Aligning items in reports

Accountants Enterprise only

Reports includes various alignment tools so that you can fine tune the report for readability and presentation. For example, when used in conjunction with the standard justification options (i.e., left align, centre, right align and justify) the alignment options enable data to be visually aligned for ideal presentation. It makes sense to insert the required items in the header, detail and footer areas and then to multi--select items that need consistent alignment.

You align items in the Report Designer page. The alignment options appear on the horizontal toolbar.

Some are only active when you have selected more than one item for alignment.

Hold down the [Shift] or [Ctrl] keys to select multiple objects. To select all the objects within a work area, move the cursor to the left of a work area (the cursor changes to an arrow) and click to select all items.

Each of the alignment options displays a tool tip if you place the mouse over an icon while active.

Alignment options include:

Vertical alignment by side or centre.
Horizontal alignment by top, centre or bottom.
Adjust to same height, size or width.
Adjust space between items.
Centre vertically or horizontally.

When aligning financial data in a report, it is best to right align the text box and right align its contents.

To align an item

Open the Reports Designer page for the report you want to edit. See Opening reports for advanced formatting or editing.
In the detail area of the window, select the first object you want to align. Hold [Shift] or [Ctrl] down to multi-select adjacent or non–adjacent objects.
Click the appropriate alignment icon in the alignment toolbar to align the text box, field or label box.
Click one of the justify icons (AlignLeft, Centre, AlignRight, Justify) to consistently align the contents of a text box, field or label.
Close the Report Designer page. A Save Changes message is displayed.
Click Yes. To close the Save Changes message and save your layout. The Save Template window opens.
Select either the Save as a new report or the Overwrite existing report option.
Click OK. To save and close the Report Designer page.