Report Designer Format Tab

The report designer Format tab provides access to general display options, such as fonts, margins, borders, and width.

The report designer’s Format tab is available when you click a column, data exception, or chart. Some buttons on the tab vary depending on the type of item you select. For example, when working with a column, you can apply conditional formatting to flag data in the column that meets certain criteria.

Format Tab

Group/Button	Description
Font	The buttons in this group let you change the font style, size, and color. You can also select font attributes, such as bold and italic, and change the text’s alignment. In addition, you can also add a background color. This group does not display when editing a chart.
Margin	Click this button to select the width of the margins around the selected column. Options include None, Narrow, Medium, Wide, and Custom. Selecting Custom lets you specify the number of pixels for the top, bottom, left, and right margins. This button displays when editing a column.
Border	The buttons in this group let you add borders to the column and change the borders’ display options. You can identify which borders you want and choose the borders’ color, size, and style. This group does not display when editing a chart.
Display	The buttons in this group let you apply conditional formatting to the column, change the column’s width, freeze the column, and hide repeating values in the column. You can also select other display options for the column. This group displays when editing a column.
Conditional Formatting	Click this button to apply conditional formatting to the column’s data.
Width	Click this button to select a width for the column. Select Best Fit to automatically set the width based on the amount of space needed to display the column’s contents. Best Fit also takes into account the width needed by other columns in the report. Select Percentage to specify a percentage of the total report width for the column.
Freeze Column	Click this button to fix the selected column in place so it does not move when you horizontally scroll the report. This can be helpful if you want to continue to view the first column in the report while scrolling the report to see the columns on the right of the report. When you fix a column, all columns to the left of the column are also fixed. You can still scroll the columns to the right of the fixed column.
Hide Repeating	Click this button to hide consecutive repeating values in the column. For example, if the name of a staff member is shown in the column in five consecutive rows, you can hide repeating values to show the name in only the first column. You can also hide repeating values on the Column Format window. This window has an option to exclude hidden repeating values from consideration in column calculations and column auto-filter options. When you hide repeating values from the ribbon, they're still included in column calculations and auto-filtering.
Options	Click this button to select display options for the column.
Number	The options in this group let you display numeric values as a gauge and select numeric formats. This group displays when selecting a column containing numeric values.
Date	The options in this group let you select a date format for the column and view the format. This group displays when selecting a column containing date/time data.
Image	The options in this group let you configure the image used to indicate columns that meet data exception criteria. These options are also available when creating data exceptions. See Create a Data Exception. This group displays when editing a data exception.
Current Selection	The options in this group let you select the area of the chart you want to edit and reset the style options. This group displays when editing a chart.
Area Menu	Select the area of the chart you want to edit from this drop-down list. You can also select the area by clicking it on the chart on the design surface.
Reset to Match Style	Click this button to reset customized display and formatting of the selected chart area to match the default settings specified in the chart style that's applied to the chart.
Format	The buttons in this group let you select border, background, and font characteristics for the selected chart area. These same options are available when creating chart styles. See Create or Edit a Chart Style. This group displays when editing a chart.