Re-sorting Word doc, after exporting from Crystal Reports

[seanprichard]

Hi-

I really need some help on this...

I export a Crystal Report to MS Word. I then re-sort the Word document by dragging each text frame to the appropriate place. It looks right on the screen. It prints right. But when I export it to text, or even copy and paste it into another application, it reverts back to the original order (ignoring the changes I made).

Does anyone know why this is happening, and how I can make it stop? Does Crystal embed links in the Word Doc that makes it keep a certain order?

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.

Specs –I’m using Crystal 9 and Word 2000 9.0 SP-3, Windows 2000 OS
The Crystal report is pulling from a SQL database.

 

[VE]

Why are you trying to sort it on the word document, and not the crystal report?

In my experience, Crystal (at least 7 & 8.5) does not export to Word well at all. I always use either .rtf or .pdf when I need to export a report for someone who can't (or won't) open an .rpt

 

[seanprichard]

The report is basically a long list on names, sorted alpha by last name. The problem is, if a last name has a space or a ' in it like MAC DONALED or L'Donnavon, those names don't sort correctly in Crystal. For example, L'Donnavon would be with 'LA' instead of with 'LD'. Those are the names I am sorting manually in Word. If you know of a way to sort those names in Crystal, that would be good to.

 

[VE]

I think most programs will sort that way, I think it has to do with the ASCII value of the spaces and punctuation. Are you sure you want it sorted that way?

You could either write a formula in Crystal to ignore the punctuation and spaces and sort by that formula, or export to Excel instead of Word and hand sort it in Excel.

There is a trick to writing a CR for exporting to Excel- to make the columns line up correctly you need to use the guidelines in the the designer (click on the ruler at the top). Both sides of each field need to be attached to a guidline so that you see the little red spot.