Act! reports enable you to view or print specific information about your contacts, calendar, groups and companies. You can use the existing report templates provided with Act! or create your own report template. This guide is designed to answer "How To" and "Frequently Asked Questions" dealing with the Report features in Act!.
The links below will take you to each individual section of this guide:
Running Reports
Editing Report Templates
Creating a New Contact Report Template
Report Properties
Running Reports
Act! comes with over thirty pre-designed report templates for quickly printing or displaying Contact, Group, Company and Opportunity information.
When you run a report in Act!, you can filter the report to display specific information, such as attachments from the Notes/History tab, or calls from the Activities tab during a specific Date range. You can choose filters each time you run a report, or you can customize the report so that it uses default filters (see the "Setting default filter" section later in this article for more info about customizing default filters).
To run a report:
- Create a Lookup of Contact, Company or Group records that you wish to include on the report.
- Click the Reports menu, and then click the report name that you wish to run. The Define Filters dialog box appears.
Note: If the report you wish to run is not listed under the Reports menu, click Other Contact Reports or point to Group/Company Reports, and then click Other Group/Company Reports.
- By default, the Send the report output to: field will display Preview. It is recommended that you do not change this option, unless you have already run or previewed this report as you are able to print from the preview window. Other Send the report output to: options include Rich-Text File, HTML File, PDF File, Text File, Printer andE-mail.
- Ensure that the Create report for option is correct and if you do not want your personal information to be included in the report you may enable the Exclude 'My Record' option.
- If your report includes, Activity, Note, History or Opportunity information, click the appropriate tab(s).
- Disable any data types that you do not wish to include in the report, specify a Date range and enable the Selected users option to select one or more specific users (if desired). Click OK to generate the preview or other report output.
Note: If you Send the report output to: Preview, you will need to enable the Zoom In Tool, and then use this tool to click into the report preview for a closer view of the report output.
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Editing Report Templates
Note: Reports can not be edited in Act! Premium (access via web). You must be logged into the database from the Act! for Windows client to edit reports.
If the standard Act! reports do not include all of the data that you wish to display, you can either create a new report template or you can modify an existing report template. It is generally easier to modify an existing report template. In most cases, one of the Act! pre-designed reports can be used to display the information you desire.
If you have added custom fields to your database, it is normally a simple matter to find a predesigned report template that displays your information in the desired format, and then add your custom field(s) to this report template.
For the purposes of this document, a description of the steps for modifying a Contact report will be provided. For information on modifying other types of reports, refer to the Report Record Types section at the bottom of this document.
Modifying an Existing Contact Report Template:
Note: Swiftpage does not provide support for customization. For assistance with customization, contact an Act! Certified Consultant.
To modify and existing report template follow the steps below:
- Click the Reports menu, and then click Edit Template. An Open dialog box appears.
- Click the report template (.rep file) that you wish to modify, and then click Open. The Report Designer appears with the template ready for editing.

At the report template you have the ability to add, remove, relocate fields and change field or background properties. You can also add, remove and relocate sections or create Subreports.

Adding Fields to a Report Template:
You are able to add Contact, Group, Company or Opportunity Fields to the Detail section of a Act! Report Template. In addition, you can add Text fields, Rectangles, Images, Picture Fields, System Fields and/or Subreports.
– With the Pointer tool enabled, objects can be selected, moved, and resized. To move an object; simply click and drag.
– Allows you to add fields to the report template that will retrieve and display data stored in that field. Data fields are normally only placed into the Detail section of a report.
– Allows you to add Text to the report template. Most commonly used in Headers andFooters.
– Allows you to create squares, rectangles, and graphic lines. Most commonly used in Headers andFooters.
– Is used to insert pictures into the report. Most commonly used in Headers andFooters.
– Allows you to add system fields to the report template. Examples of System fields are Page Number and Print Date. Most commonly used in Page Headers andFooters.
– Allows the display of other data types within a section of your report. Most commonly added to the Detail section.
Note: Although the Picture Field

