Navigating to the Custom Reports directory and adding custom reports.

When adding or modifying a custom report, you'll need to navigate to the proper place on your server to find the files. Check out this article if you need assistance.

If adding a new custom report in Acctivate or just updating an existing report, the report file (a ".rpt" file) will need to be placed within the CustomReports folder.  These file types cannot be opened without Crystal Reports. When loading reports sent from an outside party, simply save in the proper location. 

Navigating to the Custom Reports Directory:

The custom report folder is located within the AcctivateData share which can be accessed by opening File Explorer within windows and navigating the path \\ServerName\AcctivateData\CustomReports

If you do not know your server name for that path, follow the below steps. Please note, these steps will differ depending if you are on Acctivate 11.3 and higher. For 11.3 and higher, keep reading. For versions prior to 11.3, click here to quickly scroll to that section.

Acctivate 11.3 and higher:

Due to changes on how log files are stored within Acctivate now, there is no longer a way to open the network directory directly from the help menu within Acctivate. Instead we can use Configuration Manager to access the directory path.

1. Open Acctivate Configuration Manager.
2. Select Reports > Report Catalog
3. Open any report section and select any report. For this example, I've opened CustomerInfo > Aging > Customer Aging by Due Date (Detail)
4. Click on the "..." button to open the CustomReports directory.
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5. Click in the blank space next to the path (where it says Network > ServerName > AcctivateData > CustomReports) and then copy the full network path.
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6. Exit out of the "Open" window and open a new File Explorer session and paste the path in there. (So you don't potentially overwrite the report definition from step 3.)

It's recommended that you either memorize this path or save it so that in the future you can just simple Copy/Paste the path and jump to the directory without needing to do and of the above steps.

Legacy Versions

1. To navigate to the CustomReports folder from within Acctivate, go to Help > Acctivate Support > Email Acctivate Log File.  Once the small window opens, click Open Folder.
   
2. Once the Windows Explorer folder is open, navigate up one directory to ACCTivateData.  You can either click on "AcctivateData" itself or click the arrow pointing up on the left side twice.
   
3. Double Click to open the CustomReports folder. 
   

It's recommended that you either memorize this directory path or save it so that in the future you can just simple Copy/Paste the path and jump to the directory without needing to do and of the above steps.

Replacing an existing custom report or default report:

• If you are replacing an already existing custom report, simply just drop your file into this directory and when prompted to "Replace" the previous report, Click "Yes" to replace. 
  • If you don't wish to overwrite the old file and would rather keep it as a backup just in case, you can either rename the old file to have a different name or move it to a separate folder.

• If you are replacing a standard Acctivate report with a customized report, you will need to ensure that the report matches the file name of the standard report EXACTLY. If you have been sent a customized report from Acctivate support, the file should already be appropriately named and ready to drop into this directory.
  • If the report was given to you by a consultant or it was customized in house and the file name was changed to match the standard Acctivate file name, you'll need to refer to this spreadsheet to see what the file should be named. This can be found in column B.  
  • In order to keep this report customized after Acctivate Updates, you'll need to go into Configuration Manager -> Reports -> Report Catalog and locate the report and then check the "Do not overwrite during Acctivate update" checkbox, or it will be overwritten with the default.

Create a custom report template for adding a new report:

If adding a brand new customized report into Acctivate that isn't simply a modification to an already existing report, you'll need to create the report definition. If the file is an ACCTRPT file, there is actually seperate steps to import those in as they are imported via the "Import Report" button. Check out that guide here.

1. Navigate to File > Configuration Manager > Reports > Report Catalog
   
   1. If this report should use the same configuration settings as an existing report, select the existing standard report from the catalog and click the Copy Report button (icon with two pages).
   2. If this is a new report template, select a folder for the new report and click the Add Report icon.   
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2. Update the Report ID, Report Description, and Report Filename. Copied reports will use the Permission Group and Document Type of the original report. New Report templates will require one or both of these to be set up.
   • Report ID is an internal unique ID for Acctivate to use in the database.
   • Report Description is the name that will display for the report in the software
   • Report filename is where the ".rpt" file for the report will be found.  Use the button with three dots to browse for the report.
   • Permission Group controls what user permission is required to access the report.
   • Document Type controls where the report can be accessed.  If empty, it will be under the general report list.  Otherwise, if it needs to appear in a certain window such as a Pick Ticket, set the appropriate type to have it appear in that window's options instead.