Columns Tab of the Options Dialog Box

Use the Columns tab to select the columns on the report. Each report has a default set of columns but you can modify them. You can also modify column attributes.

If you select Automatic as your page orientation on the Layout tab and then select so many columns for a report that it exceeds the page size,Vision displays a warning message. If that happens, try one or more of the following to make the columns fit the page: adjust column widths, select fewer columns, change the report margins, or change the page dimensions.

This table contains options that display on the Columns tab for all reports. See individual report descriptions for options and fields specific to a particular report.

Contents

Field Description
Drop-down list in the upper left corner of the grid

Click the drop-down arrow on a grid header to complete any of the following actions:

  • To print grid data, click Print. On the Print Preview form, click File > Print to send the grid data to your default printer.
  • To export grid data to an Excel spreadsheet, click Export to Excel. When Microsoft Excel opens, use its features to modify, print, or email the grid data, or to save the spreadsheet file locally.
  • To turn on grouping for a grid, click Enable Grouping. When a field displays with the instruction: "Drag a column header here to group by that column," drag and drop column headers into the field, in the sequence that you want them to display.

Not all options are available on all grids.

Move to top Click this grid option to move all selected columns (rows with Select selected) to the top of the list. (The current order of the remaining rows does not change.)
Find Click this grid option to search the Column Name grid column for text that you specify.
Find next If you use Find and the first instance of the search text is not the one you want, click the Find next grid option to find the next instance.
Edit calculation Click this grid option to modify an existing calculated field on the report.
New Calculation Click this grid option to add a calculated field of your own design to the report.
Row selection column When you click in a row in the grid, the first column of the grid displays next to it to mark the currently selected column.
Select Select the columns for the current report:
  • To add a column, select Select for that column in the grid. You can select as many columns as you want for a single report.
  • To remove a column, clear the Select check box for that column.
  • To move a column, click in the row for the column and click or to move it up or down in the list. Columns appear on the report in the order they are listed on the Columns tab.
Column Name This grid column displays the column name.

The column name is not the column heading for the report. Line 1 Heading and Line 2 Heading (described below) display the default column heading. If you want a different heading on your report, enter it in Line 1 Heading and Line 2 Heading.

Section For some Customer Relationship Management (CRM) reports, you can specify user-defined sections on the User Defined Sections tab. Use Section to assign report columns to those user-defined sections.
Section Column For some CRM reports, you can specify user-defined sections on the User Defined Sections tab and use the Section grid column to assign report columns to each section. If you do, you can use Section Column in the grid on the Columns tab to specify the order of the columns in each section. For example, enter 1 in Section Column for the first column in the section, 2 for the second column, and so on.
Line 1 Heading, Line 2 Heading Enter the heading that is displayed on the report for the column.

The headings can have one line or two. If the heading requires only one line, enter it in Line Heading 2.

If you enter a heading that is longer than the default heading, you may need to adjust the column width in Width.

Width Enter the width of the column in either inches or millimeters based on which one you selected in the Unit of Measure field on the Layout tab of the Options dialog box.

If you select inches, enter fractions using decimals (for example 1.00, 1.5, and so on).

By default, Vision provides column widths suitable for the default heading text in Line Heading 1 and Line Heading 2. If you enter a longer heading, you can adjust the column width.

Format For date, currency, and number columns, Format displays the format in which the report presents the column value.

To change the format, click in Format and click to open the Format dialog box.

Alignment Specify how you want the data aligned in the column: left justified, centered, or right justified.
HTML Formatting This check box is only available for memo field columns. By default, it is selected.

Select HTML formatting if you want to apply HTML formatting (bold, underlining, colors, and so on) to the contents of the column based on the formatting applied when the text was originally entered in each memo field. If you do not want to apply HTML formatting, clear this check box to print or display the text without any special formatting. You may want to do this if, for example, the formatting was applied inconsistently during data entry or the formatting is unsatisfactory for some other reason.

Type This grid column displays the type of column:
  • Standard — Standard Vision column.
  • Standard Grid — Standard Vision column for the grid type you selected on the General tab of the Options dialog box.
  • User Defined — User-defined column.
  • User Defined Grid — User-defined column for the grid type you selected on the General tab of the Options dialog box.
  • Calculated — Calculated field column.
Left margin indent for first column Enter the number of inches or millimeters that you want the first column indented (offset) from the left margin of the page.

Use either inches or millimeters based on which one you selected in the Unit of Measure field on the report Options Layout tab.

To determine the position of the first column, Vision adds your entry in Left margin for first column to the entry in Left Margin on the Layout tab. For example, if you use inches and the Left Margin contains 1.00 and Left margin for first column contains .25, Vision prints the report header information with a 1.00-inch margin but prints the first column 1.25 inches from the left edge of the page.