Save LIMS Reports to PDF Files

While previewing any LIMS report, you can use File | Output To to save the report to one of several file formats supported by Microsoft Access 2002. If you try the available formats you may find the rich text format useful. However, the snapshot format is the only format in the Output To dialog that preserves the layout and formatting of the original report. But recipients of a snapshot file must download and install either the free Microsoft Snapshot Viewer program from the Microsoft Download Center or the LIMS Report Viewer to view and print snapshot files.

Note that the Excel format in the Output To dialog is much less useful than exporting the report to an Excel template using LIMS’ Excel interface with File | Export to MS Excel Template.

The widely used Portable Document Format (PDF) also preserves the layout and formatting of the original report. A PDF reader, such as Adobe Reader and Foxit Reader, are available as free downloads and are commonly found on most PCs. Although the Output To dialog in LIMS 3.x does not include a PDF option, you can easily create PDF files from your LIMS reports using a PDF print driver.

If your workstation already includes the commercial Adobe Acrobat software you can print your LIMS reports to the Adobe PDF driver to create a PDF file.

If you do not already have a PDF print driver, download and install the free open source PDFCreator. With a PDF print driver such as PDFCreator you can create PDF files from any Windows software that can print including LIMS.

To create a PDF file for any LIMS report simply print the report to the PDFCreator printer. Use PDFCreator’s [Save] button to enter a file name and select the folder where the PDF file will be created. Use PDFCreator’s [Wait] button to create a single PDF file from multiple LIMS reports and any other Windows document. For example, combine your own Word cover letter document followed by one or more LIMS reports into a single PDF file to email to your customers.

With PDFCreator you can also use LIMS Messaging to automatically email PDF final reports created from your own Excel templates. If you aren’t already distributing LIMS reports as PDF files, give PDFCreator or any other PDF print driver a try.