Adding a Contact, Group or Company Field to the Template:
- Ensure the Field tool
is enabled in the Toolbox.
- Place your cursor near the left edge of the position that you wish to place the field, click your left mouse button, and then drag to the right to create the new field.
- When you release the left mouse button, the Select Field dialog box appears.
- Ensure that the Select a record type field displays the appropriate record type.
Important Note: When you are adding a field or section to an Act! report, the list of Fields will differ for each record type. Each Report Type includes a different set of record types. If you have created a custom field, you may need to scroll through the Select a record type options to find it. This document was written using the Contact Report Type with the associated Contact record type. For a detailed list of the different record types associated with each report type, refer to the Report Record Types section at the end of this document.
- Clear the Include a label check box (if desired), click the field you want to add to this report template, and then click Add. The field appears on the report template.
- Once all fields have been added to the report template, click Close to exit the Select a Field dialog box.
Adding Permanent Text to your Report Template:
- Enable the Text tool
from the Toolbox.
- Place your cursor near the left edge of the position that you wish to place the text field, click your left mouse button, and then drag to the right to create the new text field.
- After you release the left mouse button, you must click outside of the text field to deselect it, and then you may click into it and begin typing text into this field. You may format the text as you type.
Adding a Rectangle to your Report Template:
- To add a Rectangle to your report template:
- Enable the Rectangle tool
from the Toolbox.
- Place your cursor near the left edge of the position that you wish to place the rectangle, click your left mouse button, and then drag to the right to create the shape.
- Enable the Rectangle tool
Adding an Image to your Report Template:
- Enable the Picture tool
from the Toolbox.
- Place your cursor near the left edge of the position that you wish to place the image, click your left mouse button, and then drag to the right to create the field for your image.
- When you release the left mouse button, the Open Image dialog box appears.
- Browse to (if necessary), and then Open the Image file (.BMP, .JPG or .GIF) that you would like to appear on the report template. The image appears on the template.
Adding a Subreport to your Report Template:
- Enable the Subreport tool
from the Toolbox.
- Place your cursor near the left edge of the position that you wish to place the field, click your left mouse button, and then drag to the right to create the new field.
- When you release the left mouse button, the Subreports dialog box appears.
- Enter a Subreport name, click the field in the list that will link your main report to this subreport, and then click OK.
For detailed information on creating subreports, refer to the following Answer.
Adding Summary Fields to your Report Template:
A summary field allows you to display information from one or more records. These fields are normally added to the Page Header section of a report.
Note: If you are using Subreports in your report template, then the Summary fields will need to added to the Header section of the subreport, instead of the Page Header section of the main report.
Five types of summary fields can be added from the Act! Report Designer:
- Count - Calculates the total number of records that contain data in a field.
- Total - Calculates a total of all values in a field.
- Average - Calculates the average of all values in a field.
- Minimum - Displays the lowest (or earliest) value in a field.
- Maximum - Displays the highest (or latest) value in a field.
Any field can be designated as a Count field, but only numeric fields can be used for Total, Average, Minimum or Maximum fields. Follow the steps below to add a Summary field to your Act! Report template:
- From the Act! Report Designer, click the Field tool, and then click into the Page Header section of your report template and drag a new field into the desired location. The Select Field dialog box appears.
- Ensure that the Select a Record Type field displays the desired option, click the field you wish to use as a summary field, clear the Add Label option (if desired) and then click Add. The new field is populated with the field name.
- Right click this new field, and then click Properties from the shortcut menu. The Field Properties dialog box appears.
- Under the Data tab, enable the Summary option from the Field Type section, and then enable the appropriate Summary Field Option.
- Click Apply, and then click OK to complete the process.
Setting default filter options
If you would like a certain report to display your custom filter options each time you run the report, follow the steps below to set the default filter options for a specific Act! report:
- Click the Reports menu, and then click Edit Template. An Open Act! Report dialog box appears.
- Open the desired report template.
- From the Report Designer, click the Edit menu, and then click Define Filters. The Define Filters dialog box appears.
- Enable the desired filter options on all tabs (as illustrated above), and then click OK to close the Define Filters dialog box.
- Click the File menu, and then click Save, to save the changes to your filter settings.
- Close the Report Designer, and click Yes, if prompted to Save the changes. Your custom filter options will now be active each time you run this report.
Saving and Previewing your Modified Report:
- When you are finished creating the template, click the File menu (in the Report Designer), and then click Save As. A Save As dialog box appears.
- Ensure that the Save As Type field lists Act! report Files (*.rep). Type in a unique File Name, ensure the Save In field displays the Reports directory (or your custom directory), and then click Save. A progress indicator appears as your custom report is saved.
- Your custom report will now appear in the Act! Reports directory.
- To preview this report, click the File menu, and then click Print Preview. The Print Preview window appears.
Note: You will need to activate the Zoom In ToolHold this cursor over the Print Preview and then click the left mouse button to enlarge the preview. You may need to repeat these steps several times for a clear preview.
Creating a New Contact Report Template
Follow the steps below to create a new Contact report template. Refer to the links at the end of this document for detailed information on creating other kinds of new report templates.
- Click the Reports menu, and then click New Template. The Report Designer appears with the New Report dialog box.
- In the Report Types section, click Contact Reports. In the Templates section, click the Empty Contact Report option, and then click OK. The Report Designer opens a blank report template named Report Template 1.rep..
A new report template has five default sections (as illustrated above):
- Report Header – This section appears only at the top of the first page of the report and is intended to be used for the report title.
- Page Header – This section appears at the top of every page in the report and is generally used for column headings, graphics, and company logos.
- Details – This section will contain most of the information in the report and is commonly used for Note, History, Activity, Opportunity or Subreport information.
- Page Footer – This section appears at the bottom of every page and is commonly used for page numbers, or dates.
- Report Footer – This section appears only at the bottom of the last page of the report and is generally used for summary information for the entire report.
You cannot delete or change the order of the five default sections, but you can add a new section, hide or resize a section, add or remove fields in a section or indicate the page break behavior for a section.
Note: Section titles do not appear in the report.
Adding and Removing Sections:
When you add a section to your Act! report template, you also add a section header and footer. You can then add fields, text to provide the information you wish to include in your report.
New section header and footer:
- Section Header – Displays information at the top of each records section.
- Section Footer – Displays information at the bottom of each records section.
To add a section to a report template:
- From the Report Designer, click the Edit menu, and then click Define Sections. The Define Sections dialog box appears.
- Click the default section that you wish to add your new section to.
Note: You will not be able to configure Section Behavior until after you have added your new section to the report template. - Click the Add button. The Select a Field to Group By dialog box appears.
- Ensure that the Select a record type field displays the correct record type, click a field that you wish to sort the data by, and then click OK. The Define Sections dialog box reappears displaying your new section as Section 1 above.
