Setting the Layout Used by a Report
APPLIES TO: Business Central online, Business Central on-premises 2022 release wave 1 and later. For earlier versions, go here.
A report layout determines the look of a report. It controls which data fields of a report dataset appear, how they're arranged, styled, and more. A report may have more than one layout, which you can then switch among as needed.
When there are multiple companies in the application, the layouts are set on a per-company basis. So the same report in one company can have a different layout in another company.
Get started
There are two ways to set which layout a report uses. One way is from the Report Layout Selection page. The other way is from the Report Layouts page. Each page has advantages, for example:
The Report Layout Selection page displays a list of all reports.
This page indicates what the current layout for a report is. Plus, you can set layouts in different companies, without having to switch the company you're working with.
The Report Layouts page displays all available layouts for each report in the current company.
It's easy to find a specific layout by sorting or filtering the list. Once you find the layout, you can set it for a report with a single selection.
[!NOTE] You can't use the Report Layouts page for Word and RDLC layouts that were created by using the legacy Custom Layouts feature. In fact, you won't even see these custom layouts listed on the Report Layouts page. For these layouts, you can only set them by using Report Layout Selection page.
Set the layout from the Report Layouts page
1. Choose the 
icon, enter Report Layouts, and then choose the related link.
The Report Layouts page appears and lists all the layouts currently available for all reports. 2. Find the layout in the list, select it, then select the Set Default action at the top of the page.
Set the layout from Report Layout Selection page
Choose the
icon, enter Report Layout Selection, and then choose the related link.The page lists all the reports that are available for the company that's specified in the Company field at the top of the page. The Layout Description field specifies the layout that the report currently uses.
Set the Company field at the top to the company that includes the report.
Find and select the report in the list, then do one of the following steps:
- If the layout that you want to switch to is a different type than the current layout, select the Layout Type field, then choose the type of the layout you want to set on the report.
- If the layout that you want to switch to the same type as the current layout, select the Select Layout action at the top.
In the Report Layouts page, select the layout, then select OK.
Revert to the original default layout
Reports are designed to use a layout by default. You can switch back to the original default layout from Report Layout Selection page. Just select the report, then select the Restore Default Selection action at the top of the page.
See Related Training at Microsoft Learn
See Also
Managing Report Layouts
Working with Business Central
--- author: edupont04