Previewing changes means you can double check the content of a report before it gets sent out or printed. There are several ways that you can preview changes in Sage 200 Report Designer.
In this article, we’ll be showing you each of these ways, including previewing a sample of your data, and adding criteria to preview specific examples.
TIP: Before overwriting existing reports, save an easily identifiable draft version – perhaps with your initials.
In the report layout, click on the ‘Preview‘ button. This is at the bottom of the page, and looks like a piece of paper with a magnifying glass over it.
This will open up a dialogue box. If you want to preview all of the records, you can leave the number in this box blank – however, if you want a specific number of records, you should put that number in here.
Clicking ‘OK‘ will generate your report preview.
You can move through your preview in a few different ways:
- A scroll bar on the right of your screen
- Some blue arrows which can flip through the pages
- A bar on the bottom of the screen to let you zoom in and out
Once you have finished previewing and want to go back to Design Mode, click the ‘Designer‘ button. This will be in the same area that the Preview button was earlier.
Previewing Specific Data
To preview data from a specific area, you will need to add criteria to the report.
To do this, click on ‘Report‘ along the top of your screen. In the drop down, click on ‘Criteria‘.
This will bring up a dialogue box where you can manage what criteria you want to be displayed.
By ticking the box at the bottom, you’ll also be shown criteria that have previously been disabled. This list is predetermined, based on the report or layout that you’re currently running.
If you find that the criteria you want to run a report for is disabled, highlight it with your mouse and click ‘Modify‘.
In the next dialogue box that appears, under the ‘Status‘ heading, change it to ‘Enabled‘. Click ‘OK‘ at the bottom of this box, and do the same on the next dialogue box that appears.
Click the ‘Preview‘ button again. This will show you the details of the criteria you have just enabled.
In the dropdown box labelled ‘Invoice/Credit Number‘, change the criteria to ‘Is‘, and enter the Invoice Number.
Select ‘OK‘ to preview the report. If you’re happy with the changes you’ve made, click on the ‘Designer‘ button to go back to Designer Mode.
Removing Criteria
If you’ve added criteria that you don’t want to keep, you’ll need to remove them. If you leave criteria on layouts, it makes getting results from layouts more difficult in the future.
To remove criteria, go to Report > Criteria. Highlight the criteria you added and select ‘Modify‘. Change the status back to ‘Disabled‘, and click ‘OK‘, before saving the layout.
Last updated: June 2026
If you would like to stay in the loop about our latest tips then make sure you are following us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook!
For more support concerning your Sage system, take a look at our Sage Support Service. Contact us via the enquiry forms or call 01332 959 008.
