This article explains what an RPT file is, which programs can open one, and how to convert one to a different format like CSV, RTF, PDF, or HTML.

What to Know

  • An RPT file is a report file.Open one with Crystal Reports Viewer or AccountEdge Pro (it depends which one created it).Convert to PDF, XLS, HTML, and others with those same programs.

What Is an RPT File?

A file with the RPT file extension is most likely some kind of report file, but knowing how to open it depends on the program that’s using it since different applications might utilize reports with the .RPT suffix.

For example, some RPT files are Crystal Reports files made with the SAP Crystal Reports program. There might be data in these reports that originated from a variety of databases and is most likely fully sortable and interactive within the Crystal Reports software.

Another report file format that uses the RPT suffix is AccountEdge Report files made with the AccountEdge Pro software. These reports might have to do with anything from accounting and payroll to sales and inventory.

Other RPT files might just be plain text files that are accepted in a wide variety of reporting applications.

How to Open an RPT File

Crystal Reports files that end with RPT are used with Crystal Reports. Opening the RPT file for free on Windows or macOS is possible with SAP’s Crystal Reports Viewer tool.

RPTR files are similar to regular Crystal Reports files except that they’re read-only files, meaning that they’re meant to be opened and viewed but not edited.

AccountEdge Report files are created by and opened with AccountEdge Pro; it works on Windows and macOS. Find reports through the Reports > Index to Reports menu.

Text-based RPT files can be opened with any text editor, like the Notepad program built-in to Windows. The free Notepad++ tool is another option, and there are plenty of others that work in a similar fashion.

However, remember that even if your RPT file doesn’t open with Crystal Reports or AccountEdgePro, it’s possible that it’s still not a text file and won’t work with a text viewer/editor.

How to Convert an RPT File

If you install the free Crystal Reports Viewer program mentioned above, you can use the File > Export Current Section menu to save the Crystal Reports RPT file to XLS (an Excel format), PDF, and RTF.

The AccountEdge Pro software is also able to convert RPT to PDF, as well as to HTML.

Microsoft’s SQL Server Manager Studio might be able to convert an RPT file to CSV for use with Excel and other similar programs. This can be done in that program through the Query menu, and then Query Options > Results > Text. Change the Output format: option to Tab delimited, and then run the query with the Unicode Save with Encoding option to export the file.

Another way to get your report file in the PDF format (regardless of the format it’s in) is to open it normally using the viewer or editor from above, and then “print” it to a PDF file. The way this works is that once the RPT file is open and ready to be printed, you can choose to save it to PDF to essentially convert the report to the much more popular PDF format.

Is Your File Still Not Opening?

Problems with an RPT file might be related to the simple fact that you don’t actually have an RPT file. Double-check the file extension and make sure it reads “.RPT” and not something similar. Similarly spelled file extensions most likely have nothing to do with each other and can’t usually work with the same software.

You might have to then rename the *.RPT file to *.CSV to make it open with Excel. However, know that renaming a file like this is not how you actually convert it; it only works in this situation because the file extension might not have been renamed as it should have during the conversion. A file conversion tool is typically used to convert files between formats.

One example is the RPF file extension used for Grand Theft Auto Data files (used with that video game) and Rich Pixel Format graphic files. Those formats have nothing to do with reports and will not work with an RPT opener.

It’s also really easy to get file extensions confused when you’re dealing with RTP files, which belong to both the Gromacs Residue Topology Parameter and TurboTax Update file formats. As you can tell, RPT and RTP sound and look almost identical even though they’re not used with the same programs.

If your file doesn’t open with the suggestions from above, just read the file extension again to confirm that it does in fact say .RPT. If it doesn’t, research the file extension you do have to see which applications are used to create, open, edit, and convert it.

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