About report snapshots and Snapshot Viewer

If you print and distribute reports to users inside or outside your organization, using report snapshots can save considerable time and money. Instead of photocopying and mailing printed Access reports, you can electronically distribute and publish them using either e-mail or a Web browser. Your users can easily and quickly view the reports online and print only the report pages they need. This is especially useful when your reports contain color and images, such as charts and pictures.

There are two ways you can publish a report snapshot to the World Wide Web:

• Create a link to the report snapshot by using an HTML anchor tag on a Web page

  If you are using Internet Explorer version 3.0 or later as your Web browser, when you click the link, Internet Explorer does an in-place activation of the report snapshot and Snapshot Viewer in the Internet Explorer window. Snapshot Viewer must be installed on the same computer as the browser. Therefore, it's a good idea to provide an additional link on the Web page to the software download page for Snapshot Viewer. Users who do not have Snapshot Viewer installed on their computers can then download and install Snapshot Viewer to view the report.

• Embed the Snapshot Viewer control on the Web page by using the HTML Object tag

  You can embed the Snapshot Viewer control by using the Microsoft ActiveX Control Pad application, which adds an HTML Object tag, and set the control parameters by using the Control Pad Object Editor.

  You can use this method only with Internet Explorer 3.0 or later. In this case, if Snapshot Viewer is not installed on the same computer as the browser, Internet Explorer automatically downloads the Snapshot Viewer ActiveX control (but not the entire Snapshot Viewer program).

You can send a report snapshot in e-mail by using Snapshot Viewer or Access. You can also embed a report snapshot as an icon or as a file in an e-mail message by using an e-mail program that supports ActiveX controls, such as Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Exchange. When you send report snapshots in e-mail, it's a good idea to include a link to the software download page for Snapshot Viewer.

A typical business application creates and distributes reports not only on request, but also on a schedule according to regular business cycles, such as weekly stock quotes, monthly sales reports, or quarterly financial statements.

From Access, you can programmatically create and distribute report snapshots in several ways. For example:

• Create a macro that uses the OutputTo action to export one or more reports in snapshot format to a Web server that you use to publish your reports.
• Create a macro that uses the SendObject action to mail a report to a mail recipient or distribution list.
• Create a Visual Basic for Applications program by using Snapshot Viewer methods, events, and properties.