The export formats supported by Crystal Reports can be broadly categorized in two groups: page-based formats and record-based formats.
Page-based formats tend to produce a more exact output. The emphasis of these formats is layout representation and formatting. Formatting refers to attributes such as font style, text color, text alignment, background color, and so on. Layout refers to object position, object size, and the relationship between these attributes and other objects. Depending on the format you choose, it may not be possible for the program to preserve all layout and formatting perfectly, but page-based formats, in general, preserve these properties as closely as possible.
With record-based formats, the emphasis is on data rather than the layout and formatting. However, in some formats you will notice that some formatting is exported. Some of the record-based formats are only data-exchange formats.
Adobe Acrobat (PDF)
Adobe Acrobat format is a page-based format. The exported documents are intended for printing and redistribution. Acrobat format will export both layout and formatting in a manner that is consistent with how the report looks on the Preview tab. Acrobat format embeds the TrueType fonts that appear in the document. (Non-TrueType fonts are not supported.) This export format does not support Microsoft font-linking technology—which is used to provide support for some extended character sets such as Chinese HKCS. Therefore, the fonts used in the report must contain all of the required glyphs. These URI types are supported for hyperlinks: "http:", "https:" and "mailto:".
Crystal Reports (RPT)
This format exports (saves) your report with the current data without modifying the original report.
Microsoft Word - Editable (RTF)
The Microsoft Word - Editable (RTF) format is different from Microsoft Word (RTF) format; it is a page-based format, but not all of the layout and formatting are preserved in the output. This format converts all of the report object contents to text lines. Unlike Microsoft Word (RTF) format, this format does not use text frames. Text formatting is retained, but attributes such as background color, fill pattern, and so on may not be retained. All images in your report are inlined with the textual content and, therefore, the images automatically shift to accommodate text when the document is edited in Microsoft Word. This format does not export line and box objects from your report.
The Microsoft Word - Editable (RTF) format has an option to insert page breaks at the end of each report page. This option may not correspond to the page breaks created by Microsoft Word; the option is used mainly to separate your report-page contents.
Rich Text Format (RTF)
The Rich Text Format (RTF) format is similar to the Microsoft Word (RTF) format.
Comma-Separated Values (CSV)
The Comma-Separated Values format is a record-based, data-exchange format. It exports the report object contents as a set of values separated by a comma.
Like record-style formats, the Comma-Separated Values format also creates one line of values for each record in your report. A record contains all of the fields in each section of your report as seen in the Design view. That is, fields in the Report Header section are exported first, followed by the Page Header section, the Group Header section, the Body section, the Group Footer section, the Report Footer section, and finally, the Page Footer section.
The Comma-Separated Values format cannot be used to export reports with cross-tabs; nor can it be used to export reports with subreports in Page Header or Page Footer sections.