Office 2013 macro and printing issues

[BobSullivan]

Working with a split database, both front end and back end in one location. Both databases are 2002 .mdb databases. The single front end database is run from two different machines. One machine has Office XP, the other has Office 2013. All macros, reports, etc, run without error on the 2002 machine. Problems with one macro in particular sum up the situation on the 2013 machne.

A data entry form contains a button to run a macro. The macro is supposed to print a report as a PDF file, then attach it to an email message. The macro uses the command “Print Out” to create the PDF file.

The report is designed uniquely. The page setup is portrait orientation, but the report is actually 3 times the width of a normal portrait page. This is done on purpose so that the report will print as a three page report.

On the Access XP machine, the report prints with no problems. On the 2013 machine, the report appears, but seems to be stuck. When the report preview screen appears, there is a message in the lower left corner of the status bar that flashes Formatting Page, Press Ctrl+Break to Stop. It is as though the 2013 machine is attempting to format the report, and keeps trying and failing to format it on a single page. When you press the escape key or Ctrl+Break, the report prints to the printer, not as a PDF. The page setup is set to print to PDF File, not to a printer.

It’s not my database, and I hesitate to make any kind of significant changes to it, but I don’t understand why the macro/printing commands work just fine in XP and don’t work properly in 2013.

Any suggestions for workarounds on this?

[HansV]

Offhand, I don't know why Access 2013 would act differently than Access 2002, but some things to look at:

If the report is grouped by one or more fields, check whether the groups have been set to "keep whole group together on one page" or "keep header and first record together on one page". (You'll find these settings by turning on Sort & Group).

Check the "Keep together" and "Force new page" properties of the various report sections.