Printing a Form

You can print one or more records in your form exactly as they appear on-screen. (You learn how to produce formatted reports in Chapter 39.) The simplest way to print is to click the Print icon in the Quick Access toolbar. This prints the form to the Windows default printer. Click on the Microsoft Office Button to view other print options.

Printing a form is like printing anything else; you’re in a WYSIWYG (“What You See Is What You Get”) environment, so what you see on the form is essentially what you get in the printed hard copy. If you added page headers or page footers, they’re printed at the top or bottom of the page. The printout contains any formatting that you specified in the form (including lines, boxes, and shading) and converts colors to grayscale if you’re using a monochrome printer.

The printout includes as many pages as necessary to print all the data. If your form is wider than a single printer page, you need multiple pages to print your form. Access breaks up the printout as necessary to fit on each page.

You can also control printing from the Print dialog box, which you open by clicking the Microsoft Office Button, and then clicking on Print. From this dialog box, customize your printout by selecting from several options:

• Print Range: Prints the entire form or only selected pages or records

• Copies: Determines the number of copies to be printed

• Collate: Determines whether multiple copies are collated

You can also click the Properties button and set options for the selected printer or select the printer itself to change the type of printer. The Setup button allows you to set margins and print headings.

Using the Print Preview window

Although you may have all the information in the form ready to print, but you aren’t sure whether that information will print on multiple pages or fit on one printed page. To preview your print job, click the Print Preview command under the Print menu to display the Print Preview window. The default view is the first page in single-page preview. Use the Ribbon commands to select different views and zoom in and out. Click Print to print the form to the printer. Click the Close Print Preview command on the right side of the Print Preview tab of the Ribbon to return to Form View.