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Opening and Viewing a Report

Microsoft Access provides an excellent means of working with existing reports. You can either send a report directly to the printer, or you can first preview a report that you want to work with. Let's begin by taking a look at the process of previewing a report:

  1. Click the Reports list of objects in the Database window (see Figure 5.1).

    Figure 5.1. The Reports list of objects.

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  2. Double-click the report you want to open or single-click the report and then click the Preview button on the Database toolbar. The report appears in Preview mode (also called Print Preview mode).

Moving from Page to Page

A report is a way to present the data from a table or query in a formatted document. Although you can print datasheets, reports control how you present and summarize the data. When you open a report, you can use the navigation buttons to easily move from page to page. You accomplish this by using the page navigation buttons at the bottom of the report window (see Figure 5.2). By using these buttons, you can easily navigate to the first page of the report, the previous page, the next page, or the last page of the report. By typing a number into the text box on the navigation bar, you can easily navigate to any page in the report.

Figure 5.2. Report navigation buttons.

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Zooming In and Out

When previewing reports, you can change the amount of text (and the size of the text) that you see onscreen in a report. You do this by zooming in and out of the report page. There are two different techniques that you can use to set the zoom level. Here's the first technique:

  1. Place the mouse pointer over the report so that it appears as a magnifying glass.

  2. Click the mouse. The page zooms in.

  3. Click the mouse again. The page zooms out.

Here's the second technique:

  1. Click the Zoom drop-down list box (see Figure 5.3).

    Figure 5.3. The Zoom drop-down list box, which allows you to select a zoom level.

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  2. Select a size. The report zooms to the designated level.

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The Fit option within the Zoom drop-down list box fits the report within the available screen real estate of the report window.


Viewing Multiple Pages

While you're previewing an Access report, you can preview more than one page at a time. To view two pages, you click the Two Pages button on the Print Preview toolbar. To view multiple pages, you click the Multiple Pages button and select how many pages you want to view (see Figure 5.4).

Figure 5.4. Selecting how many pages you want to view.

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