To open the desktop Advanced Report Designer, run AdvancedReportDesigner.exe in the Bin subdirectory of the program folder.

If you're using Report Writer with a 32-bit ODBC data source, run AdvancedReportDesigner32.exe instead.

You're asked to locate ApplicationSettings.xml; to do so, find the App_Data subdirectory and click Open. You're then asked to log into the application; enter your usual Report Writer user name and password. The Advanced Report Designer window then appears showing all reports organized by tag.

A report displays an icon indicating the type of report:

• : quick report.

• : label report.

• : cross-tab report.

• : chart report.

If the report has an advanced layout, its name appears in bold.

To edit the advanced layout of a report (and create the layout if it doesn't already have one), select the report and click the button in the toolbar or double-click the report's name. The Advanced Report Designer retrieves the data for the report so it can size fields as necessary and allow you to preview the report in the Report Layout Designer, so you may be asked to specify values for any ask-at-runtime filter conditions.

Note that the advanced layout for cross-tab reports contains a PivotGrid object. The object's Visible property is set to False so it doesn't appear when you run the report. Do not remove this object or the report may not run correctly.

To remove the advanced layout, click the in the toolbar. This button is disabled if a report doesn't have an advanced layout.

A report's advanced layout is edited in the Report Layout Designer window.