Troubleshooting Report Designer

If when viewing or printing a listing in a custom report format you notice overlapping text, it may be because you positioned an item on top of another. Open the report in Report Designer and check the items in the vicinity of the problem. Move values or images to ensure that another item is not underneath it. If you find an item beneath, move or delete it.

Hint: You can select each item in turn, bringing hidden items to the foreground, by clicking the Select Next tool repeatedly.

If you are working with the Report Designer and "lose" the window, it may be minimized. Check the Windows task bar (at the bottom of the screen), for the Report Designer icon. Click the icon to open Report Designer.

If you attempt to open Report Designer at the Report menu page and receive a message asking you if you're sure you want to navigate away from this page, this indicates that Report Designer is already open (and minimized) from a previous work session and that changes have not been saved.

• To return to the previously-open Report Designer window, click Cancel to close the message, and then click the Report Designer icon on the Windows task bar (at the bottom of the screen).
• To abandon the previously-open design without saving the changes, click OK, and then click the Report Designer icon on the Windows task bar to restore Report Designer.

If you attempt to open Report Designer at the Report menu page but nothing happens, this may indicate that Report Designer is already open and either minimized or hidden behind another open window. Click the Report Designer icon on the Windows task bar to restore Report Designer.

The Font drop-down list may include fonts that are not installed on your PC. If you select a font that does not appear as you expect it to, this is because the browser has substituted an available font. Select a font that you are certain is installed on your system.

Similarly, if a font you select for a custom report is not installed on another user's computer, and that user attempts to view or print a listing using your custom report, an available font will be substituted.

NOTE: Because Report Designer is a browser application its font list is preset. (The system cannot access information about the fonts installed on your own computer, as Windows applications do.)

If, when you select a group of items and then align them with the toolbar alignment buttons, you find that an item overlaps another or disappears altogether, this may be because you have selected an item that should be aligned separately from this group; or because you chose the wrong alignment tool. Click Undo to undo your action.

When aligning multiple items, select only items that that you want arranged in a row or column:

• A column of items to be left- or right-aligned
• A column of items to be centred
• A row of items to be top- or bottom-aligned

While creating your report, there may be a period when you are not entering any information via your keyboard or mouse. After a period of inactivity, your browser will "time out". To avoid the possibility of losing work due to an inactivity time out, save your report periodically when creating it.

If you position an item to a precise location that you want, but it shifts from that position when you click to set it, turn Snap Items to Grid off. Although a valuable tool when designing a report, this feature may interfere with precise positioning. You can turn Snap Items to Grid on and off at any time. Turning this option off does not change the position of items previously set.