at some point you may have to use a
database that was created by someone
else this happens often when you start a
new job in this lesson we're actually
going to work with an existing database
as well they're ready to read database
one of the common tasks you'll do when
working with a database is create
reports reports are one of the ways you
can extract information from the
database tables and display that
information in a meaningful way
basically reports summarize and present
data that is stored in tables reports
and access can look just like any report
you create manually in Word the
difference with access is that you don't
have to enter the data directly into the
report like you have to when you're
working with a word document instead the
report is created using information
you've already stored in your database
tables let's take a look at a few of the
ways you can create reports and access
to see these just select the create tab
and then locate the reports group you
can create a new blank reports and
design view or in layout view you can
also create a simple reports using this
reports commands which produces and
reports automatically or use the reports
wizard to specify the details you want
to include in your report in this lesson
we'll take a look at the reports command
and the reports wizard let's get started
by creating a reports automatically
using the reports command first click
the table or query in the navigation
pane that contains the data that you
wish to include in the report when you
create a reports using this command you
can only use data from one source for
example she prints off my customer
mailing list I would select the customer
info table then
click the reports command access
automatically generates a reports that
includes all the fields in the customer
info table see how fast that was you can
edit and formats and access reports just
like you would in other Microsoft Office
software we'll talk more about that in
another lesson if you want to have more
control over the fields that appear in
the reports or want to use information
from multiple tables and you need a
little help from accessing creating the
reports the reports wizard may be right
for you just click the reports wizard
commands and the dialog box will appear
first you need to select the query or
table you want to use in the report
let's see I want to create the report
that includes the titles of the books
that people in various states ordered so
I'll select the customer info table the
fields in the table will appear in the
available fields area just select the
field you want to add and click the
right arrow button to add it to the list
of selected fields do this until all the
desired fields are added if you want to
add all the fields just click the double
rights arrow you can also click the left
arrow button to remove a field from the
selected list I actually want to add
everything except the customer ID to
switch to another table just click the
drop-down arrow and select a different
table or query I'll select the books
table and then select the fields that
you want to include in a report when you
are ready click Next during this next
stage of the wizard you'll be asked a
few questions about how you want the
information the report to be displayed
this will vary based on the fields you
included in the report right now
asked how we want to view the data if
you switch between buy books and buy
customer info you will see the image on
the right to change I actually want to
organize your reports arranged by state
so I'll select by customer info then
click Next you then may be asked whether
you want to group I actually want to
organize the information by States so
I'll select that and then click the
right arrow when you do that the image
on the rights will change to reflect the
new organization click Next then you are
asked how you want to sort the records
in the report for this example our only
option is title so we'll select that and
then click Next you now have some
choices about layouts and orientation
you can click each layout option to see
how it affects the report I'll just set
it back to steped and click Next now
choose a style as you select each one
you'll see a preview of it on the left
this style will be applied to the report
to give it a professional look and feel
once you find one you like click Next
and then enter a name for the report
finally you have to decide whether to
preview the reports or to modify the
design we'll learn more about modifying
report formatting later so we'll click
finish and the report opens in print
preview formats if we scroll to the
right we can see all the fields we
select it from both tables are included
in the reports also the information is
arranged by state reports are a powerful
tool that allow you to extract
information from one or more tables and
present it in a way that is easy to
understand reports can be viewed
the computer or printed for ease of use
will talk about modifying and formatting
reports in another lesson
but for now spend some time using the
reports command to create automatic
reports and the reports wizard to create
reports with specific fields from
multiple tables you'll soon see how
robust the access reporting tools really
are