Fix: Crystal Reports 2008: “Default printer is not available” and/or Un-expandable Collapsed Sections [Field Notes]

Problem:

In Crystal Reports 2008, when opening up a report that came from elsewhere (usually another user’s machine), I see:

default printer is not available.

Oftentimes, this will be accompanied by a strange behavior that will cause reports (or sub-reports) to look completely collapsed, like the following image:

“Oh”, you say to yourself, “I’ll just expand those sections manually and carry on.” Well think again, renegade – Crystal Reports will have none of it. The sections appear frozen in place forever.

Your report sections. It is as painful as it looks.

Solution

Luckily, per usual, StackOverflow was a big help here.

This solution has two different parts – you may only need one or the other, but I’ve found them both to be a pretty effective one-two punch in this situation.

Part 1: Change Your Printer Settings

• While in the report, click File > Page Setup...
• Check the box labeled No Printer (optimize for screen display).
• Check the box labeled Dissociate formatting page size and Printer Paper Size.
• The box should look like below:

That should do it.

Part 2: Change Display Options

In case you have some sub-reports, etc. that didn’t quite get the message to thaw out, bro, it’s likely because they were hidden before or hidden as a result of the printer situation being screwy.

Try the following:

• While in the report, click File> Options...
• Click the Layout tab (usually visible by default in my experience)
• In the Design View section, check the “Show hidden sections” option. This will cause any unwieldy sections to fall in line and become visible.