2 Effective Tips to Tweaking Your Access Report

Fine-tuning your reports is something that is inevitable. Access makes it easy by giving you a couple of different ways to get the data you need and the appearance that best suits the different audiences that you have.

Once you understand what your report options are, you will want to tweak your reports. Fortunately, Microsoft Access makes this incredibly easy to fine tune any report.

There are two different ways to tweak your reports:

• In Layout View
• In Design View

Most people have a preference between using these two views. Even if you have a preference, go through both to see if one is easier than the other for what you need. You may be surprised at which one works best when it comes to reporting.

Regardless of which view you use, if you notice problems with your data, you will need to resolve those issues. You can repair Access db so that your data is cleaning going forward.

Tip 1: How to Tweak in Layout View

Layout View is usually the more popular way to tweak most aspects of Access. It looks less intimidating. While it does tend to be easier, you cannot do as much.

Here are a few tips in how to fine-tune using this view.

The first thing to do is make sure you are in Layout View. If you aren’t sure, go to the Navigation Pane and right-click on the report you want to tweak and choose Layout View.

• You can display the report properties by pressing F4. Once they are displayed, you can start changing the properties.
• Add new fields from the tables and queries that are part of the report. You can do this one of two ways.
  1. Click on the Format tab > Controls > Add Existing Fields.
  2. Use the shortcut keys ALT + F8.

The fields will appear on the Field List as you add them.

Tip 2: How to Tweak in Design View

People tend to avoid the Design View because it looks more complex. However, you also have a lot more options.

If you are not comfortable in this view, you can stick with the Layout View for now. Once you feel comfortable with Access, you can start to learn Design View a little better.

If you are ready to take more control, here are a few tips to fine tuning in Design View. Both of the tips for Layout View also apply in Design View. That means you are building on what you already know. You will need to get accustomed to a slightly different look.

First, make sure you are in Design View. If you aren’t sure, go to the Navigation Pane and right-click on the report you want to tweak and choose Design View.

• Add fields directly from the Field List Simply click and drag the field to the area where you want to add the report.
• You can add several fields at a time. Just press CTRL and click on the fields you want to add.

These are not big changes, but they can save you a lot of time creating another report to pull similar information. Data needs change over time, making the use of one of these views a great way to save time.

Author Introduction:

Victor Ren is a data recovery expert in DataNumen, Inc., which is the world leader in data recovery technologies, including repair xls file error and word recovery software products. For more information visit www.datanumen.com