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Article Goal
Show how to configure drill-down functionality in Finished Reports so users can expand and collapse detailed data by clicking a grouped field.
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Drill-Down Reporting
What: Drill-down allows users to click a grouped value (such as EmployeeID) to show or hide related detail rows in the report preview.
Why: This improves report readability by reducing clutter and letting users focus only on the details they need, while still keeping all data accessible.
Configuration Note
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Drill control location | The control that triggers the drill-down (for example, a label) must be placed on an outer band, such as a Group Header. |
| Availability | Drill-down functionality works only in the report previewer and visualize. |
| Export behavior | Drill-down interactions are not preserved in exports (PDF, Excel, etc.). |
Use Case
| Scenario | Description |
|---|---|
| Grouped summaries | Allow users to expand grouped data (such as by Employee, Customer, or Category) only when needed. |
| Cleaner reports | Hide large detail sections until the user chooses to view them. |
| Interactive review | Enable interactive exploration of report data during preview without modifying the underlying dataset. |
Steps to Configure Drill-Down
Step 1: Group the Report
In the Finished Reports Designer, at the bottom of the designer add a Group and Sort to the report using your preferred field.
In this example, the report is grouped by EmployeeID and CustomerID.
Step 2: Add the drill-down field to the Group Header
Place the grouping field (EmployeeID & OrderID) into the Group Header bands.
These fields will act as the drill-down controls.
In this example, the EmployeeID field is used in GroupHeader1 and the OrderID label in GroupHeader2.
Note: You do not need to add multiple levels of drill-down. This will depend on your preferred setup.
Step 3: Add Detail Items
Add the desired detail fields to the Detail Band.
For this example, the following fields were added:
OrderID
OrderDate
Freight
ShipAddress
ShipCity
ShipCountry
Step 4: Configure Drill-Down Properties
Select the Detail Band, then open the Behavior tab in the Properties pane. Repeat for any additional drill-down controls
Note: The Drill-Down Control will vary depending on your report creation. In order to find what label to use, select the label in the report explorer.
Set the following:
Drill-Down-Control:
Label10Drill-Down-Expanded: Unchecked
This configuration hides the details by default and expands them only when the label is clicked.
Drill-Down Result
The example below shows the final drill-down behavior in the previewer.
Clicking the EmployeeID or OrderID expands or collapses the related detail rows.
Article Summary
This article explains how to configure drill-down functionality in Finished Reports by grouping data, assigning a drill-down control, and properly configuring detail band and header properties. Drill-down allows users to interactively expand and collapse grouped details in the previewer, making reports easier to read and navigate.
Keep in mind that drill-down requires the controlling element to be placed on an outer band and is available only in the previewer—it will not carry over to exported report formats.
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