Using the Print Preview Screen
The print preview screen is similar for all prints, but there are slight differences. There may be extra buttons where extra facilities are available and some buttons may be missing if the facility is not available for the report.
The control toolbar will be similar to:
Moving through the report.
Mouse
The first part of the small lower toolbar show the current page/total pages and has, in order, buttons for:
· First page
· Back 1 page
· Forward 1 page
· Last page
The scroll bar can be used to move up and down on a page if the whole page is not visible. The wheel on a wheel mouse can be used to scroll continuously through a report.
Keyboard
The page up and page down keys can be used to move between pages and the cursor up and down keys will scroll the current page up and down if it is not completely visible on the screen.
Zoom Setting
The small magnifying glass icon has a pull down list of zoom settings that control the size of the report in the preview window. By default the zoom setting is "Page width". This allows the closest zoom while still allowing the full width of the page to be visible. If you have a large, high resolution screen, a setting that allows more of the page to be visible is a better option.
A mouse left double click anywhere on the report will zoom in closer.
A mouse right double click anywhere on the report will zoom out.
Send the print to the printer
Click on the small printer icon. The normal Windows printer selection and configuration screen will appear.
Save the Report
The "Save" button can be used to save the report to a file for electronic distribution, placing on a web site etc. Three different formats are available:
· PDF (or Adobe Acrobat format). This is one of the most widely used ways to distribute reports electronically. The reports can be viewed on almost any computer and will look almost identical to the original.
· RTF (Rich Text Format). This format will allow the report to be read into almost all word processors. Most of the formatting of the report will be retained but graphics and logos will be lost and some colours may change. Word processors differ in their ability to display RTF correctly. Microsoft Word is normally good. This is a good option if the report is to be merged into a larger document.
· HTML (or web format). This will enable the report to be viewed in a web browser or placed on a web site. Some of the finer details of the formatting may be lost, but for most of the reports this is not a problem.
Select the required format, the directory to receive the file and give it a name.
Email the Report
Two buttons give the options to email the report as a PDF file or as an HTML file (see under "Save the Report"). PDF is the best option if you know that the recipient has Acrobat Reader on their computer (most people do).
The computer will automatically start the email system and create a new, blank email with the report as an attachment.
Send the Report to Word
Word will be started and the report loaded as an RTF file (see under "Save the Report"). If Word is not present, the word processor that is associated with RTF files will be used.
Send the Report to Excel
Excel will be started and the report loaded as an HTML file (see under "Save the Report"). If Excel is not present, an error box will be displayed.
The formatting will be lost in Excel, but the base data will be in cells and available for further analysis.
