SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

1531955 - Are reports created in a new version supported in older versions of Crystal Reports?

Symptom

  • Will reports created in new versions of Crystal Reports work in older versions/report engines?

Reproducing the Issue

  1. Design a new report in Crystal Reports 2008.
  2. Load the report in Crystal Reports 9, or a custom application using Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2005 (v 10.2)

Resolution

  • It is not recommended, nor supported, to load a report from a newer version of Crystal Reports in an older report engine.
  • The internal report format has changed over the years as the product has been developed.
  • There are instances where an older report engine will not render a new report correctly because of the format changes, such as:
    • Missing pages.
    • Dropped fields.
    • Incorrect field placement.
    • Database connection errors.
    • Incorrect parameter prompts. 
  • In some product releases there were only minor changes to the report structure and backwards compatability is supported. The supportability is outlined in the table below.
  • We do support forward report compatability, where an report from an old report engine can be opened in a newer version of Crystal Reports.
Report Engine Crystal Report Designer
Crystal Reports 8.5 Crystal Reports 9

Crystal Reports

for VS 2003

Crystal Reports 10

Crystal Reports

for VS 2005

Crystal Reports

for VS 2008

Crystal Reports XI R1 Crystal Reports XI R2

Crystal Reports 2008

Crystal Reports

for VS 2010

Crystal Reports 8.5 Yes No No No No No No No No No
Crystal Reports 9 Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No
Crystal Reports for VS 2003 Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No
Crystal Reports 10 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Crystal Reports for VS 2005 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Crystal Reports for VS 2008 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Crystal Reports XI R1 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Crystal Reports XI R2 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No

Crystal Reports 2008

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Crystal Reports for VS 2010 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

 

Product Name Version Number
Crystal Reports 9

9.2

Crystal Reports for VS 2003 9.1
Crystal Reports 10 10.0
Crystal Reports for VS 2005 10.2
Crystal Reports for VS 2008 10.5
Crystal Reports XI R1 11.0
Crystal Reports XI R2 11.5
Crystal Reports 2008 12.0
Crystal Reports for VS 2010 13.0

Keywords

supportability assist compatable , KBA , BI-RA-CR , Crystal Reports designer or Business View Manager , BI-DEV , Business Intelligence Software Development Kits (SDKs) , Problem

Product

Crystal Reports 2008 V0 ; Crystal Reports 2008 V1 ; SAP Crystal Reports 10.0 ; SAP Crystal Reports 8.5 ; SAP Crystal Reports 9.0 ; SAP Crystal Reports XI ; SAP Crystal Reports XI R2 ; SAP Crystal Reports, developer version for Microsoft Visual Studio ; SAP Crystal Reports, version for Visual Studio .NET 2005 ; SAP Crystal Reports, version for Visual Studio .NET 2008 ; SAP Crystal Reports, version for Visual Studio .NET 9.1