How to export a Microsoft Access report in PDF format

Microsoft Access is one of the most incredible prototyping tools anyone in software development could ever use, but there are also some very serious downsides as well. I know the software purists will be rolling over in their graves with my comments, but after over 20 years of commercial software development for some of the worlds largest companies I stand by my comments.

Microsoft Access makes it very easy and very cost effective to develop a database application and then lay it on the desktop. A weakness of this application is that it's always been incredibly difficult to export reports from Microsoft Access to another format. Most Microsoft Access developers that I know who build these systems using third-party applications to export reports like Crystal Reports or Microsoft Word. The disadvantage of using Microsoft Word is that you can not export OLE objects, using the merge process, you actually need to use VBA code in Microsoft Word to call the ole object via ADO. Well, this is a technique anyway. Now, with version Adobe Acrobat Writer 7 hours we have a new method more effective.

The exporting of OLE objects has always been a major drawback for Microsoft Access and Microsoft Word, but I was recently working with Adobe Acrobat writer Version 7 and I discovered that this version of the software is now installed in all major Microsoft Office applications. This is a fantastic step forward for Microsoft Access developers as this means you can develop a report exclusively in Microsoft Access and then print the report directly in PDF format, rather than before going to a Microsoft Word document and then convert to a Adobe Acrobat PDF files. The other key advantage is that if you use a data type of OLE object in a report, the Adobe PDF file will accept that data type and display a picture if this is what you are looking for. A lot of my customers wanted to use Microsoft Access to develop reports that include photos and distribute them with Microsoft Word, but so far has been able to be done easily. (Without using extensive VBA Code) Adobe Acrobat 7 allows us to create a pdf file a report with OLE objects and include such as photos etc within the PDF file. This means that organizations wishing to distribute staff files or product descriptions can be created using Microsoft Access. First of all descriptions to create a report and then convert them to PDF format using Adobe Acrobat Writer.

Adobe has provided two ways to generate the PDF report. First you install a drop Down Menu Adobe in the main menu bar of Microsoft Access and from this menu you can choose to create the report in Adobe PDF format. Note: you must open the first report. You can also use this menu function to create the report and then email it directly to a third party. I think this feature alone is worth the $ 700AUD you pay for Adobe Acrobat Writer.

The second method is to open the report and then click the File menu and then click Print. The Print dialog box opens and then you choose Adobe Acrobat Writer as your printer and then click the OK button, which will start Adobe Acrobat and PDF creation.

With this new method to build a PDF file, you can also use Visual Basic for Access to automate the printing process and then send the file via MAPI or CDO. If you're one of those people who like to use the above macros using VBA there is no way that I can find where we can achieve this goal. If you could find someone who could create a form for you that automates this process you could use a macro and then calling the function module in the macro window. All this of course depends on finding the person writing to write that function. I did not do directly, because I used a form with VBA code to automate the creation of PDF and email it via CDO.

One of the questions that make me a lot, especially by people from global organizations that need to write monthly reports, "It would be possible to automate this process and have the same reports via e-mail once a month." The answer to that question is ABSOLUTELY YES! The catch is though would need to leave Microsoft Access open on one machine and then a developer to write code that works like a timer and then once the clock ticks on the computer using the module could simply create the associated reports and e-mail via MAPI. This sounds complicated, after all, but for a competent programmer VBA, there should be no problems in this regard.

When Office 2007 was released in 2007 (hopefully), Microsoft said it will also function to produce PDF files from Microsoft Office 2007, we hope this feature will be included for Microsoft Access 2007, which means that the next version , MACRO developers maybe able to export directly to PDF format and then e-mail direct to customers. If Microsoft does not offer this in their new version, this for me would be the main reason I would recommend all companies upgrade to this new version. Appearance in the hope that this will be the case ....