We recommend that you preview all the Formats that are used in a report in the Format Editor window before previewing the full report. This is because Formats previewed on their own display faster and, you are able to easily switch between the Design view and Preview view of the Format Editor to correct any errors you find.
Note references, cross–references and references to named ranges that are not within the Format you are previewing do not display when you preview the Format, you only see those that are part of the current Format. When you preview a report all note references, cross–references and references to named ranges are displayed.
When previewing a Format, you can check that the following are working as expected:
References to Database Map fields are returning the expected data. Be aware that the field needs to be populated for each client against whom you are running a report. If the field is not populated, there is nothing in the preview to alert you to this fact.
References to account information — including Balance Period and Balance Type.
Print conditions for the inclusion of a row.
Formulas are returning the expected values, e.g., totals.
Repeating rows are working correctly.
Text formatting is as you would like — font colour, size and weight.
Any borders or patterns applied are displaying as expected.
Row height and column width.
Whether the correct Format has been applied to the cell, e.g., Date/Time, Percentage, etc.
Whether the text alignment is correct for all cells.
Styles.
When you are previewing a Practice level Format and Report Designer is opened at the Practice level, you are only able to access Practice level Database Map data. If you want to check that any database references you have created in order to reference client data are working correctly, you need to open Report Designer from a client ledger and then preview the Format.
When in the Preview mode use the toolbar buttons at the top of the window to print, zoom in and out of the view, and use the arrow buttons to move between pages or jump to the first or last page. The Design button takes you back to the Design view.
To preview a format from within the Report Designer on the Formats tab)
You can preview more than one Format at a time by opening up the Format Editor window for the Formats you want to preview. The Format displayed on screen shows what you will see when the Format is printed, including all bolding, borders and colours used.
Select the Format you want to preview from the tree list in the Explorer pane.
Click the Preview button on the Format Editor window toolbar. The Format Editor window changes to the Preview view, displaying the selected Format.
A progress bar appears at the bottom of the Format Editor to show how the loading of the preview is progressing
To move between pages in the Preview, use the arrows on the toolbar or type a page number in .
To return to the Design view, click the Design button on the toolbar.
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