Operation Manual
Formatting
Using the Report Design Environment
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252 Crystal Reports User’s Guide
Selecting multiple objects
You can select multiple objects, including text, field, chart, map, bitmap,
OLAP grid, Cross-Tab and OLE objects, to format them together.
Once you have selected multiple objects, you can move, align, size, cut, and
copy and paste them as a group. You can also change their font, color, and
paragraph style.
Objects are moved, aligned, and sized based on a “main” object, which is
usually the last object you select. You can change the main object to another
by right-clicking the desired object.
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To select multiple objects
1. Click one object, and Ctrl+click the other objects you want to select.
Note: You can also lasso a number of objects by left-clicking and
dragging your cursor over an area.
2. Right-click the main object.
3. On the short-cut menu, select the appropriate formatting option.
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To select all objects in a section
1. On either the Design or Preview tab, right-click the gray area to the left of
the section you want to work with.
2. From the shortcut menu, select Select All Sections Objects.
All report objects in that section are selected.
Free-form placement
You may also want to use Crystal Reports without a grid, in a free-form
environment similar to that of a drawing program. Free-form means that you
can place objects anywhere you want them to appear on your report. Your
only restriction is that the program does not allow you to place chart and
Cross-Tab objects on the Page Header, Page Footer, or Details section.
To work in a free-form environment, select the Free-Form Placement option
on the Layout tab in the Options dialog box.
Free-form placement on
In order to create dynamic reports and reduce printer driver dependency as
much as possible, it is recommended that all sections of the report be
formatted with the Free-Form Placement option turned on. This is especially
true if your report includes OLE objects such as charts, boxes, lines, and
bitmapped images (e.g. company logos).