Hold it.... Don't you dare print that report!!

One of the nicest enhancements available to you with the new user interface is called the Report Browser. If you are unfamiliar with this, let me encourage you to use it as often as you possibly can. Of course, you must be running the new User Interface; if you have not upgraded yet, click here for instructions.

We should all know how to generate a report in Colleague, but let's utilize the Report Browser to view the report instead of printing it. If you want to print it after viewing, that is easily done.

I'm going to use the always popular GLSA report as my example. I am making the assumption that you know how to run this application already. One of the final screens that you encounter is used to identify the Output Device.

We have changed the system so that the report, by default, will be held for browsing. It is no longer necessary to specify a printer name, so let's continue by pressing the F9 key.

No changes are necessary on the next screen, so press F9 again.

Soon, you will see a screen, such as the one below, that identifies the number of records that were included based upon your selection criteria. When you depress the Return key, things start happening. (Be patient - it may take a few seconds.)

We now have a very readable version of the first page of the report. You can navigate through the report using the arrow icons at the top of the window.

- Page up - Page down

If you have gathered the information that you need without printing the report, you can close this window by clicking on the open door icon in the upper left-hand corner of the window. But let's assume that you wish to print this report.

In the past, reports could only be directed to printers that were defined to the Colleague system; printers with easy-to-remember names like CSD-LAND66LP16. With the Report Browser, you now have the option to direct the report to any printer that is defined to your PC - exactly like other Windows applications would. Let's do this by clicking on the icon for Local Printer, which looks like this:

In a few moments, the following screen will appear. Recognize that your Windows default printer will appear on your screen, rather than mine.

I would strongly suggest that you click on the box identified with the description of "Use Font"; if you don't the printed report may look strange. Additionally, you might want to change the Orientation of the report to Landscape. After these changes, the screen would look like this:

When you click on the OK button, the report will be sent to the printer specified. You then can close the Report Browser window as well.