Building Sub-Summary Reports

Intermediate

Design and produce professional multi-level sub-summary reports in FileMaker -- from single-level grouping to nested multi-break reports with conditional totals.

What you'll learn

How to set up a multi-level sub-summary report layout
How to sort at multiple levels to match sub-summary part hierarchy
How to add grand totals and group-level subtotals
How to use sliding and visibility to control appearance in Print mode

Sub-summary reports are FileMaker's native mechanism for grouped, sorted output -- invoice totals by region, sales by rep by month, project hours by category. A well-constructed sub-summary report is efficient, readable, and works in both Preview and Print modes without any custom code. The critical skill is connecting the sort order to the layout part configuration.

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Setting up the sub-summary layout

Each sub-summary level needs its own part. The parts must be ordered from outermost to innermost sort level. Add a Grand Summary part for the overall total.

TEXT

// Layout parts for a 2-level report (Territory -> Sales Rep):
// Grand Summary (leading) -- overall report title / period
// Sub-Summary by Territory (leading) -- territory header row
// Sub-Summary by SalesRep (leading) -- sales rep header
// Body -- individual invoice rows
// Sub-Summary by SalesRep (trailing) -- sales rep total
// Sub-Summary by Territory (trailing) -- territory total
// Grand Summary (trailing) -- overall total
// Footer -- page # of ##

// Field placement:
// Territory sub-summary: Invoices::Territory (text)
// SalesRep sub-summary:  Invoices::SalesRepName (text)
// Body:                  Invoice #, Date, Customer, Amount
// Trailing sub-summaries: Invoices::sTotal (summary field: Total of Amount)

Layout Parts Deep Dive Tab Order and Keyboard Navigation