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Peter Gill edited this page Jun 8, 2026 · 1 revision

Page Layout

Page layout settings control the physical size, orientation, and margins of each page in the rendered output. These settings are stored in the RDL file and apply to all output formats (PDF, Excel, HTML, TIFF, etc.).

Opening Report Properties

In the designer, access page layout via Report → Report Properties from the menu bar. The Page tab contains all layout settings.

Page size

Set the page width and height explicitly. RDL uses inches as the internal unit.

Format Width Height
Letter (US) 8.5in 11in
Legal (US) 8.5in 14in
A4 8.27in 11.69in
A3 11.69in 16.54in
Custom any any

Enter values in the Page Width and Page Height fields. The unit suffix (in, cm, mm, pt) is required.

Orientation

Portrait is the default (width < height). To switch to landscape, swap the width and height values — for example, set width to 11in and height to 8.5in for landscape Letter.

There is no single "orientation" toggle; changing the dimensions is the mechanism.

Margins

Four margin fields control the printable area: Top, Bottom, Left, Right. All accept the same unit suffixes as page size.

Typical values:

  • US business report: 1in on all sides
  • Compact layout: 0.5in on all sides
  • No margin (edge-to-edge): 0in (check your printer/PDF viewer handles this)

The body width must not exceed PageWidth − LeftMargin − RightMargin. The designer shows a warning if a report item extends beyond the printable area.

Columns

For a multi-column layout (e.g. a mailing label sheet or a directory listing):

  • Columns — number of columns per page
  • Column Spacing — gap between columns

Each column has an effective width of (PageWidth − LeftMargin − RightMargin − (Columns − 1) × ColumnSpacing) / Columns.

Checking the printable area

The designer shows the page boundary and a light-grey margin boundary on the design surface. Any report item that crosses the right margin boundary will cause clipped output in PDF. To check: zoom out and confirm no item extends past the right margin line.

Setting layout in RDL XML

If you need to set layout programmatically or in a template, the relevant RDL elements are:

<Report>
  <PageWidth>8.5in</PageWidth>
  <PageHeight>11in</PageHeight>
  <TopMargin>1in</TopMargin>
  <BottomMargin>1in</BottomMargin>
  <LeftMargin>1in</LeftMargin>
  <RightMargin>1in</RightMargin>
  <Columns>1</Columns>
  <ColumnSpacing>0.5in</ColumnSpacing>
  ...
</Report>

When creating reports programmatically, pass these dimensions to the Create helper or set them on the generated RDL before parsing. See Programmatic Report Creation.

Tips

  • Keep body width at least 0.1in narrower than the printable area to avoid edge clipping in PDF.
  • A4 and Letter are close in size but not identical — design for one and test on the other before shipping.
  • For labels or cards with no headers or footers, set all margins to 0in and rely on the body layout alone.
  • Interactive HTML output ignores page size; layout settings primarily matter for PDF, TIFF, and print output.

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