Customizing the Group Name

In most circumstances, the Group Name field displayed on the report is the field’s current value. For example, if you are grouping by country, then the group name shown on the report is the current country name. If you don’t want to display the current value as the group name, you have the option of customizing the name instead. For example, consider a report group that lists how many products were sold for each day of the month and it’s grouped by the Inventory Number field. If the report is intended for users who recognize a product’s name, but not the inventory number, then displaying the inventory number in the group header isn’t a very good idea. It’s better to show the product’s name as the group name instead of the inventory number. The Options tab of the Change Group Options dialog box allows you to override the Group Name field with another field.

Figure 3-14. The Options tab of the Change Group Options dialog box.

The first checkbox, Customize Group Name Field, modifies the Group Name field. Click the option button Choose From Existing Field to use another field as the group name. Then select the field from the dropdown box below it. When the Group Name is displayed, the value from the field in the dropdown box is displayed instead.

There are times when the group name you want to display isn’t a field in the table. It could be a custom formatting field where you join multiple fields together or where you parse text out of a field. To make the group name display a formula instead, click the option button Use a Formula as Group Name and then click the formula button. Formulas are covered in detail in Chapter 5.