Layout templates define a reports's "look and feel", while remaining separate from the report.
Objects in the report layout—Lines, boxes, images, text, page numbers, record numbers, and the current date.
Report properties—Paper size, page orientation, margins, layout mode, and HTML options.
Formatting styles—Font style, font size, text colors, background colors, cell borders, and table of contents entries.
As an example, assume that you want all of your internal sales reports to contain a title and a logo at the top of the report and the current date and page number at the bottom of the report. Assume further that you want the title to always print in a Times 20pt bold font, and that you want a one-inch margin at the top and bottom of each page.