Customise reports

Find this screen

Open: Tools > Run Sage Report Designer.

Watch a video

How to

Open the report in Report Designer

You need to our special reports tool to make changes to the reports produced from Sage 200. You can open the tool from Sage 200 ( Tools > Run Sage Report Designer) or click Edit on the preview of any report.

To find the report, go to File Explorer section. The default reports are all stored under the Defaults folder by type of report and module such as nominal, purchases etc:

Add a logo or image to a report

The quickest way to do this is to use the dynamic help - View > Dynamic Help.

Select Add an image or logo.
Click Browse to find your image file
Choose Do not stretch image on resize to keep the same dimensions.
Choose Print of first page only - to only add the logo to the first page.
Choose where to add the image on the report.

Each report is divided into sections. You can add the image to any section and the image will appear every time that section is on the report.
Choose where to place the image within the section using the Vertical and Horizontal Alignment.
Click Add to Report.

Tip: You can move the image around using the mouse or arrow keys.

Watch a video

Add an image in Report Designer (video)

Add text to a report

The quickest way to do this is to use the dynamic help - View > Dynamic Help.

Choose Add text or data field.
Choose Add text..
Enter the required text in the box.
Choose a preset Style or enter your own format.
Click Next
Choose where to add the text on the report.

Each report is divided into sections. You can add the image to any section and the text will appear every time that section is repeated on the report.
Click Add to report.

Watch a video

Add a text box in Report Designer (video)

Save the customised report

When you save a customised report, make sure that you save it a new folder. This is to make sure that the original default report isn't amended or deleted.

If you have more than one companyschool on your site, you can choose whether the amended report should be used for all companiesschools, or just for a specific one.

Useful info

About Report Designer

You use Report Designer to make custom versions of your default reports. Your amended report will replace the default report supplied by us. In Report Designer you can:

Change the text appearance, font and size.
Change margin, borders, columns.
Add or remove data fields.
Add images such as your company logo

For more information, see Reporting videos.

You can use the Custom Report Manager in Sage 200 to upload custom reports or layouts. These reports will appear in the UserDefined folder within Custom > Reports. See Install additional reports with the Custom Report Manager.

Why file names and locations are important

Your reports and document templates are stored in three levels:

Company/Company name: Reports and templates specific to a particular company. You should only use this if you have more than one company for your site.

Note: You'll need to create the company name folder. This must exactly match the name of your company in Sage 200.
Custom: Reports and templates that you have created, and want to use for all companies on your site.
Default: Standard reports and document templates that we have provided with Sage 200.

If you have uploaded a report using the Custom Report Manager, these reports will appear in the UserDefined folder within Custom > Reports.

When you generate a report or document , Sage 200 first looks for a company version, and then a custom version. If it does not find either of these, it uses the default standard version.

For example, when you run the Aged Debtors (Detailed) report, Sage 200 looks for the report in the following locations:

Sage 200 checks the company folder first.

company/<your company name>/reports/sales/Sales Ledger Aged Debtors Report (Detailed).report
If it does not find the report in the company folder, it checks the custom folder.

custom/reports/sales/Sales Ledger Aged Debtors Report (Detailed).report
If it does not find the report in the custom folder, it uses the default report:

default/reports/sales/Sales Ledger Aged Debtors Report (Detailed).report

So when creating a custom document or report template:

Keep your custom file name the same as the default file name.
Save your template to the same folder in the custom area as the default standard template.

For reports, the above information is critical and must be followed. For layouts, you can use a different file name for custom layouts, and select them by using Choose Layouts.

See Use custom layouts.

Fix it

I made my changes but cannot save my report or document

You cannot save changes made directly to a default report. You will notice the Save options are greyed out.

You must use Save As to save your amended report.

I tried to print my report or document but my custom version was not produced

When you run a report Sage 200 looks for that report / layout / letter etc in the company and then the custom folder. If you find that your custom report is not being generated it means that Sage 200 cannot find your new report and has reverted to the default version of the report.

Check:

The file name of your custom report is exactly the same as the name of the default on which it was based.
Your custom report is in the same folder in the company or custom section as the default report.

See Why file names and locations are important.

What happens when

I save a report or document template?

It is available for use but may not yet be generated.

It all depends on whether you used the same name as the standard report or document on which yours is based, and where you saved your custom template.

If you used the same file name and saved your template into the folder with the same name as the original, then your new report will be used.