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Saving Report Output to a File
------------------------------

Rather than previewing or printing a report in Microsoft Access, you may 
want to save it in a file format that can be read by another program such 
as a spreadsheet or word processor. By adding the Save Report As command 
to your copy of Microsoft Access, you can save report output to the 
following file formats:

* BIFF (binary interchange file format; Microsoft Excel version 3 
  and later)
* RTF (rich-text format; Microsoft standard document interchange)
* ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange; text-only 
  format)

To add the Save Report As command
	
1 Copy OUTPUTAS.DLL to the directory in which you store MSACCESS.EXE or 
  to your Windows directory.

2 Copy OUTPUTAS.MDA to the directory in which you store MSACCESS.EXE.

3 In the MSACESS.INI file (stored in your Windows directory), add the 
  following option to the [Libraries] section:
 
        c:\MyMicrosoftAccessDirectory\outputas.mda=ro

4 Also in the MSACCESS.INI file, create a new section with the following 
  information:

        [Menu Add-ins]
        Save Report As==SaveReportAs()

  Note that you must enter two equal signs.

Before you can use the Save Report As command, you must restart 
Microsoft Access.


Saving a Report to a File Format
--------------------------------

In Microsoft Access, you can create reports with complex layouts. However, 
depending on which file format you save to, you may lose some or all of 
the report's layout.
 
Using the Save Report As command, you can output data from a main report 
but not from any subforms or subreports inserted in a report. Also, for 
best results, make sure there are no overlapping controls in the 
report. Although Microsoft Access includes the data from overlapping 
controls in the file, you may not get the results you expect.

To save a report to a file format

1 Open the database that contains the report you want to save to a file.

2 From the Help menu, choose Save Report As.

3 In the Select Report dialog box, select a report from the list, and then 
  choose the OK button.

  (If there are reports in the database but none are listed,
  you need to be assigned Read Data permission on the MSysObjects 
  table.)

4 In the Output As dialog box, type a name in the File Name box or select 
  an existing file name from the list (if you want to overwrite it).
 
5 Select a file type from List Files of Type. Microsoft Access automatically
  changes the extension of the file name to match the file type, but you 
  can override it by typing an extension in the File Name box.

6 If you want to save the file in a different directory and drive, select 
  them from the Directories and Drives lists, respectively.

7 Choose the OK button.


Saving to BIFF
--------------
When you save a report to BIFF, Microsoft Access includes only the data in 
text boxes in the output. It preserves the data format (such as Currency) 
and the text format (such as font, font size, and color). It also uses the 
names in the ControlName property of the text boxes to fill the first row 
in the spreadsheet. Because this file format creates one column in the 
spreadsheet for each text box in the report, the overall layout of the 
report may be lost.

Even if a value in a text box is longer than what can be displayed in the 
text box, Microsoft Access includes the entire value. Note, however, that 
Excel limits the number of characters in a cell to 255, so Microsoft Access 
truncates text values longer than 255 characters when it creates the file.


Saving to RTF
-------------
When you save a report to RTF, Microsoft Access preserves the layout of the
report as much as possible. However, because Microsoft Word for Windows 
works on a line-by-line basis, some reports may not look exactly like the 
original Microsoft Access reports. 

Microsoft Access includes the data in text boxes and the text in labels in 
the file. It preserves the data format (such as Currency) and the text 
format (such as font, font size, and color). If a value in a text box 
is longer than what can be displayed in the text box, Microsoft Access 
includes only the amount displayed in the text box. 


Saving to ASCII
---------------
Saving a report to ASCII is similar to saving one to RTF. Microsoft Access 
includes the data in text boxes and the text in labels in the file. It also 
preserves the data format (such as Currency), but does not save text format
such as color, font, and font size. 

If a value in a text box is longer than can be displayed in the text box, 
Microsoft Access includes only the amount displayed in the text box.