In crystal report there is no direct facility available to customize columns of the report output at runtime.  To accomplish this, we have modified the design to include all the columns that will be in the data table at runtime. As far as the naming convention is concerned, all the labels in header section is prefixed with hd followed by the column name where as the columns in detail section is prefixed with dt followed by the column name.  At runtime, all the columns of the data table is listed in the grid. User was given the option to select from the grid the columns to be displayed in the report output.  Based on the user selection,  dynamically columns are hidden/shown based on the user selection and appropriately alignment/height/width/position of the displayed columns is adjusted by identifying the columns using its name.  However with this approach, could not get alignment right. Additionally, not sure how to handle customizing columns  for cross tab and grouping enabled reports  It would be helpful if someone could help me resolve these problems which is faced by me.