Saving reports as files on a disk

If you don't want to print a report on your printer or display it, you can save it as a file on a disk. When you save a report as a file, you have the flexibility to do whatever you want with the report: you can further modify it using a word-processing application, move it to another computer for printing or simply save it for your permanent records.

Reports can be saved in the following formats:

Tab-Delimited Text File When you save a report in tab-delimited format, the individual pieces of information in the report are separated by tab characters. For example, if the last name Martin and the address 300 Roundhill Drive appear in a report of customer names, a tab character will appear between Martin and 300 Roundhill Drive in the file.

Comma-Separated Text File When you save a report in comma-separated format, the individual pieces of information in the report are separated by commas. For example, if the last name Martin and the address 300 Roundhill Drive appear in a report of customer names, a comma will appear between Martin and 300 Roundhill Drive in the file. (Individual pieces of information that actually contain commas are surrounded by quotation marks.)

Simple Text When you save a report in text format, the individual pieces of information are separated by spaces so the appearance of the report is as similar as possible to a printed version of the report. (The amount of similarity between the file's appearance and the report's printed appearance depends upon the type of computer and fonts you're using in the report.)

HTML Formatted Text File When you save a report in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) format, the report is saved in a format capable of being viewed in World Wide Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

PDF (Portable Document Format) When you save information in a PDF file format, the information can be viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free application distributed by Adobe Systems, which is available at www.adobe.com.

Step by step
To save a report as a file on a disk