How To Export A Report

This topic gives you steps to export a report from your database. You may want to export a report for several reasons:

* If you have an issue with a report, Collect! Tech Support can usually resolve it most quickly when you send us the report.

* We can customize an existing report for you.

* You may want to share a report with another Collect! user.

To get the report out of Collect!, we export it and give the report a name. (e.g. myreport) Collect! saves it as an ASCII text file and gives it a *.rpt extension.

Make sure you know exactly which report you want to export. Also, have a name ready to give to your exported report file and know where on your computer you want to save it. Saving to your Desktop is convenient.

Let's proceed, now, with the steps below to export your report from Collect!.

1. Sign into Collect! as you would normally and select Print from the top menu bar.


Print Menu

2. Then select Customize Printing, Export Report Template. This displays the Report Definition list where you see all the reports and letters in your working database.


Report Definition form

3. Use the up/down arrow keys on your keyboard to highlight the report you want to export. Press Enter or select the OK button at the bottom of the list. The Export Collect! Report dialog pops up.


Export Collect! Report Dialog

4. Use this window to navigate to the folder where you want to save the exported report. If you know the location, you can type this into the Filename: box. Or, you may use the down arrow next to the Save In: box to navigate to the Desktop, or to the folder where you wish to save your *.rpt file. When you are in the folder, type in a name for your exported report in the Filename: box.


Report To Save

5. Select Save to export the report.

6. Now you will be prompted to export Printer Control Codes with your report. Please choose Yes.


Prompt to Export Printer Control Codes

Your report will be exported immediately and a message will show the name of the report you just exported and the location where you saved it.


Report Export Success

Please make note of the location so that you can find the exported report. It is a good idea to write down the filename so that you can locate the report easily.

7. Select OK to close the message window.

If you are going to send this report to Collect! Tech Support, you can attach it to an email. Please refer to your email program's help documentation on attaching a file to an email.

@include files

If the report you are exporting uses an @include file, please also attach this to the email along with the *.rpt file that you send to Collect! Member Services. @include files may be found in the Collect! application's STYLES folder, (e.g. CV11\styles)

Locating the exported report

If you do not know where on your computer the exported report was saved, you may do a search for files and folders using the Windows Search feature to locate your report file. You have to know the exact name of the file or do a search for all *.rpt files.

Please refer to your Windows Help for details. Type in "searching for files and folders" as the keywords for your Help topic and you should see results that help you use the Search feature.

When your report shows up in the search results, select it and right click on it with your mouse. This will display a submenu. Select COPY from the submenu.

Now, move your mouse to a spot on your Desktop. Right click again and select PASTE.

A copy of the report file is now on your Desktop. This is a convenient location to use to easily find the *.rpt file if you want to attach it to an email.

Viewing a report outside of Collect!

If you need to open an *.rpt file, please open with a text editor that will not change the format. If you open with a word processor, MAKE SURE you save it as a text file and not in the word processor's default format as this will make the file unusable by Collect!.

Please be aware that exported reports DO retain any additional settings contained in the report definition's Report Options.

You can also copy reports from one database to another in Collect!. Please refer to Help topic, How To Copy Reports To Master Database for details.

See Also

- How To Import A Report
- How To Export a Group of Reports
- How to Get Help with Reports

- Report Sample to view sample reports and letters
- Report Topics Index for a list of all report and letter topics