Access Subreport Shows In Print Preview But Doesn't Print/Export

Question

I can't figure out what is going on with my report in Access 2010. When I run it, all the queries and recordsources are generated and the report shows up, perfectly full of data and formatted in print preview. If I try and print a hard copy or export to PDF, the subreports don't print. I have done compact and repair, closed and opened, and check everything I know, but it's not working. The only thing that I can think of is that the subreports are based on temp tables I generate and set within VBA after I pull all the parameters I need. But I don't see why this would cause it to preview but not print? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Answer 1

Here's the solution I found... when I moved the table creation code to the button that prompted the report rather than having it use the openargs in the open event of the subreport, it worked. Don't know why exactly it liked it one place better than the other, but I'm glad that it works now!

Answer 2

After many hours in research and experimentation the only solution was a third party print function: http://www.lebans.com/reporttopdf.htm. Leben’s function always produces a printable PDF with visible subreports.

No modification of the report’s properties was of any value, though this is suggested by various posts; it failed to work for me. Similarly, compact and repair failed to help, as did the creation of a wholly new MDB file and importing all the forms/tables/queries. I ran the MDB in Access 2003 and in Access 2010 on another machine and had the same failure.

This points of course to the issue being embedded within Access. Research shows this has been an issue plaguing Access for many years; in its inimitable lack of care for users getting work done Microsoft has failed to even comment on this, much less fix it.

Answer 3

I had a similar issue and thought that I should post my fix in case someone else runs into the same problem.

I had a report with two subreports on it. From a form, I would select from several combo boxes and then hit the button to run the report. When the report opened (in preview and in report-view) it looked fine, and the subreports worked fine. However, when I tried to print or save, the subreports would not show up.

My solution was in my queries and in the form. The report's source queries were pulling criteria from the combo boxes on the form. Once the report was run, the combo boxes would clear, thus clearing the criteria for the queries. After the report is run, the report looks at the queries again when you try to print/save.

If you have a similar setup, I would suggest checking your source queries again after the report is run to see if you are still getting results. You should see the same data in your queries and in your report. If not, there's where to start looking. Hope this helps anyone else struggling with the same issue.