Changing Default Field Settings in Crystal Reports

When you design your reports in Crystal Reports, Crystal Reports uses the database format for the database fields.  It also uses the database fonts as I discussed in Setting Default Fonts in Crystal Reports. This, again, requires that you format these fields every time you want to use them in you report.

I recommend you take the time upfront to change these default settings in Crystal Report so that you won’t have to change the settings on each new report you create. Here’s how you change the default field settings in Crystal Reports:

From the File Menu, select Options.Choose the Fields tab.For each field category, select the format you would use regularly. (For example; for Numbers you may like the comma format and 2 decimal places.)Currency could be the same as Number, but with the currency symbol: Floating places the symbol directly to the left of the number, e.g.  $456.87.Fixed places the symbol several spaces away from the number, e.g. $       456.87.Date is often in the database as Date and Time, but your organization does not use the time part!  Format it so that Crystal Reports fixes that so it appears the way you want it on your report.  You can include the leading zero (05/05/2010) or not (5/5/2010.)  Pick the preferred format for your organization.Date and Time should be the same as Date, if your organization does not use the Time part.  Otherwise, format according to the preference of your organization.

Keep in mind, Crystal Reports is considered a presentational report designing tool.  While your report should always look professional, it does not mean the report designer needs to spend hours formatting it.  The report designer needs to present the correct data in a professional manner, but with Crystal Reports, that processt does not have to be difficult!

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