Microsoft Access database makes it so easy for you to create or design standard and professional reports using some previously created tables and queries as data sources and to present them in enticing formats using different methods. MS Access also gives you many options and ways of building the reports with less stress. In this tutorial part, I will explain all about report as one of the objects of a database and how to create reports using the various available methods.

step by step guides to designing professional reports in ms access

BUILDING STANDARD AND PROFESSIONAL REPORTS IN MS ACCESS
Report is one of the objects of Microsoft Access database that is used to prepare a database in a format suitable for print out. This is because you have control over the size and appearance of every item and you can display information the way you prefer using report object. It is also used to perform calculations.

This is part 1 of chapter 7 of the Free Online Access Tutorial Series at Microsoft Tutorial website. In this part, I will explicitly explain Microsoft Access reports an give you a step by step guide on how to create them using various methods.

In the previous chapter (Chapter 6) at http://www.microsofttut.com/2017/04/learn-sql-in-ms-access-mysql-databases.html, I explained how to learn and build databases in Access and MySQL through SQL in detail. Also see the full tutorial course content of this Microsoft Access Tutorial Series at http://www.microsofttut.com/p/course-content-for-microsoft-access.html.

Reports are a great way to organize and present data from your Access database. Reports enable you to format your data in an attractive and informative layout for printing or viewing on screen. Reports are often used to present a big-picture overview, highlighting main facts and trends. The data in a preview or in a printed report is static.

Reports merely present the data; they do not alter the underlying data in the tables. Each time a report is opened, Access displays the most recent data. I will advise you to first create a functional report before formatting it to give it a professional look.

COMPARING ACCESS REPORTS AND FORMS

Although there are many similarities when working with forms and reports, there are a few major differences also.

1. Reports only display data, whereas forms allow you to display and edit, add, and delete data.
2. Command buttons are often used on forms but are rarely used on reports.
3. Reports have slightly different design sections compared with forms.

The last bullet point is worth explaining in much greater detail. As you may recall from Chapter 3, forms have a Form Header, a Form Footer, and a Detail section. Anything in the Form Header displays at the top of the form, and anything in the Form Footer displays at the bottom of the form. The Detail section is where the actual form data display and where most of the form controls are placed.

UNDERSTANDING ACCESS REPORT SECTIONS

Reports are a bit more sophisticated when it comes to displaying and grouping data, so reports contain additional sections that provide this functionality. All reports have Report Header, Page Header, Detail, Page Footer, and Report Footer sections, and special reports that display grouped output will also have Data Header and Data Footer sections. In addition, a grouped report will have a separate Group Header and Group Footer for every grouping level of data.
Below are some of the sections of a report.

Report Header: Controls in this section will display at the very top of the first page of a report. This means that the report header is found only at the first page of a report in MS Access.

Page Header: Controls in this section will display at the very top of every page of a report. They will appear immediately after the Report Header on the first page of the report.

Group Header: This section appears on a report only if you display the report data in a grouped fashion. Every grouping level of data will have a separate Group Header named after the control being grouped. Normally, this section will contain a textbox to display the field you are grouping the report data on. The data result will appear only once for each unique grouping section.

Detail section: The detailed record-by-record data appear in this section of the report. If the report is being grouped, it will display every record within that group and then continue to the Group Footer section.

Group Footer: This optional section appears on a report only if you display the report data in a grouped fashion. Every grouping level of data will have a separate Group Footer named after the control being grouped. Normally, this section will contain a calculated control to summarize the records in the Detail section. Often, records for each group will be counted, averaged, or totaled.

After this section is displayed for one unique grouping, the report will return to the Group Header and then display the results for the next data grouping. The iteration over the Group Header, Detail section, and Group Footer continue until every unique data grouping is displayed.

Page Footer: Controls in this section will display at the very bottom of every page of a report.

Report Footer: Controls in this section will display on the last page of a report immediately after the last Detail section records and Group Footer results are displayed.

I will illustrate these report section when later while explaining how to design reports through the Design Report method in MS Access.

GETTING STARTED WITH REPORT DESIGNS AND FEATURES
Well-designed reports should be organized, grouped, sorted, and presented in a manner that is useful for the end user of the database. If you are building reports that other people will be using or viewing, it is critical that you involve them in the process of designing the report to ensure that it meets their needs. It is very helpful if the end user can provide you with an existing paper report that matches the format and design of the report you are building. If a report does not exist, you should work closely with the end user to develop a hand-written mockup of how the report should look. This will then become the basis for your design of the Microsoft Access report.

Once you have a paper design of the report, the next task is to figure out what table or tables your report data come from. If you need to display data from multiple tables in your report, you will first need to build a query, or if using the Report Wizard, Microsoft Access will build the query for you. That table or query is then assigned to the Record Source property of the report (just like forms).

AVAILABLE VIEWS OF A REPORT
The available views for the report as object of a database are:

1. Report view
2. Print Preview
3. Layout view
4. Design view

Each view has its distinct purpose, advantages, and disadvantages that are summarized here. While building database reports, you will often switch between these views.

Report View:

This view is used for viewing all of the report data, but it does not show page breaks. You cannot make any design changes in the Report View, but you can apply and remove data filters and instantly see how the output updates.

Design View:

This view provides the most powerful way to work on the design and layout of the report. In this view, you cannot see any of the report data.

Layout View:

This view is a combination of Report View and Design View. It enables you to make most design changes to the report while viewing live report data. It is very powerful because it instantly allows you to see how design changes will appear on the report with data. In this view you cannot edit the form data.

Print Preview:

This view enables you to see all of the report data and pagination exactly how it will appear when the report is printed. You cannot make any design changes to the report in Print Preview.

NOTE:

To see the available views for a report, open a report or create a new one and then click the View drop down arrow in the Views group under the Home tab as shown below.

Available view for MS Access reports

METHODS OF CREATING REPORTS
Reports are created from one or more tables or queries. To use several tables, you would first create a query to retrieve data from those tables.
There are three major method or ways of creating a report in MS Access. They include:

1. Auto Report Method
2. Through Design Report
3. Through Report Wizard

AUTO REPORT OR ONE-CLICK REPORT METHOD
This is a fast and automatic method that is used to create a report using default design. All you need to do is to highlight your data source and Access does the rest for you. It creates a basic report of the data in the current query or table to which you can add features such as groups or totals.

The one-click report generating approach gets you started in a hurry, but it’s not as convenient as it sounds. Most tables have quite a few fields, and an automatically generated report includes them all. The resulting report is often so wide that it stretches right off the edge of the page. You can remove and resize columns after you create the report to solve the problem), but you’ll also need to move the page number and resize the report in Design view. With all that trouble, it’s usually easier to create a blank report and then add the columns you want under the Design view.

To Create a Report through Auto Report (One-Click) Method:
Click http://www.microsofttut.com/2017/04/how-to-design-professional-reports-in-ms-excel.html to study full tutorial with screen to screen images.