Important Note: When you are adding a field or section to an Act! report, the list of Fields will differ for each record type. Each Report Type includes a different set of record types. If you have created a custom field, you may need to scroll through the Select a record type options to find it. This document was written using the Contact Report Type with the associated Contact record type. For a detailed list of the different record types associated with each report type, refer to the Report Record Types section at the end of this document.
Note: The field you click in this dialog box will determine the sort order of the information in the report. For example: If you click Contact, your report will sort alphabetically by last name.
- Click your new Section 1 to change the Group Behavior sort order to Descending (if desired).
- Click the new Section 1 - Header or Section 1 - Footer to customize Section Behavior. Section Behavior options include:
- Page Break - Before: Starts a new page at the beginning of the section.
- Page Break - After: Starts a new page at the end of the section.
- Page Break - Before and After: Starts a new page at the beginning and at the end of the section.
- Page Break - Page Before: Starts a new page one page before the beginning of the section.
- Page Break - Page After. Starts a new page one page after the end of the section.
- Collapse if blank: Hides this section for contact records that contain no data.
- Allow section to break across multiple pages: Displays and prints all information in a section, even if it dies not fit on a single page. If you turn this option off, a page break is inserted before the section if the section will not fit on one page.
- When your section behavior options have been configured, click OK. The Report Designer reappears with your new section in place.
- From the Report Designer, click the Edit menu, and then click Define Sections. The Define Sections dialog box appears.
- Click the section that is to be removed, and then click the Remove button. The Delete Section dialog box appears.
- Click Yes to confirm that you wish to delete this section from your report template.
Adding Fields to your Report Template:
When you are in the Report Designer, the tools in your Toolbox will allow you to add Contact, Group, Company or Opportunity fields to the report template. In addition, permanent Text, Rectangles, Pictures, Picture Fields, System Fields and Subreports are also available to be added.
The Toolbox includes the following tools.
– With the Pointer tool enabled, objects can be selected, moved, and resized.
– Allows you to add fields to the report template that will retrieve and display data stored in that field. Data fields are normally only placed into the Detail section of a report.
– Allows you to add Text to the report template. Most commonly used in Headers andFooters.
– Allows you to create squares, rectangles, and graphic lines. Most commonly used in Headers andFooters.
– Is used to insert pictures into the report. Most commonly used in Headers andFooters.
– Allows you to add a field to the report template that will display the image in a picture field on a contact record. Picture fields are commonly added to the Detail section.
– Allows you to add system fields to the report template. Examples of System fields are Page Number and Print Date. Most commonly used in Page Headers andFooters.
– Allows the display of other data types within a section of your report. Most commonly added to the Detail section.
Adding a Contact, Group, Company or Opportunity Fields to the Template:
- Ensure the Field tool
is enabled in the Toolbox.
- Place your cursor near the left edge of the position that you wish to place the field, click your left mouse button, and then drag to the right to create the new field.
- When you release the left mouse button, the Select Field dialog box appears.
- Ensure that the Select a record type field displays the appropriate record type.
Important Note: When you are adding a field or section to an Act! report, the list of Fields will differ for each record type. Each Report Type includes a different set of record types. If you have created a custom field, you may need to scroll through the Select a record type options to find it. This document was written using the Contact Report Type with the associated Contact record type. For a detailed list of the different record types associated with each report type, refer to the Report Record Types section at the end of this document.
- Clear the Include a label check box, click the field you want to add to this report template, and then click Add. The field appears on the report template.
- Once all fields have been added to the report template, click Close to exit the Select a Field dialog box.
Adding Permanent Text to your Report Template:
- Enable the Text tool
from the Toolbox.
- Place your cursor near the left edge of the position that you wish to place the text field, click your left mouse button, and then drag to the right to create the new text field.
- After you release the left mouse button, your text field appears.
- You must click into an empty spot on your report template to deselect this text field before you can double-click it and begin typing text into the field. You may format the text as you type.
- Adding a Rectangle to your Report Template:.
- Enable the Rectangle tool
from the Toolbox.
- Place your cursor near the left edge of the position that you wish to place the rectangle, click your left mouse button, and then drag to the right to create the shape.
Adding an Image to your Report Template:
- Enable the Picture tool
from the Toolbox.
- Place your cursor near the left edge of the position that you wish to place the image, click your left mouse button, and then drag to the right to create the field for your image.
- When you release the left mouse button, the Open Image dialog box appears.
- Browse to (if necessary), and then Open the Image file (.BMP, .JPG or .GIF) that you would like to appear on the report template. The image appears on the template.
Adding a Picture Field to your Report Template:
- Enable the Picture Field tool
from the Toolbox.
- Place your cursor near the left edge of the position that you wish to place the field, click your left mouse button, and then drag to the right to create the new field.
- When you release the left mouse button, the Select Field dialog box appears.
- Ensure that the Select a record type field displays the appropriate record type.
- Clear the Include a label check box, click the field you want to add to this report template, and then click Add. The field appears on the report template.
- Once all Picture Fields have been added to the report template, click Close to exit the Select a Field dialog box.
Adding a System Field to your Report Template:
- Enable the System Field tool
in the Toolbox.
- Place your cursor near the left edge of the position that you wish to place the field, click your left mouse button, and then drag to the right to create the new field.
- When you release the left mouse button, the Select System Field dialog box appears.
- Click the desired System Field, and then click Add.
- Repeat for additional system fields.
Adding a Subreport to your Report Template:
- Enable the Subreport tool
from the Toolbox.
- Place your cursor near the left edge of the position that you wish to place the field, click your left mouse button, and then drag to the right to create the new field.
- When you release the left mouse button, the Subreports dialog box appears.
- Enter a Subreport name, click the field in the list that will link your main report to this subreport, and then click OK.
For detailed information on creating subreports, refer to the following Answer.
Saving and Previewing your New Report:
- When you are finished creating the template, click the File menu (in the Report Designer), and then click Save As. A Save As dialog box appears.
- Ensure that the Save As Type field lists Act! report Files (*.rep). Type in a unique File Name, ensure the Save In field displays the Reports directory (or your custom directory), and then click Save. A progress indicator appears as your custom report is saved.
- Your custom report will now appear in the Act! Reports directory.
- To preview this report, click the File menu, and then click Print Preview. The Print Preview window appears.
Note: You will need to activate the Zoom In ToolHold this cursor over the Print Preview and then click the left mouse button to enlarge the preview. You may need to repeat these steps several times for a clear preview.
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Report Properties
A new feature of Act! is the ability to easily customize the properties for the background or other objects on your report template, through the report Properties window.
Act! uses the same template editor to modify reports, labels, envelopes and layouts. Consequently, not all of the field properties are appropriate for all fields on your report template.
Click the View menu, and then click Properties Window. The Properties window appears on the right side of your report template. The Properties Window can be undocked (or docked) by double-clicking the Properties title bar.

