Report produced in Acrobat format

[uk_martin]

Never sure if this kind of query should be in Reports or Inport/Export. Mods, feel free to move this thread if neccessary.

I have a situation where I would like a formatted report that I have created, called "Payment Letter PDF" to both save to a defined path AND open up in Acrobat Reader, so that I can have the opportunity to print it as saved.

I have a button (called "cmdCreatePDF") in a toolbar on my main form. Currently it is coded with the following Event Procedure, which hopefully produces a report of a single record only...

Private Sub cmdCreatePDF_Click()

Dim strReportName As String
Dim strcriteria As String

strReportName = "Payment Letter PDF"
strcriteria = "[SUBJECT (ROAD)]='" & Me![SUBJECT (ROAD)] & "'"


DoCmd.OpenReport strReportName, acViewPreview, , strcriteria

End Sub

(I hope that it's correct)

Put into action, the button does indeed create a single report page, although clicking on the "forward" button seems to replicate it. Anyway, what I would really like, is for this report to be produced, not in Access as such, but in PDF format BOTH as a saved document written to a defined path, and with the file name along the lines of "FROM - Todays date.pdf" and also to open up in Adobe Reader so that I can print it if needed.

I use Access 2000, and Acrobat 9, but as it's a company computer, I cannot install any other third party system files or software.

Is there a simple copy & paste (or replace) addition to the above code that I can use to enable the PDF creation, saving and displaying? I've seen some "solutions" on line, but for one reason or another, they all seem project specific with references to form fields and other terminology that may mean things to others, but not to me. Something a little more idiot-proof may be needed in my case, with simple instructions of what to insert where as and where neccessary if possible.

Thanks in advance.

Martin

[pbaldy]

Access didn't have built-in PDF capability until v2007. I used this previously:

http://www.lebans.com/reporttopdf.htm

and if memory serves the two dll files can be in the same folder as your db rather than in the system folders. You can also print to a pdf driver to create a file, but I've never used that method.

[uk_martin]

Thanks for the reply. I've seen the "lebans" solution before, but because it needs the DLL files installing, it's not going to be allowed here. I assume as well, that they would need to be copied into every PC that wants to run this PDF writing capability. When you say that it can print to a PDF Driver, does that mean it can link to Acrobat 9 in some way? If so, that would need to be the way forward that I would need to explore.

Costly as it seems, where I work I'd stand a better chance of asking for an upgrade to Access 2007 or Access 2010 if I have a valid business case to do so, than I would have to get those two DLL's installed...crazy but true

[pbaldy]

No, I meant things like this:

http://www.cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/writer.asp

Which I've heard about but never used.

[uk_martin]

The problem with CuteFTP is that it is still software that I can't install on my company PC. I have Access2000 and Acrobat 9, and that's what I'm stuck with, software wise.

[uk_martin]

Thinking laterally, how about getting to the PDF format by exporting to Word first, where I get the option to print, and then the option to convert to PDF thanks to Word's integration with Adobe Acrobat?

If that is viable, which would be the better, exporting a single-item, formatted Access Report to Word, OR, exporting the data from the Access record to a one-page "mail-merge" with a Word template?