Report Designer Ribbon

The report designer ribbon includes eight tabs from which you can access options to create or edit a report.

The ribbon tabs vary depending on which view you use and the object selected on the design surface. For example, when editing a report using the design view, you can select the Home, Display, Insert, Level, and Page Setup tabs to add filters and report levels, insert charts, and modify the report display. The Design, Format, and Options tabs are displayed when you select objects on the report, giving you options to edit the selected object. The data set view gives you similar options, though the Insert tab isn't available. Fewer tabs are available when using the report and layout views.

Tip: You can minimize the ribbon when editing a report by double-clicking the active tab. Click the tab to temporarily display the buttons on the tab or double-click the tab again to maximize the ribbon.

Each tab on the ribbon has one or more groups containing buttons you can use to modify the report or items on the report. Some groups have icons to the right of their names that you can click to open a window. For example, the Page Setup tab has Print, Background, and Display groups. You can click the small icon shown on the Background group to open the Display Options window.

Windows give you access to the same features you can access from the ribbon. However, the windows group the options differently, and sometimes contain additional options not available from the ribbon.

When explaining features that can be accessed from a window or the ribbon, we describe the feature using the window, but remember that the buttons on the ribbon provide shortcuts to most of the same features available on windows.