Make reports longer than 55" (Access 97)

[OzMax]

The standard Access specs state that reports (and forms) can be no longer or wider than about 55". Does anyone know if this can be changed? If so, how?

[Rupert]

I'm shooting in the dark here, but wouldn't it depend on the size of the paper you select to print on?

[charlotte]

I don't understand the question. What exactly are you trying to do? You won't be able to change the limits, but there may be workarounds if you explain more fully.

[OzMax]

OK, I'll try to explain. I want to create a report that is about 6 to 8 pages long, printed on A4, without using excessively small fonts (minimum 8point). I also want specific headers and footers on every page within this report. If I try to create the report by going down the report design page, I run out of room. If I get around this by going across the report design page and working to the page margins I've set, then I can't get the headers and footers to show on every page. I was wondering if there was some VB code or whatever that could be attached to the report properties or an Access extension tool somewhere that could change the 55" report length. Or if you know some other way of getting around this, I'd love to know. Thanx.

[charlotte]

The only way you can get around the size limitations is with subreports. Furthermore, there is a limitation on the total number of controls you can add to a report and once you hit that, you can never add any more, no matter how many you remove first. I still don't understand what you're doing though. Reports are generally used to present data from a table or query. It sounds like you're creating an unbound report or one for a highly specialized purpose. The only times I've had to do this was when I was creating an output report for surveys that had to be formatted exactly the same as the printed form, and it required subreports for each section to get around the size limitations.

[OzMax]

OK, if i understand correctly, by using subreports, the overall vertical length of a report can actually exceed 55", as long as the subreports are set to Can Grow?! Must try that....

I dunno how to explain better what i want to do. But I'll try! The limits on a report are 55" horizontally and 55" vertically. Using fairly standard A4 size page settings, this gives you approx 3 pages across and 3 pages down when printed (total 9 pages in a 3 by 3 grid). What i would like to do is lay out the entire report similar to a Word document- pages go underneath each other, thus extending well beyond the 55" limit vertically. But Access won't let me of course, so to get around it, I use up the horizontal 55" and set it all up right so that it prints nicely, with the pages printing in order across then down. That would be ok, except that the page headers and footers don't appear on specific pages (2,3,5,6,8,9) because it is set up this way.
Yes, it is quite a specialised report and contains a very large amount of info. Yes, it is bound to a table, and has numerous subreports in it.

The reason i want to set it up like a Word doc is to avoid problems with different printer and page setups when this database is used elsewhere, plus i want to have headers and footers on every page in the report.

I hope that i have explained it better now...

[Rupert]

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The reason i want to set it up like a Word doc is to avoid problems with different printer and page setups when this database is used elsewhere, plus i want to have headers and footers on every page in the report.
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There was a good post a month or so back on setting up printing on different machine set-ups. However I can

[charlotte]

It won't work. Access is just as sensitive to machine changes as Word is and this makes more sense as a Word mail merge than as an Access report. I don't understand why you're laying out three pages on every page. Are you actually printing this on *paper* that's 55" wide?

[OzMax]

A4 paper that's 55" wide? Now there's a novel idea...

I just checked the specs in Access for forms and reports (click help, then type "Access specs") and noticed that it's 55cm, not 55" for form and report limits for height and width. I had the units wrong.

I'm thinking that what I want to do is not possible, otherwise you would understand what I'm asking. I just thought someone might know a way of actually editing the Access specs somehow to allow the Detail section in Design view in a report or form to be greater than 55cm by 55cm (approx 22" by 22").

PS Rupert, thanks for the link.

[charlotte]

I did wonder, but figured we were dealing with different units. With plotters, you can print as wide as you wish, so I thought perhaps you intended to use a plotter. <img src=/S/shrug.gif border=0 alt=shrug width=39 height=15>

The 22" limit is hard and fast, and subreports are the only workaround. Hacking the application is not only a violation of the licensing agreement but would probably break your installation of Access/Office beyond repair.

[WendellB]

Sorry for jumping into this so late, but it puzzles me.
I believe the actual constraint is that the body of the report can be a max of 22" - but that body represents just one record. (I'm assuming this is a bound report.) In that case, would it solve your problem to spread your data out among several records. The idea would be that each page could be contained in a record.

The other possibility would be to do a mail merge to Word, which is more adept at handling text formatting anyhow. I think we probably need more information about the problem you are trying to solve to go further with this.

[OzMax]

Thanks to all for the comments/advice. I will try using subreports to get around the problem and also merging it to Word.