Creating reports for records with a large number of fields

[mattandlisa3]

I need some assistance. I am creating a database in Access 2003 to track personal biographical information for employees. I have completed the input portion of the database (forms, etc.), but now I need to be able to generate a personal biographical data report for each employee. This report will probably be 3 to 4 printed pages per person. The problem I am running into is that the detail section in the report design view is not large enough to be able to handle all of the fields. (There are approximately 75-85 fields that need to be included in this report, some of which are large "Comment" type fields.)

Is there something I am missing here? How do I generate a report like this?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can give.

[JConsulting]

There are a few ways really, and as you work through the reporting features of Access, you'll find that they aren't the best, but using them is fairly easy.

The first thing you should do is to start thinking vertically instead of laterally.

Reports are based on Groupings. For records such as personnel records, you could create maybe 5 or 6 separate groupings of your data. Each grouping would have its own Group heading, and details that go under it.

In this way, you can stack your data vs trying to display all of the columns along just one line.

Try working with a simpler recordset and begin by using the report wizard that Access supplies. Once you've built that simple report, go into it in design view and check out how Access itself has broken the data into groups.

Questions like this one are very hard to answer by the way. Everyone learns their own methods and report design ideas. It often works out that your employer already has an idea about what they want the report to look like. If not, then you have the freedom to be creative.

Remember, reports are made to be "Pretty". You can employ charts and graphs and pictures into them. So if the old saying holds true for you...a picture may speak 1000 words. Just take that into account.

Another option you may consider, if the data is more of a facts list. Export it to Excel. It may save you time in the long run.

Good luck!
J

[mattandlisa3]

There are a few ways really, and as you work through the reporting features of Access, you'll find that they aren't the best, but using them is fairly easy.

The first thing you should do is to start thinking vertically instead of laterally.

Reports are based on Groupings. For records such as personnel records, you could create maybe 5 or 6 separate groupings of your data. Each grouping would have its own Group heading, and details that go under it.

In this way, you can stack your data vs trying to display all of the columns along just one line.

Try working with a simpler recordset and begin by using the report wizard that Access supplies. Once you've built that simple report, go into it in design view and check out how Access itself has broken the data into groups.

Questions like this one are very hard to answer by the way. Everyone learns their own methods and report design ideas. It often works out that your employer already has an idea about what they want the report to look like. If not, then you have the freedom to be creative.

Remember, reports are made to be "Pretty". You can employ charts and graphs and pictures into them. So if the old saying holds true for you...a picture may speak 1000 words. Just take that into account.

Another option you may consider, if the data is more of a facts list. Export it to Excel. It may save you time in the long run.

Good luck!
J

Thanks for responding! I've already mentally grouped the report. The problem I'm running into is that I can only increase the height of the Details section in the Design View to 22 inches. This is not long enough for me to put in all the fields I need to include on the report. Is there a way around this?

Also, there are some places where I am using a list box to display records from a related table. For instance, one of these list boxes lists all of the phone numbers/fax numbers for the employee. Right now, the list box is big enough to display up to 3 numbers. However, there is no "Can Grow" property for a list box, so if the employee has more than 3 numbers, the report, as it is right now, will not be able to display the additional numbers. Is there a better way to do this than a list box?

Thanks for your help!