Format Lost on Export to Word 1

[golyg]

Hi all,
I am having a problem with my report when I attempt to export it to a word doc format.
I have gone to the CR knowledge base for some help but the problem that is similar to mine is for a different version and pertains to a .dll that I am not using.
here is a summary:
I am using CR7.0 and when I export it to the word doc .doc format and view it in word there are numerous amount of formatting that is inserted, like random underlines and carriage returns that are not in the original document.
any suggestions?
Thanks,

 

[bobpv]

I don't have an answer, but have had the same problem in the past. The reply I got was that Crystal and Word don't play "nice" together. I never did find a way around it, so I started doing all my exports to .pdf files.

I would like to know if someone else has a solution.

 

[Madawc]

As BobPV says, everyone has problems, and it's very rare for a report to export to Word without being messed up. And pdf/Acrobat with its free document-reader is a good alternative.

Exports to Excel also work much better than Word, though with some problems, look the topic up on Keywords if you run into problems Madawc Williams
East Anglia
Great Britain

 

[golyg]

When I attempt to export I don't see any option to export to a .pdf type?
any suggestion?

 

[Madawc]

Look for Acrobat Format (PDF). Otherwise it may be the dll files, but I can't advise further about those. Madawc Williams
East Anglia
Great Britain

 

[golyg]

Thanks for the info.
we have CR7.0 and you can't export to pdf, atleast with the .dll we are using.
Here is the exact problem.
we have a report, on this report there are 9 different fields that are being populated with data from a database.
8 are fine, everything looks goooood when being exported.
this one field, when exported it sometimes inserts a carriage return after the first letter and only after the first letter. sometimes it doesn't. I've checked the data in the db and there is no carriage return.
its strange to me.
I've been working on this app for about 6 months now, doing some maintenance, etc. Whenever I get change requests pertaining to the crystal report aspect of this app, it seems that we are spending so much time tweeking the reports, and I mean tweeking the font, etc its crazy.

thanks again,

 

[golyg]

Thanks for the info.
we have CR7.0 and you can't export to pdf, atleast with the .dll we are using.
Here is the exact problem.
we have a report, on this report there are 9 different fields that are being populated with data from a database.
8 are fine, everything looks goooood when being exported.
this one field, when exported it sometimes inserts a carriage return after the first letter and only after the first letter. sometimes it doesn't. I've checked the data in the db and there is no carriage return.
its strange to me.
I've been working on this app for about 6 months now, doing some maintenance, etc. Whenever I get change requests pertaining to the crystal report aspect of this app, it seems that we are spending so much time tweeking the reports, and I mean tweeking the font, etc its crazy.

thanks again,

 

[Naith]

Madawc,
I find Excel exports the most dubious of all! I actually design Excel only versions of most of my reports, just to skirt the way that Excel eats up my format.

Golyg,
If you want to maintain format for a PC without a Crystal viewer, export to RTF on v7. Rich Text Format replicates in a similar way to Adobe Acrobat, but is activated from MS Word.

Naith

 

[Madawc]

Naith

I've found Excel mostly OK, especially if you select the detail line as the basis for export.

With more complex reports, it is sometimes necessary to put a dummy item in empty spaces, because the Excel export loves to 'helpfully' eliminate space it thinks you are wasting Madawc Williams
East Anglia
Great Britain

 

[tmpark]

I'm in a similar position as you, golyg. I've only worked with Crystal for about a year but exporting to .doc is driving me crazy. I have found .pdf to be the best but everybody wants to be able to cut and paste into a Word doc. .rtf is a fair alternative. We're using 8.5. Does anybody know if 9.5 handles this better? Is there any hope on the horizon?

TMP

 

[Naith]

There isn't a 9.5. You mean 9.0, but you don't have to wait to upgrade in order to fix the problem. You can achieve the export quality you want with 8.5.

You want to check the driver you're using to export to Word. When exporting, it should read "Word (exact) format", not Word 97 or whatever.

The dll which gives you this 'exact' option is crxf_wordw.dll. Do a search on your system for it. If you don't have it, you can download it from

http://support.crystaldecisions.com/downloads,

where it's stored in crxf_wordw.zip.

All the best,

Naith

 

[golyg]

Thanks alot Naith for the download...
The export option I have is "Word for Windows document"
I don't have this dll, does this dll work with 7.0?

Are you saying that Crystal Reports 8.5 has better exporting qualities than 8.0?

thanks again,

 

[golyg]

one other thing...if you know..
I have the option of exporting ot Excel 8.0 (XLS) and
Excel 8.0 (XLS) Extended, what are the differences?

thanks again

 

[Naith]

The dll probably works with 7.0 too. It'll tell you the versions it's compatible with before you install it.

 

[tmpark]

Thanks for the information Naith.

I had seen the dll that Crystal offers and had tried it before but I couldn't tell the difference between the product you get with the Word Exact export and the Rich Text. Seems that by installing the Word Exact dll all it does is export to Word format with the frames just as it does with the rtf. What I'm really looking for is for Crystal to come up with an export that actually creates a Word doc without all of the restrictive fields or format boxes.
Thanks for your help and let me know if you have any other ideas.

Trent