Easily create report snapshots of your Access files

by Mary Ann Richardson | Dec 05, 2006 8:00:00 AM

Tags: Microsoft Office, Databases, Mary Ann Richardson, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Office Suite Access Tips Newsletter

Takeaway: Say cheese! Rather than sending the entire Access file to another user, you can create snapshots of relevant reports. Mary Ann Richardson explains how to do it in a snap.

When clients review your Access reports, they often want to be able to immediately distribute relevant information to their colleagues. One way they can do this is to e-mail their colleagues a snapshot of the report. You can create a macro that will allow them to do just that. Follow these steps:

1. Open the database containing the report.
2. Click on the macro object in the database window.
3. Click New.
4. In the first cell of the Action column, select OpenReport from the drop-down list.
5. In the Argument section, select the name of the report from the Report Name drop-down text box.
6. In the second cell of the Action column, select Output To.
7. In the Argument Pane, select Report in the Object Type text box.
8. Click in the Output Format text box and select Snapshot Format from the list.
9. Close and save the macro as Snapshot Output To.

To create the snapshot, your clients can simply right-click the Snapshot Output To macro icon in the Database Window. The macro will display the Snapshot Report, along with a dialog box that allows the user to create and save the snapshot file; the user can then e-mail it as an attachment.

Access automatically installs the Snapshot Viewer the first time users create a report snapshot. If a user receives a snapshot and cannot open it, he or she may not have the Snapshot Viewer installed on their machine. If the user has Access, she can install it from the Setup program; if the user does not have Access, she can install it from the Microsoft Office Developer's Web site.

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Another way JimDantin | 12/06/06