It can sometimes be difficult when you are creating reports, especially large ones, to remember that grouped fields and their respective headers and footers are likely at some point to be split awkwardly over consecutive pages. Obviously you want to avoid having a stray header at the bottom of one page and the fields it heads over on the next page! Ability enables you to guarantee that a grouped field and its header/footer are kept together in your reports.
After you have created your report and selected the fields to be grouped (see Grouping and sorting in a report), do the following:
Select Sections from the Format menu.
Click on the Groups tab in the Section Properties box.
The Group name/s are on the left, with the three group options on the right. Use the drop-down list to set Yes or No for one or more of the following options:
Fix Widow ensures that if a group header is stranded alone at the bottom of a page, with the group itself on the next page, the header will be forced onto the next page.
Fix Orphan ensures that if a group footer is stranded alone at the top of a page, with the group itself on the previous page, then the last entry in the group will be forced onto the same page as the group footer.
Fix Whole Group ensures that the whole group, including header and footer, is kept together on a single page.
Click on OK to apply the settings and return to report design view.
Click on the Print Preview button to see how headers, footers and groups are kept together as determined by the option you chose.