Ms Office Tune Up

Apr 07

Formatting a Report in Windows Vista

So far, you’ve learned to create simple reports that show all the information you want in a compact table. The only problem with these reports is that they all look the same. If you’re working in a cubicle farm for a multinational insurance company, this drab sameness is probably a good thing. But those who still have a pulse may want to jazz up their reports with borders, exotic fonts, and a dash of color.

The quickest way to apply formatting is to use one of the prebuilt AutoFormats (shown in Figure 8-14) from the Report Layout Tools | Formatting AutoFormat AutoFormat list. Each AutoFormat applies a combination of fonts, colors, and border settings. AutoFormats let you transform the entire look of your report in one step, but they don’t give you the fine-grained control to apply exactly the details you want.

Figure 8-14. Click the drop-down arrow (circled) to see all the available AutoFormats. (Or, if you have a really large monitor, the AutoFormat previews appear right in the ribbon.) Each thumbnail preview shows the colors and a bit of the background that the format uses, but you need to apply it before you can really see what it looks like.

Note: Remember, in order to format a report, it needs to be in Layout view. If you double-click a report in the navigation pane, it opens in Report view. Right-click the tab title, and then choose Layout View to switch over.

You can do a couple other things with AutoFormat:

To apply just part of an AutoFormat, choose Report Layout Tools | Formatting AutoFormat AutoFormat AutoFormat Wizard. In the AutoFormat dialog box, choose the AutoFormat you want. Then, click Options to show three check-boxes at the bottom of the dialog box: Font, Color, and Border. Turn off the check-mark next to the types of formatting you don’t want to apply, and then click OK.
To revert to a plain report with no formatting, choose Report Layout Tools | Formatting AutoFormat AutoFormat AutoFormat Wizard to show the AutoFormat dialog box. Then, choose None in the list of AutoFormats, and click OK.
If you’ve applied some fancy formatting to your report, and you want to save it as your own custom AutoFormat, choose Report Layout Tools | Formatting AutoFormat AutoFormat AutoFormat Wizard to show the AutoFormat dialog box. Then, click Customize, choose “Create a new AutoFormat,” enter a name for your AutoFormat, and click OK. You’ll see your AutoFormat appear in the AutoFormats list.