Report Conversion in Version 9

[Keats]

When I save a Version 9 report in Word or RTF format, PowerChurch does not handle the conversion the same way it did in prior versions. The headers cannot be edited (they do not appear as headers) and page breaks and line breaks can't be edited the way they should be in a Word document. Each column entry appears as a separate object rather than text with tabs. I am using MS Word version 2003.

I tried unchecking the HTML option on Report tab in user setup (under Preferences), but that had no impact on the conversion.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, because I use this feature a lot!

Keats

[NeilZ]

When I save a Version 9 report in Word or RTF format, PowerChurch does not handle the conversion the same way it did in prior versions. The headers cannot be edited (they do not appear as headers) and page breaks and line breaks can't be edited the way they should be in a Word document. Each column entry appears as a separate object rather than text with tabs. I am using MS Word version 2003.

I tried unchecking the HTML option on Report tab in user setup (under Preferences), but that had no impact on the conversion.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, because I use this feature a lot!

Keats

Regarding the headers, do you mean that they are not being setup as a 'header' or 'footer' ?? Thus you can change the one, and they change for all pages ??

[Keats]

Yes. The reports viewed in PowerChurch have headers with titles, column headings, and page numbering that apply to all of the pages of a report. When you save the report in Word format and then open it in Word, the "header" shows up as part of the body of the report--not as a header.

In the past, I have been able to delete line spaces to make a 2-page report come out on a single page, change the header, or edit reports to make them more understandable for our congregation.

Something is definitely different (and wrong) with the conversion process.

[Mike_Larson]

I too have problems with the way Version 9 converts reports to Word. All the embedded formatting makes it almost impossible to modify the report. We used to put out a nice compact church directory in booklet format. Word 2002 took the booklet output from PowerChurch 8.5 and collated it without any problems. I have spent hours trying to do the same thing in Version 9 with no success. The only option I have found is to cut and paste the original.

There are similar problems when you "save as" an Excel file. The data is formatted to look good at the expense of numbers not being in the correct columns. What good is a spreadsheet if the data is not in a workable gird? For that matter, PowerChurch turns off the Excel grid so it is not even obvious that things don’t add up. (Tools; Options; Window options; check Gridlines to turn them back on).

There are some nice new features in Version 9 but why are they there at the expense of the program functions that worked so well in prior versions?

[Keats]

This is the explanation I got from Technical Support:

In PowerChurch Plus Version 9, we are using a newer version of Crystal
Reports to generate the built-in reports. We made this change so that the
built-in reports would more closely match what you see in the program when
they are exported.


Although it was possible in Version 8 and Version 8.5 to save a report in
Word format, some of the formatting was lost. In Version 9, when you save a
built-in report in Word format, the report now includes boxes and lines and
is formatted as it would be if it were printed from within the program. In
addition, we have now included options of saving the built-in reports in PDF
and HTML format. This was only possible by using a newer version of Crystal
Reports.


We understand that this does indeed have an effect on editing the reports
outside the program, but we really do not have any control over this, since
the export is actually performed by Crystal Reports.


I will be glad to forward your message to our Program Development Department
for their review, but it is not likely that they will be able to change
anything within PowerChurch Plus to change this behavior.

[Mike_Larson]

Thank you for the official PowerChurch explanation of why the version 9 reports are so "formatted." However, I see very little point in having the options of exporting a report to Word or Excel, if once there, it can't be easily edited. Why not just provide the PowerChurch reports and not tantalize us with the possibility of creating a custom report.

[NeilZ]

Frankly, I think this was an unintended consequence of having to upgrade to the latest Crystal Reports. I suspect that there wasn't much choice in the matter for the PCPlus developers.

More than likely, Business Objects are no longer supporting older versions, and in order to get the license, they had to move to the latest version.