From Database Report to Public Summary Table

A report is the usual term for a formatted summary of information from a database. In Microsoft Access, reports let you view, format and summarize database information—for example, total sales by region and time period. A report can also present individual records; it does not have to contain only totals. Microsoft’s report overview describes both uses.

If you want to share that summary publicly, treat the report’s layout and its underlying data as separate outputs: one presents the findings; the other gives readers a table they can explore.

Table, query and report: different jobs

In a typical reporting workflow:

• A table stores records, such as one row per library event.
• A query selects or calculates the data, such as events held during January, grouped by branch.
• A report presents the result, with a title, labels, grouping and totals.

In Access, a report’s record source—the data it reads—can be a table, a named query or an embedded query. That source must contain the rows and columns needed for the report. Microsoft documents these record-source options.

Define the summary before formatting it

Suppose you need to publish monthly library event attendance. Your input has one row per event, with fields for event_id, branch, event_date and attendance.

Write the reporting rule first:

Include events held from January 1 through January 31, 2026. Group by branch. Count events and sum attendance. Each output row represents one branch for the month.

The following is an illustrative dataset, not actual library results:

Library event attendance by branch — January 2026

Branch	Events held	Attendance (visits)
Central	12	240
North	8	160
South	5	75

The check totals are 25 events and 475 attendance visits. Attendance here means visits across events, not unique people: someone attending twice contributes two visits.

Before designing the report, check that:

• Each event appears once in the input used for counting.
• The date restriction matches the stated reporting period.
• Missing attendance is not silently treated as zero.
• Branch totals reconcile with the included source records.

Keep grand totals outside the export’s branch rows so readers do not accidentally count them again. See how to separate totals from data rows.

If you use Access: create the formatted report

For an Access desktop database:

1. Select the prepared table or query in the Navigation Pane.
2. Choose Create → Report Wizard, then specify the fields, grouping, sorting and layout.
3. Adjust labels and field widths, then use Print Preview to check the page layout.

These tools and steps are described in Microsoft’s Access report guide. For the library example, make the month visible in the title and label attendance as visits—not people.

Publish the data, not the print layout

For an interactive data page, export the summary query rather than the formatted report. Access supports delimited text exports from tables or queries without formatting; exporting a report as text instead produces formatted output. Microsoft’s export documentation explains the distinction.

For a comma-delimited export:

1. Select the summary query and choose External Data → Text File.
2. Leave Export data with formatting and layout unchecked.
3. Choose Delimited, then Comma and Include Field Names on First Row. Use double quotation marks as the Text Qualifier.
4. Finish the export and inspect the resulting file. If it has a .txt extension, confirm that it contains comma-delimited data before changing the extension to .csv for upload.

Do not rely on hidden columns or a temporary datasheet filter to protect information. Microsoft states that an unformatted delimited export includes hidden columns and filtered rows from the underlying object. Build a dedicated publication query containing only approved fields and records, and inspect the exported file before sharing it. These export controls and limitations are covered in Microsoft’s text-export guide.

TablePage accepts CSV, TSV, XLSX and XLS files and generates a public dataset page with a filterable table. Upload only data approved for public release.

Alongside the published table, provide the reporting period, source link, extraction date, inclusion rules, units and missing-value treatment. Keep the branch names and numeric values in a clean rectangular file; put explanatory notes beside the table rather than inserting them as data rows. The CSV export checklist covers the final file review.