A key feature of a report is that it is divided into sections and subsections. Using sections, you can get to the information you need and, using subsections, arrange it in a consistent format.
There are seven subsections in a report section. Five are standard subsections: Report Header, Page Header, Details, Page Footer, and Report Footer, in that order. Grouping is optional and applies a level of organization that aggregates by common fields. If grouping is used, the report section has two additional subsections for each group: Group Header and Group Footer. Each subsection is described in the following table:
| Subsection | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
Report Header | Appears at the beginning of the report section. | This subsection typically contains the report title. You can customize it to include additional report elements such as origination date or company logo. By default, the Report Header is used as a cover page. This option makes the Report Header take up a full-size page upon export. The option can be turned off on the Report Header tab. |
Page Header | Repeats at the top of every page, except the first page, where it appears under the Report Header. | Field headers are typically included in the Page Header so that every page starts with these definitions. By default, the Page Header appears on every page after the Report Header. Control which pages include this subsection using the Exclude header from page(s) option on the Page Header tab. |
Group Header | Appears at the beginning of each new group of records. | The grouped field value appears in the Group Header. For example, in a report in which cities are grouped by county, the county field would be included in the Group Header. By default, a Group Header appears once at the beginning of each new group immediately following any preceding information. Use the Start on new page and the Repeat on every page options on the Group Header tab to alter this behavior. Additionally, change the field used to define the group on the same tab. |
Details | Follows all header information. | The attribute contents being displayed in the report. Fields listed here repeat once for every row in the source. By default, the details section repeats once for each record of attributes. Use the Start on new page option on the Details tab to force each record onto its own page. Alternatively, on the same tab, check the Wrap text elements option to enable each record to dynamically expand based on the length of the information in each attribute. Additionally, on the same tab, check the Keep together option to prevent a page break from occurring within a record. Optionally, choose a background color for all rows. Enable the Alternate row color option and pick a secondary color to create an alternating pattern between the chosen colors. |
Group Footer | Appears at the end of each group of records. | Summary statistics appear in this subsection by default. |
Page Footer | Repeats at the bottom of every page. | Page numbers appear in this subsection by default. By default, the Page Footer appears at the bottom of every page. Control which pages include this subsection using the Exclude footer from page(s) option on the Page Footer tab. |
Report Footer | Appears at the end of the report. | This subsection of the report usually contains conclusion information, such as summary information or data citations, that is only required once and appears at the end of a report section. Statistics appear in this subsection by default. By default, the Report Footer immediately follows the preceding information. Use the Start on new page option on the Report Footer tab to force the footer onto its own page. Alternatively, use the Align to bottom of page option on the same tab to force the footer to include enough blank space to align the report footer with the lower edge of the page. |
Note:
Subsections cannot be reorganized in the Contents pane. However, right-click a group header to move it up or down in the report. Group footers similarly reorder to maintain the data organization.
When you create a report, the height of each subsection is automatically calculated based on the height of the elements it contains. An element can be either static (such as a title, subtitle, or column header) or dynamic (such as page number, images, lines,
rectangles, and background colors). As with subsections, elements are automatically sized at report creation. Both subsections and elements can be resized and repositioned using the Select tool 
. Make sure that elements in a subsection are sized correctly; otherwise, they may be truncated upon export.
To control the height of a subsection, you can type a new value for the height property in the Size group on the ribbon tab named for the subsection, for example, Report Header, or manually expand the height by reshaping the selected subsection directly in the report view with the Select tool active. The width is the same for all subsections and is determined by the page width you specify for the report. Subsections can also be hidden from view.
Note:
A subsection cannot be resized smaller than the lowest element within it. To reduce a subsection to a smaller size, you must either delete the elements inside it or move them to the top of the subsection.
Optionally, select a background color for any subsection on its similarly named tab.