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MS Access 2003: Add a Preview Reports page to the switchboard

This MSAccess tutorial explains how to add a preview reports page to the switchboard in Access 2003 (with screenshots and step-by-step instructions).

Question: In Microsoft Access 2003/XP/2000/97, on my main switchboard page, how can I have an option called "Preview Reports" which navigates to another page in my switchboard that lists all the reports in my database? Then how can I navigate from that page back to my main switchboard page?

Answer: First, you need to create a switchboard in Access.

Next, open the Switchboard Manager by selecting under the Tools menu, Database Utilities > Switchboard Manager.

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When the Switchboard Manager window appears, click on the New button.

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When the Create New window appears, enter the name of the new page in the switchboard. Then click on the OK button. In this example, we've named our new page "Preview Reports".

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This will return you back to the Switchboard Manager window. You should now see a new page called "Preview Reports". Highlight the "Preview Reports" page. Then click on the Edit button.

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When the Edit Switchboard Page window appears, click on the New button.

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Enter the Text that you'd like to appear on the Switchboard. Then select "Open Report" as the command and select the report that you wish to open. Click on the OK button. In this example, we've entered "Products Report" as the Text and "rptProducts" as the Report.

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You should now see the Products Report listed. You can add another report to the switchboard page by clicking on the New button.

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Then enter the Text that you'd like to appear on the Switchboard for the next report. Then select "Open Report" as the command and select the report that you wish to open. Click on the OK button. In this example, we've entered "Suppliers Report" as the Text and "rptSuppliers" as the Report.

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You should now see two reports listed in the window. To enter more reports, just repeat these steps. Next, you need to add an option to return to the main switchboard, to do this, click on the New button.

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When the Edit Switchboard Item window appears, enter "Return to Main Switchboard" as the Text. Then select "Go to Switchboard" as the command and select the "Main Switchboard" as the switchboard. Click on the OK button.

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You should now see "Return to Main Switchcboard" in the list of items. Click on the Close button.

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Highlight the "Main Switchboard" and click on the Edit button.

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When the Edit Switchboard Page window appears, click on the New button.

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Finally, you need to add the option to go the "Preview Reports" switchboard page. To do this, enter "Preview Reports" as the Text. Then select "Go to Switchboard" as the command and select the "Preview Reports" as the switchboard. Click on the OK button.

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When the Edit Switchboard Page window appears, click on the Close button.

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This will return you back to the main screen in the Switchboard Manager. Click again on the Close button.

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Now when you first look at the Switchboard, you will not see the changes that you just made.

To see the changes, you can close the Access database and re-open it. If you click on the "Preview Reports" option, it should take you to the new switchboard page.

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You should now see the two reports to preview. If you click on the "Return to Main Switchboard" option it should take you back to previous page.

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