ACC: Moving Backward in Report Print Preview Window Is Slow

• Microsoft Access versions 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 7.0, 97

SYMPTOMS

Novice: Requires knowledge of the user interface on single-user computers.

In the Print Preview window in reports, you can move forward and backward page by page to view your report before printing it. When previewing a large report, you may notice that it takes longer to move backward than it takes to move forward. The further along you are in the report preview, the longer it takes to move backward.

CAUSE

Microsoft Access must reformat the report pages behind it when moving backward. In other words, it reformats all the pages from page 1 to the current page minus 1.

As you preview a report in the Print Preview window, Microsoft Access formats the report pages. It keeps the page formats in memory until you move to a new page. Once you move past a page, all the formats that were constructed to show that page are lost. Therefore, previous pages must be reconstructed each time you move backward.

The more pages there are between page 1 and your current page location, the more time it takes Microsoft Access to reconstruct them. For example, it takes less time to go from page 3 to page 2 than it takes to go from page 300 to page 299. In the first example, only two pages need to be reformatted. In the second, 299 pages need to be reformatted.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.