space is already tight. If the preview shows your mark floating with a gulf around it, supply the version of the mark with that space trimmed away. Wide, short marks sit best in a header; a tall crest fights for room with the text beside it.
Where your branding turns up
Branding is set once and reused, so it helps to know which part of a report it reaches. The header and footer are yours. The cover also carries three fields belonging to the individual report, set in Reports before you export: the report title, the organisation, and who prepared it. Those change from one report to the next; your identity does not.
| Output | Shortcut | How it carries your branding |
|---|---|---|
| ⇧⌘P | A branded cover, then a running header and footer on every page. | |
| HTML | ⇧⌘E | One self-contained file, with nothing loaded from the internet. |
| ⌘P | Exactly the PDF, so what you proofed is what comes out. | |
| Excel | — | A live workbook of seven sheets that re-scores itself as you edit. |
All four outputs come from the same snapshot of the register, so the numbers in them always agree. That matters more than it sounds: a printed pack and an emailed file that disagree by one risk will cost you the meeting. Because print is the PDF, proofing the PDF once covers both.
Your logo and a client's logo
Work done for someone else needs two identities on the page, and RiskOS keeps them apart rather than making you swap one for the other. The header and footer designer holds yours. A profile holds the client's: its own client name and client logo, alongside that client's methodology, risk appetite and report defaults.
Switch to a client's profile and RiskOS dresses itself for that engagement. Exports then carry the client's prepared for name and logo while your own identity stays primary, which is the arrangement a consultant wants: the assessment is plainly yours, and plainly about them. Switching takes a keystroke, ⌃⌘P cycles between profiles, and there is a switcher in the sidebar footer.
Troubleshooting
My logo looks soft or blurry when printed
The file is smaller than the page needs. A logo lifted from a web page is often a couple of hundred pixels across, which is ample on screen and thin on A4. Ask whoever holds your brand assets for the SVG or the PDF; both stay sharp at any size. Where only an image exists, use the largest PNG you can find rather than an enlarged copy of a small one.
The logo vanishes against a dark background
That is what the dark-background variant is for. Open the header and footer designer and add a second version of the mark drawn in a light colour. The preview is the place to confirm it, because a logo that has disappeared looks identical to one you forgot to add.
The header shows a name I did not expect
Check which profile is active. A profile carries its own client name and client logo, so a report produced while a client's profile is selected will name that client as the party it was prepared for. Your own identity from the designer stays primary either way. The switcher in the sidebar footer tells you where you are, and Profiles lists them all.
My mark crowds the text beside it
Two causes, both in the file. Either the mark is tall rather than wide, leaving it to compete for a header's limited height, or it carries a band of clear space meant for a poster. Ask whoever holds your brand assets for a version cropped tight to the mark, and for a horizontal one where your brand has both, then judge the result in the preview rather than at thumbnail size.
The details are right, but they are on the wrong report
The header and footer are your organisation's, and they do not change from report to report. The fields that do are the cover fields in Reports: report title, organisation and prepared by. If a report is going out under the wrong title or attributed to the wrong person, correct it there and export again.
Habits that keep a report looking right
Branding is a ten-minute job you do once and then rely on for years, which is why the small disciplines around it are worth naming.
- Proof at full size. Export one PDF and read it at page width. Problems with a header show themselves at the size a reader will see it.
- Keep the best original. Store the SVG or PDF of your logo somewhere durable, such as Documents ▸ RiskOS, so the next person to set up branding in RiskOS does not start from a screenshot.
- Add the dark variant the same day. It costs a minute while the files are open, and removes a failure you cannot see coming.
- Use a shared email address. Reports outlive roles. One from two years ago should still reach someone who can answer for it.
- Check the footer, not only the cover. The cover gets everyone's attention. The running footer on page fourteen is the one that carries a stale phone number for months.
- Re-proof after a rebrand. When the mark changes, replace both versions and export one report before the next pack goes out.
- Give each client a profile. One switch sets the client name, the client logo, the methodology and the appetite together, rather than four edits made from memory.
Frequently asked questions
How do I add my company logo to a risk report on Mac?
Choose Reports in the sidebar and open Set Up Branding. That opens the header and footer designer, where you add your business name, contact details and the logo file itself. A live preview beside the fields shows the real header and footer, so you can confirm the result before exporting anything.
What image formats can I use for a report logo?
PNG, JPEG, PDF and SVG. SVG and PDF are the better choices for print because they stay sharp at any size, and PNG is the one to use when your mark exists only as an image and needs a transparent background. JPEG works, but it carries its own background colour rather than sitting cleanly on the page.
Why does my logo disappear on a dark background?
Because most logos are drawn as dark ink for a light page. RiskOS accepts an optional second version of the mark for dark backgrounds, drawn in a light colour, so there is always one that reads. Add it in the header and footer designer and check the preview, since a vanished logo looks the same as a missing one.
Does the logo appear on every page of the PDF?
The PDF is paginated A4 with a branded cover and a running header and footer on every page, so your identity travels with the document rather than sitting only on the front. Table headers repeat across pages and rows never split across a page break, which keeps the pages behind the cover as readable as the cover itself.
Will my branding show in the HTML export as well?
Yes. The HTML export is one self-contained file that opens in any browser, with no scripts and nothing loaded from the internet, and it is produced from the same snapshot as the PDF. Because everything it needs is inside the single file, it looks the same on a machine that has never seen your logo.
Can I put a client's logo on a risk report instead of mine?
Both appear, which is usually what you want. A profile carries a client name and client logo, and exports made under that profile carry the client as the party the report was prepared for while your own identity stays primary. Switching profiles takes a keystroke, so one register can serve several clients without re-editing your branding.
What should go in the footer of a risk report?
Enough for a reader to act on the document without hunting: the business name, a postal address, a phone number, an email address that will still be answered next year, a website, and a company registration or VAT line if you are obliged to carry one. Leave out anything a recipient would never use.
Does my logo get uploaded anywhere?
No. There is no account, no sign-in and no servers. Your logo, your business details and your register stay on your Mac, and they leave it only in the report files you export or print yourself. The only network use is Apple's App Store, for purchases, and it never sees your register.