How Report Design Sections Group Data in Access Report

As you have seen, the report design is broken into parts that are called sections. Sections come in pairs around the main section of the report, which is the Detail section. So, for instance, you saw the following sections in the Hours by Project report:

1. Report Header and Report Footer
2. Page Header and Page Footer
3. Company Header and Company Footer
4. Project ID Header and Project ID Footer
5. Detail

These sections can be categorized into one of four types:

1. Report Header and Footer: Appears at the beginning and end of the report and contains summary information about the entire report.
2. Page Header and Footer: Appears at the top and bottom of each page. Usually contains information such as the name of the report, the date, and the page number.
3. Section Headers and Footers named for fields: Used to group the data in the report and usually contain summary information about each group. These section footers are often used to display summary calculations (subtotals).
4. Detail: Appears in the very middle of the other paired sections. This contains the meat of the report, the data that has been grouped by the field sections.

As you may have already realized, the neat pairing of section headers and footers is only a pattern for your report to follow. The actual report may have many detail sections, since the data is grouped according to similarities. For instance, if you group by Company, then you have a detail section for every company that you have data for.
Although this seems confusing, it is a powerful feature. You may want to look back at your Hours by Project report and compare the sections in Design view to the way that Access organizes the data in report view to see how Access figures out how to build the report.

The four types of report sections listed above still hold true in Microsoft Access 365. These sections are fundamental to how reports are structured in Access, and their behavior remains consistent with previous versions.
Here's a confirmation with a few enhancements specific to Access 365:

1. Report Header and Report Footer
   • Still present in Access 365.
   • Used for report-wide summaries, logos, titles, or charts.
   • Report Footer is ideal for grand totals or final conclusions.
   • You can now also embed charts and modern graphics (including Excel-style visuals) more seamlessly.
2. Page Header and Page Footer
   • Continue to appear at the top and bottom of every page.
   • Ideal for:
     • Page numbers (`=Page`)
     • Current date/time (`=Now()`)
     • Custom report titles
     Access 365 still supports `=Page & " of " & Pages` for full pagination.
3. Group (Section) Headers and Footers
   • Access 365 provides robust support for grouping via Group, Sort, and Total pane.
   • You can group by any field and choose whether to add headers/footers.
   • Group Footers are heavily used for subtotals, counts, or intermediate summaries.
   • Still labeled as Header/Footer for [FieldName].
   • You can also apply conditional formatting or calculated controls in these sections.
4. Detail Section
   • This remains the core section for displaying raw data records.
   • Each row of data in the report's record source is rendered here.
   • Can contain bound controls, calculated controls, or even embedded subreports.

🔄 Modern Enhancements in Access 365

• Integration with modern themes and Office fonts
• Better support for rich text controls
• Improved rendering of images and charts
• Easier use of data macros and embedded subforms/subreports

🎯 Summary Your understanding is fully accurate and applies directly to Access 365. If you're designing reports now, you can confidently use those four sections to control layout, grouping, summaries, and pagination—just like in earlier versions, but with a more modern toolset. Let me know if you'd like a visual breakdown or example template.
Learn how to work with sections using the report header and footer, and the page header and footer. All in the next lesson!