Access 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual

Printing, Previewing, and Exporting a Report

Once you've created the perfect report, it's time to share it with rest of the world. Most commonly, you'll choose to print it.

Printing a report is easy—simply choose Office button → Print. But before you inadvertently fire off an 87-page customer list in jumbo 24-point font, it's a good idea to preview the end result. Access makes it easy with its integrated Print Preview feature.

Tip

You don't need to open your report to print it. Just select it in the navigation pane, and then choose Print from the Office menu. But beware—when you use this shortcut you don't get the chance to preview the result and make sure it's what you want before it pops out of the printer.

Previewing a Report

To get a preview of what your printed report will look like, right-click the report tab title and then choose Print Preview, or choose Office button → Print → Print Preview. Print Preview mode doesn't let you make any changes or select any part of the report. You're limited to zooming in and out, and moving from page to page (see Figure 8-11). When you're finished looking at your print preview, choose Print Preview → Close Preview → Close Print Preview.

Figure 8-11. In Print Preview mode, to zoom in, click once with the mouse. Click again to zoom back out to the full page view. You can also use the page navigation buttons at the bottom of the ...