You cannot open a report in Print Preview view or to print in Access 2002

When Microsoft Access attempts open a report, it will automatically switch to Design view if an existing Print Preview view of the same report is not first closed. The report will switch views both in MDB and MDE files.

Currently, there are only two known ways to work around this problem:

• Use code to check the status of the report.
• Use Access security to remove the Read Design permission.

Method One: Use Code to Check the Status of the Report

You can use the AllReports collection to check the status of the report. If the report is currently open in Print Preview view, you can issue a command to close the report and then issue a command to open it for printing. To see an example of how to do this, follow these steps:

1. Create a module, and then type the following line in the Declarations section if it is not already there:

   Option Explicit
   						

2. Type the following procedure:

   Public Sub PrintReport(strReportName As String)
       Dim accobj As AccessObject
   
       'This function closes the open report and then re-opens it.
   
       Set accobj = application.CurrentProject.AllReports.Item(strReportName)
   
       If accobj.IsLoaded Then
          If accobj.CurrentView = acCurViewPreview Then
             DoCmd.Close acReport, strReportName
             DoCmd.OpenReport strReportName, acViewNormal
          End If
       Else
          DoCmd.OpenReport strReportName, acViewNormal
       End If
   
   End Sub
   						

3. To test this procedure:
   1. Switch back to the Database window and then open your report in Print Preview. Switch back to the Visual Basic Editor.
   2. In the Immediate window, type the following, and then press ENTER:

   PrintReport "ReportNameHere"
   						

   Notice that if your report is closed, you can reopen it and Access will not switch to Design view.

Method Two: Use Access Security to Remove the Read Design Permission

Users who cannot access Design view will not see this problem. Therefore, you can prevent this problem by using Microsoft Access security to remove a user's Read Design permission. This will restrict a user's access to Design view.

For additional information about how to secure a database in Microsoft Access, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Steps to Reproduce the Behavior

1. Open the sample database Northwind.mdb, and then create a new form.
2. Add a command button to the form, and then set the OnClick property to the following event procedure:

   DoCmd.OpenReport "Catalog", acViewNormal
   						

3. Close and save the form as TestForm.
4. In the Database window, double-click the Catalog report. Do not close it.
5. In the Database window, open your TestForm form, and then click your command button.

Notice that the Catalog report switches to Design view.

For more information about the AllReports collection, in the Visual Basic Editor, click Microsoft Visual Basic Help on the Help menu, type AllReports in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

For more information about Access security, click Microsoft Access Help on the Help menu, type Secure an Access database and its objects with user-level security in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.