This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
For the past week, Access has been previewing and even downloading rpt files as distorted and misaligned files. No one else in my department has this issue and I've been searching and not finding a solution. I am also unsure if a fix is possible since I use Access as a database with other employees. Basically, if one change is done, then it could backfire to others. The image above shows what is happening and how it looks when downloaded to a PDF.
A family of Microsoft relational database management systems designed for ease of use.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(256, 41%, 34%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ETV%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
I know that. I've been around Access for a while.
The Access reports code uses a Printer Device Context to calculate font sizes and margins, among other things. The default printer is used for that. The wrong or no default printer may cause issues.
I have seen at least one other report of this issue.
Change your Default Printer to another one, and uncheck the box to let Windows manage the default printer.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(89.60000000000001, 51%, 18%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ES%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
A printer is not needed for this since it is emailed. We've never printed our rpts before and don't need to.
When export to PDF you are actually using a PDF writer installed on your PC. When you design a report, it uses the Default printer set in Windows to format the output.
I would experiment with different PDF writers and define that as the default printer for the report and see if that fixes the problem.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(284.8, 62%, 37%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EDH%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Did you try Tom’s suggestion? He didn’t ask you to actually print anything.
A printer is not needed for this since it is emailed. We've never printed our rpts before and don't need to.