Designing a new report
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When you want to design a new report it is often best to start with an existing report available under the defaults option. Where you do not wish to start there, select the New option under the file menu item [Ctrl-N].

The tabs available to you allow changes to various parts of the report. These tabs are:

·Include in report: this allows you to select the items appearing in the report, and change the properties of each item.  
·Sort data: select the items you wish to sort or order the lines of the report. Grouping of the data occurs here too.  
·Page header options: allows you to select items that will appear on the header of the report, change the properties, set the font etc.  
·Page footer options: allows you to select items that will appear on the footer of the report, change the properties, set the font etc.  
·Group header options: allows you to select items that will appear on the group header of the report, change the properties, set the font etc. This only appears when the grouping option is selected in the Sort data tab.  
·Paper selection: allows you to select the paper size, and the layout including the margins, columns, and orientation.  
 
You may work on any of these tabs in any order. It is not until you have selected the regenerate [F5] option that these values are applied to the report. Normally the best way to work is to set the Auto Generate [F7] option before doing anything else. This is already set "on" when a New or Default report is selected.

With the auto regenerate option set, each time you preview or print the report the latest selections will appear on the report. Therefore an effective way to work with the generator is to make changes and press preview [F3] to see the effect of the changes.