Bring back ability to preview reports!


The recent "improvements" to the reporting functionality within Financial Edge NXT ("Streamlined" Report Generation) really missed the mark. While it is useful to have a generated report available in the system for a period of time, it is a HUGE step backward to eliminate the ability to preview a report before deciding whether or not you want to download it to your computer. I don't necessarily want every report I run to be downloaded to my computer; sometimes I just want to look at it. What about sending it to a report queue where you can preview it when completed, and then decide whether or not to export?


  • Monica Garrison
  • Sep 29 2025
  • In Progress
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  • Molly Maher commented
    4 Dec 05:34pm

    AND...when you generate it, you literally have to wait on the screen for it to pop up that it's ready - because it disappears and you have to re run it!


  • Guest commented
    25 Nov 02:11pm

    I certainly hope the previewed reports available include the Pre-Reconciliation Report in the Treasury/Banking module. It only makes sense to be able to fix items previously missed by reviewing the reconciliation report before "pushing the button"! Please, please, please!!!

  • Guest commented
    19 Nov 04:13pm

    I really appreciate if BB can reinstate the power of preview instead of downloading, view, delete etc....

    Since it is already downloaded, why the need to save it to the bell.

  • Brenda James commented
    12 Nov 07:40pm

    I agree with all the comments below. In addition, no big change like this should ever be done until you ask your customers who use it and pay for it. This was a very negative change in efficiency.

  • Stephen Fitch commented
    10 Nov 07:20pm

    Once again a step forward by Blackbaud is really a step backward for the users. Removing the "Run" option is very short sighted. We pay a lot of money for this system and it seems we should be able to run a report and view it in an FE window rather than "Generate" an external report we don't really need. To make matters worse, the generation of PDF, Excel, and Word versions of a report when using Blackbaud through Google Chrome requires you to first download the report to your computer, then you have to pull it up on your screen. Another blow for efficiency!.

  • Karen Newburgh commented
    10 Nov 06:14pm

    This new way is VERY inconvenient. I like to preview first, and then run in Excel. But now with the "Generate" tab, you can choose excel, but it still hasn't saved the report. You have to save it first, then generate into excel. And the fact is, you might not want to save it until you see what it looks like. Please bring back the previous version.


  • Ashley Grammer commented
    7 Nov 08:46pm

    I spoke with a customer service rep and this change was made as a work around for an issue they are having. It has not been determined if they will go back to the old way or continue with this. I suggest having everyone on your team come on and vote to have this changed back!

  • Guest commented
    7 Nov 07:15pm

    I prefer the previous version of this. Please bring the preview reports function back.

  • Meryl Olson commented
    7 Nov 07:05pm

    This is such a terrible update. It's very time consuming to have to wait for the document to generate, if you miss the notification it's ready to download, the notification goes away and you have to regenerate. I also hate the fact that once you close the report, the report edit screen goes away. So if you have made an adjustment and want to re-run the report, you have to go and select the filters all over again. I really hope you bring the preview feature back!!

  • Guest commented
    6 Nov 01:58pm

    This "update" is inefficient and is causing a lot of issues on our end. Not only is the required download of reports ridiculous, but the delay in running reports is causing major problems for us. We are having reports that used to take 20 minutes to run now taking 3 or more hours. We have no way of knowing if they are even running - which causes duplication and slows down the system even more. Earlier this week, my department was basically frozen because of this lag. I was advised by a customer service rep that we need to run complicated reports overnight when the system isn't being used. This is absolutely unacceptable - we don't work overnight and need to be able to pull data during business hours. If this is what we can expect with these new "improvements", then our organization has clearly moved beyond what the software can provide and will have to evaluate other software options. We have been frustrated with the move away from the database view and the inefficiencies that have come along with it, but this is likely a bridge too far.

  • Guest commented
    5 Nov 11:46pm

    PLEASE BRING BACK THE PREVIEW. IF YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE ALLOW THE PREVIEW TO BE PRINTED INSTEAD OF HAVING TO EXPORT AND THEN PRINT.

  • Guest commented
    5 Nov 08:59pm

    This change was made in the name of efficiency from what I read. I must be on another planet...without accountants! Who would think removing the option to run/view a report made any sense? Pardon me, I have files to delete!

  • Cathi Christopher commented
    5 Nov 02:56pm

    We also have the issue of when you run a large report which holds up other reports & printing checks( a whole other issue) , there's no way to stop it if you want to to let something else run

  • Guest commented
    5 Nov 03:50am

    I agree this update was ridiculous and is causing me a huge waste of time. The user should always have a choice to preview or download. Whoever made this decision must not be an accountant user of this software. It also takes longer now for a report to calculate than it did before the change and you have no idea if it is calculating or not until you receive the annoying notification that you have to go click on to download. There are many days where I often have 6 report preview screens open at the same time previewing over a 100 hundred reports a day with no need to print or keep any of them. Now I'm forced to save them all and then delete them all. What used to take 2 hours to do now takes 6+ hours to do. THIS IS NOT AN IMPROVEMENT!! Please bring back the preview mode or I will have to consider going to a new software.

  • Guest commented
    3 Nov 07:14pm

    Who approves these changes??? Terrible "update"

  • Ariana Spiegler commented
    3 Nov 07:10pm

    We need to be able to preview reports. This new setup is a massive waste of time.

  • Karen Munis commented
    3 Nov 07:07pm

    Why can you no longer just preview a report?????? Why?????


  • Greg Salomone commented
    3 Nov 03:48pm

    This new "functionality" where you can no longer preview a report is a huge waste of time. I do not always need to download a report. Sometimes I just want to view it quickly. What a stupid update!!!

  • Greg Salomone commented
    3 Nov 03:45pm

    This new "functionality" where previewing the report is not available is a huge waste of time. I do not need to download a report all the time. Sometimes I just want to look at something quickly. What a stupid update!!!

  • Guest commented
    30 Oct 08:28pm

    My co-worker showed me you pick the format under "generate" on the report tab and it is not available on "save and generate" which is what I've always used

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