Reports

Reports in a file

A report frame is a word processor with more capabilities. Most importantly, it can have calculations, which are covered in Calculations.

Insert a new report into a file:
  1. Click the insert button.
  2. Select Report.
  3. Click OK.

Most of the basic editing features of a word processor are here, like different fonts, bold, underlined, italic, strikethrough text, and more. Change these text properties by using the toolbar or the properties window.

Reference values from other reports in a file

You can also reference values from other report frames or spreadsheets in your calculations.

Reference a value from another report or spreadsheet:
  1. Start a dynamic equation.
  2. With the equation open, navigate to the value and click it.
  3. Finish the formula and press enter.

You can also use the copy reference tool.

Report formatting

There's a number of tools in Blockpad to help you format your documents for better presentation or readability.

Headings for easy document formatting

When you have headings in a document, it's often best to specify them as headings in the program, instead of formatting each line separately. This makes it possible to use tools like table of contents and style rules to format a document without as much manual work.

Create a heading:
  1. In a report, type in the heading.
  2. In the toolbar, use the dropdown to change the paragraph type from paragraph to heading 1.
    • You can also use any other heading option.
Continuous page view

The Collapse Margins property can be set so that page breaks aren't displayed in the document. This is great for documents that will only be viewed on the computer.

Show document without page breaks:
  • While in a Report, select View>Collapse Margins in the toolbar.
Insert page breaks

When you do want page breaks, you can use page break before or page break after to specify where you want page breaks in the document.

Insert a page break:
  1. Go to the paragraph where you want the page break.
  2. Open the properties window.
  3. Under Paragraph, select Page Break After or Page Break Before.
  4. In the dropdown list, select Break.
  5. Click OK.
Break for minimum space

The page break tools also have a Break For Minimum Space option where the page breaks only if the paragraph is far enough down the page (as a percentage).

Using this setting in combination with style rules and headings, you can make a document automatically insert a page break before any heading that's far enough down in a page.

Use style rules to make page breaks that update:
  1. Make sure headings have a Heading paragraph type.
  2. In the toolbar, select Style>Manage Styles.
  3. In the window that appears, click Add.
  4. In the Object Type dropdown, select Heading.
  5. Under Properties, select Page Break Before.
  6. In the dropdown, select Break for minimum space.
  7. Set the desired percentage.
  8. Click OK.
  9. Close the Styles Manager window.
Line spacing

You can edit line spacing using the Line Height, Spacing After, or Spacing Before properties. To do so, select the lines, open the properties window, and change one of the properties mentioned.

Hyperlinks

You can insert hyperlinks that link to other places in the document or to websites, using the Insert Link button in the toolbar.

Insert hyperlink to another place in the document:
  1. Go to the desired hyperlink destination.
  2. In the toolbar, select Write>Copy Reference to Paragraph.
  3. Now, go to where you want the hyperlink.
  4. Click the Insert Link button in the toolbar.
  5. Paste in the address.
  6. Click OK.
Table of contents

Use the table of contents tool to automatically add a table of contents to your documents, based on the headers and paragraphs.

Insert a table of contents:
  1. Ensure headers have a header paragragh type.
  2. In a document, select Write>Table of Contents.
  3. Specify the frame for the table of contents.
  4. Click OK.
Header and footer

You can add headers and footers to a document in the Header & Footer window. You can also add page borders here as well.

Insert a header or footer:
  1. In a document, go to Write>Header & Footer.
  2. Type in the header and footer where you want it on the page (left, center, right).
    • Use the insert button for page number or page count.
  3. Click OK.
Insert a page border:
  1. In a document, go to Write>Header & Footer.
  2. Select the Show Border checkbox.
    • There are also options to show borders for the header and footer.
  3. Click OK.
Style rules

You can use style rules to control the formatting of different types of content. Specifically for reports, you can change the formatting for all paragraphs or headers. You can also control formatting for dynamic equations.

Create a style rule:
  1. In the toolbar, select Style>Manage Styles.
  2. Click Add.
  3. Under Container, specify which report frame you want the style to apply to.
    • Select Frame Document to apply to the whole file.
  4. Under Object Type, specify the kind of object you want the style to apply to.
      5. Use Paragraph for regular text, Heading for headers, and Dynamic Equation for equations.
  5. Specify the properties you wish to apply to those objects.
  6. Close the Style Manager window.

 

Table of Contents