Image to Report Features in a C# .NET Application

If you’ve ever had a perfectly good report design trapped in a PDF, a screenshot, or (worse) a photo of a printed page, you know the pain: rebuilding the layout from scratch is tedious and error-prone.

Image to Report is a new feature that takes an image of an existing report and turns it into an editable ActiveReports report layout in seconds. Drop in an image of a report, either a screenshot or a photo, and ActiveReports uses Azure Document Intelligence to interpret what’s on the page and generate a layout that closely matches the original. 

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What Image to Report does:

At a high level, Image to Report:

1. Accepts an image of a report (screenshot, exported comp, or photo of a printed page).

2. Detects structures like headers, tables, text blocks, lines, and alignment.

3. Generates a report layout you can open and edit in ActiveReports.

4. Leaves you with a normal report you can refine and bind to your data model.

You’re not getting a frozen preview or a one-time export. You’re getting a real starting point that you can iterate on.

Where it saves the most time:

Image to Report is a practical shortcut when you’re starting from something that already exists:

• Mock-ups and design comps: turn a Figma export, PDF screenshot, or stakeholder mock-up into a real report you can iterate on.

• Legacy or “found” reports: recreate older internal reports without starting from a blank canvas.

• Platform migrations: use a screenshot of a report from another reporting tool as a fast starting point, then refine styling, data bindings, and layout details in ActiveReports.

Walkthrough: Create a report from an image in the Designer

This feature is built right into the ActiveReports Report Designer, so the workflow feels like starting a new report, just with an extra “bring your own image” step. In order to enable Image to Report, you’ll need to first set up your Azure Document Intelligence credentials in the ActiveReports.config file. Follow the documentation here to get that set up before continuing with this tutorial if you’d like to follow along.

1. Start a new “Report From Image"

In the Designer, create a new report and choose the Report From Image option.

2. Pick your source image

In the Report From Image dialog, click Choose File and select the image you want to convert (screenshot or photo). Once selected, you’ll see a Preview of the page.

3. Confirm page settings

Before generating the layout, set the basics so the output lands correctly on the page:

• Report Type (for example, Page)

• Paper Size (for example, Letter)

• Orientation (Portrait/Landscape)

• Margins

• Optional: Create Table as a single row (useful for certain table-heavy layouts)

In most cases, the defaults tend to be sufficient.

4. Generate the report layout

Click Finish to start the conversion. ActiveReports sends the image through Azure Document Intelligence, interprets the content, and generates an editable layout.

5. Review the generated layout

When it completes, the report opens as a normal, editable layout. You’ll see objects in the designer surface and a structured tree in Report Explorer, so you can immediately start refining.

After import: make it production-ready

The import gets you close, but you’ll still want a quick pass to match your standards and data model:

• Replace static values with data bindings (datasets, fields, parameters)

• Tweak spacing and alignment to match your layout rules

• Normalize fonts and styling to match your app’s theme

• Refine grouping, totals, and headers for correctness and consistency

• Validate rendering in your delivery targets, especially if you ship reports in both desktop (WinForms/WPF) and web (ASP.NET/React/Angular/etc.)

Tips for best results

• Prefer a straight, high-resolution screenshot over a photo when possible.

• If using a photo of a printed page: good lighting, high contrast, and minimal skew.

• Include the full page if you want margins and placement to match closely.

Opt-in by design (no surprise AI)

All AI features in ActiveReports are completely optional.

• Nothing is enabled by default.

• No AI functionality is included in your project unless you explicitly add and configure it.

Want to Try Out the Latest Release? Download ActiveReports.NET Today!