The initial field displays the object that you are viewing properties for. Clicking different objects in the template will change the display to reflect the selected object.
By default, the Properties Window displays a categorized

In addition to Subreports, there are six different field types that are appropriate for report templates: Data Field, Text Field, Rectangle,Picture, Picture Field andSystem Field. There are two ways to adjust field properties on an report template: Right-click the field, and then click Properties from the shortcut menu or click a field, click the View menu, and then click Properties Window. See the sections below for detailed information on field properties.
For detailed information regarding Report Properties, refer to the following Answer:
Report Record Types:
Act! comes with five different Report Types: Contact, Company, Group, Product and Opportunity. Each different Report Type includes a different set of associated record types. Each record type includes a different set of associated fields. A description of the different record types for each Report Type is listed below, when adding a field or a section to your report template, please enable that record type to view the associated fields. Click the Report menu, and then click New Template to access the New Report dialog box.
Contact Report Record Types
My Record
Secondary Contact
Contact Activity
Contact History
Contact Note
Contact Opportunity
Contact Opportunity Product

Company Report Record Types
Company Activity
Company History
Company Note
Company Opportunity
Company Opportunity Product
Contact, My Record
Secondary Contact
Contact Activity
Contact History
Contact Note
Contact Opportunity
Contact Opportunity Product

Group Activity
Group History
Group Note
Group Opportunity
Group Opportunity Product
Contact
My Record
Secondary Contact
Contact Activity
Contact History
Contact Note
Contact Opportunity
Contact Opportunity Product

Product Opportunity

Opportunity Product
