[crystal-reports] Edit Crystal report file without Crystal Report software

I need to modify a static text (few words) in 3 rpt files. But I dont have Crystal Reports. How can I do it?

Is there a free editor or software to be able to modify a simple text of the report?

This may be a long shot, but Crystal Reports for Eclipse is free. I'm not sure if it will work, but if all you need is to edit some static text, you could get that version of CR and get the job done.

I wouldn't have thought so.

If you have Visual Studio you could edit them through that. Some versions of Visual Studio has Crystal Reports shipped with them.

If not, you will have to find someone who has Crystal Reports and ask then nicely to amend them for you. Or buy Crystal Reports!

In case anyone else is looking for this... as of April 2013, you can still get the free Visual Studio edition of Crystal Reports from this web site: SAP Crystal Reports - Downloads (updated url).

It installs into Visual Studio 2010 or VS 2012, and you can edit and save RPT files with as much capability as the standard Crystal Reports editor.

My dad moved his office after 30 year and they need to update the address in the header of their Crystal Reports 7 (1997!) based billing system.

After buying old copies of Access 97 and Visual Studio 2003 Pro, I found out that both programs were too new - they could open the RPT files, but they saved them with an updated version that would not open in the billing system.

I ended up being able to make the changes using this life-saver program...

http://www.softwareforces.com/Products/rpt-inspector-professional-suite-for-crystal-reports

It was available with a 10 day free trial, and I only needed about 10 minutes to make my changes. That said, I would have happily paid whatever they asked for it. :)

Some hints:

1. When I opened my RPT files, I got an error saving the database could not be found. I ignored this error and everything worked fine.
2. Because my RPT files were Crystal Reports version 7, I had to go into Options->Misc and tell the program to save in the old format...

If this is something you are only going to need to do once, have you considered downloading a demo version of Crystal? There's a 30-day trial version available here: http://www.developers.net/businessobjectsshowcase/view/3154

Of course, if you need to edit these files after the 30 day period is over, you would be better off buying Crystal.

Alternatively, if all you need to do is replace a few static literal words, have you tried doing a search and replace in a text editor? (Don't forget to save the original files somewhere safe first!)