Understanding Reports

So far, the discussion of Access objects has centered on objects that are used either to input data or manipulate data that has already been entered into a table. Tables and forms provide different ways of entering records into the database, and queries enable you to sort and filter the data in the database.

Now you are going to turn your attention to a database object that is designed to summarize data and provide a printout of your database informationan Access report. Reports are designed specifically to be printed and shared with other people.

You can create a report in several ways, ranging from easy to difficult. An AutoReport, the simplest possibility, takes all the records in a table and provides a summary that is ready to print. The Report Wizard, an intermediate possibility, is still simple to use but requires more decisions on your part to select the fields and the structure of the report. Finally, the most difficult method of creating a report is building a report from scratch in the Report Design view. You learn about the Report Design view in the next lesson.