Printing & Reports Tips & Tricks
Editing in Print Preview
An exciting new aspect of Print Preview is the ability to edit
the compiled letters directly in the Print Preview. This will come
in handy when one form letter needs to be tweaked slightly from
the standard format. To edit previewed letters, simply click in
the text where you wish to edit, and add, edit, or delete as necessary.
Upgrade Note: The new form letter program will
convert all of your old form letters automatically, however, some
formatting from the old program (such as space-based alignment)
may not translate perfectly. We recommend that you check each form
letter prior to printing the first time to make sure all formatting
is correct.
The zoom feature allows you to zoom in or out of
the previewed form letter. Click the down arrow next to the 100%
box to zoom in or out on the previewed letters. Click the save button
to save the previewed letter to a PDF file, MS Word Format, TXT
file, or HTML format.
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New Reporting Engine in version 3.2.1
The new reporting engine in version 3.2.1 adds a number of new
printing options, including the ability to export report files to
MS Word, HTML, and CSV formats among others.
However, for clients who do like the new options, and do not like
the look of the new reports, which often use a smaller font in order
to fit everything on the page. Our programmers are hard at work
changing the new reports again to allow for variable font sizes.
Unfortunately, this change is rather large, and may not be rolled
out for all reports until mid 2006.
In the meantime, we have added a feature called 'Classic
Reports' to the printing menu, which allows you to select
the old report mode if you wish to print your reports a la version
3.1.
• If 'Use Classic Report Mode' is checked,
the system will produce reports in the Classic version 3.1 format.
The options to 'Print to Email' or to the 'Community Web Site' will
be grayed out.
• If 'Use Classic Report Mode' is unchecked,
your reports will continue to print in the standard report format
of TOPS v3.2.1™, and you will be able to print to Email
and to your Community Web Site(s).
'Use Classic Report Mode' will be checked by default when TOPS v3.2.1™ is first run. The TOPS system will save the last selected
setting to your server as the default for the next time you run
TOPS.
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Export a Report to File
If you do choose to use the new reporting engine, here are some
of the features that you will find to your liking:
To export a report to file, choose Print to File. The default format
for exported files is PDF or, click the down arrow
next to 'Save as Type' to save the report files in one of several
different formats including: PDF Document (.pdf), HTML File (.htm),
Word for Windows (.doc), Rich Text Format (.rtf), ANSI Text (.txt),
or Comma Delimited File (.csv).
Exported report files are saved by default in the TOPS2000\CommunityID\REPORT_PDF
folder, although you can change this location to the folder of your
choosing.
Choosing the .csv option when exporting will allow you to open your
reports in Microsoft® Excel®.
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Send a Report in PDF Format via Email
To send a report in PDF format to an Email address, select Print
To Email. A new window will appear asking for an email address to
which to send the report. You may enter a single email address directly
to send the report to one person. The email sends using your default
Windows mail client so, for example, if you use Outlook to manage
your mail, the message will send from Outlook, and will appear in
your sent items folder as if you had generated the email inside
Outlook.
If you prefer to email your report to a group of individuals, you
can set up a group in TOPS v3.2.1™. To do so, select the email
option and click print, and when the email window pops up, click
the Address Book button to the right of the Email Address field.
Click the Add button and enter the name of your new group (i.e.
Board Members), and click Save List.
Next, click on the name on the new group, (it must be selected to
add members to the group) and then click Add Email and enter the
email addresses of each individual in the group. Finally, click
OK, and send, and the attachment will be sent to each email address
in the list. And, because you have now created the group list, you
can send reports to the entire group at any time by simply selecting
the group name from the address book.
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Activating Report Export Options for Optional
Modules
Did you know that TOPS’ optional modules (CC&R, Gate
Security, Payroll, Pool Pass and Work Order) have a built-in way
to export reports to many popular file formats (such as .DOC and
.XLS), as well as email? Here’s how:
To Install the Crystal Reports Export Functionality
- Close TOPS and Insert the TOPS v3.2.1™ CD into your
CD-ROM drive. If the Autorun comes up, select Exit to Windows.
- On your desktop, double click My Computer, and right click on
the CD-ROM drive letter (usually D) and select “Explore”
- Double click to open the “Tools” folder, double
click to open the “Crystal Package” folder, and then
double click on the “Setup.exe” program.
- Click OK. Leave the destination at the default and click the
Computer button at the top left to begin the installation.
- The program will install, and then display a message letting
you know the installation was successfully completed. Click OK.
To Export your reports
- Open TOPS, and generate a report from any of the following modules:
CC&R, Gate Security, Payroll, Pool Pass or Work Order. (Make
sure the Show Print Preview checkbox is turned on.)
- When the report is displayed on the screen, click on the Export
button. (It looks like an envelope with a red down arrow.)
- You may receive an error message if you do not use Microsoft
Outlook as your default mail client. Go ahead and click OK
on the message. You may still be able to send emails using
the export feature, even if you received this message. The
only way to know for sure is to send a test report to yourself.
- In the “Format” pull-down, select the format you
want the exported report to be in. Common formats include Word
for Windows (DOC), Rich Text Format (RTF), Excel 8.0 (XLS), and
Comma Separated Values (CSV).
- In the “Destination” pull-down, select what you
want to do with the exported file:
- Application will open the exported report
in the default application for the selected file format. For
example, a Word for Windows format will open the report in
Microsoft Word.
- Disk File will allow you to browse to select
a location on your computer to save the file.
- Microsoft Mail (MAPI) will allow you to
create an email to which the exported file will be attached.
This is geared to Microsoft Outlook email, but has also been
proven to work with Outlook Express, and other mail programs
that use the MAPI protocol.
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