Use a screen reader to create a report in access desktop databases

This article is for people with visual impairments who use a screen reader program with the Office products and is part of the Office Accessibility content set. For more general help, see Office Support home.

Use Access with your keyboard and a screen reader to create a report in an Access desktop database. We have tested it with Narrator, JAWS, and NVDA, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques. Reports offer a way to view, format, and summarize the information in your Access database. For more information on reports, see Introduction to reports in Access.

Notes: 

• New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

• To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft Office.

In this topic

• Create a report

• Create a report with the Report Wizard

• Add conditional formatting to a report

Create a report

1. Select the data source table or query in the Navigation Pane.

2. Open the Report tool by pressing Alt+C, R, N. Access creates a simple, tabular report in the Navigation Pane, containing all of the fields in the record source you selected.

Create a report with the Report Wizard

1. Select the data source table or query in the Navigation Pane.

2. Open the Report Wizard tool by pressing Alt+C, R, Z. You hear "Report Wizard window," and the focus moves to the first row of the Available fields table in the Report Wizard window.

3. To add fields to your report, press the Down arrow key until you hear the name of the field you want, press the Tab key twice, and press Enter. Repeat this step for each field you want to add to the report.

4. Once you have added the fields you want, press F6 until you hear "Next button," then press the Right arrow key until you hear "Finish button," and press Enter.

Add conditional formatting to a report

Conditional formatting allows you to apply different formatting to individual values on reports. For more information on conditional formatting, see Video: Use conditional formatting on reports.

1. Select the control you want to add conditional formatting to.

2. Open the Conditional Formatting tool by pressing Alt+J, F, O. The Conditional Formatting Rules Manager window opens with focus on the Show formatting rules for drop-down menu.

3. To navigate the drop-down menu, press the Down arrow key until you hear the one you want.

4. Press the Tab key until you hear "New rule button," and press Enter. The New Formatting Rule window opens, with focus on the Select rule type field.

5. To select a type of formatting rule, press the Down arrow key until you hear the type you want.

6. Press the Tab key once to move the focus to the first field in the rule definition.

7. Enter the formatting rule you want. Depending on the type of rule you have selected, the rule definition can contain a variable amount of fields. Move between them with the Tab key and Shift+Tab. For drop-down fields, press the Down arrow key until you hear the value you want.

8. For field value and expression fields, you can open the Expression Builder by pressing the Tab key until you hear "Launch the Expression Builder," and press Enter. To navigate inside the Expression Builder press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you find the field or control you want, and press Enter to select it. Once you are finished, press the Tab key until you hear "OK button," and press Enter to return to the New Formatting Rule window.

9. When you are finished defining the rule, press the Tab key until you hear "OK button," and press Enter to return to the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager window.

10. Press the Tab key until you hear "OK button," and press Enter to return to the report.

See also

Use a screen reader to start Access

Use a screen reader to create a query in Access desktop databases

Technical Support for customers with disabilities

Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.

If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.