Viewing, editing or deleting a report

This article will show you how to edit a report you've already set up.

Viewing

After creating a custom report, you are taken to the view report page.

You can also select a report from the School > Custom Report Writer > All Reports page to open, view and edit.

Lastly, you can head to Reporting > Report Library to access custom reports too (see our Using the Report Library in Arbor guide for more information).

You will be taken to the report overview, where you can see everyone included in the report and take further actions.

• If a report has been shared or scheduled to run at a particular time, then the share and calendar icons will appear beside the report's title at the top of the page.
• Each report also features a Help section that can be expanded to provide troubleshooting tips as needed.
• The actions you can perform for the report, for example, Edit, Share, Duplicate and Schedule, are at the top of the report.

You can click on the name of a person included in the report to see more information about them, and jump to their profile by clicking their name.

On certain reports, such as a report you've set up that is about students, you can tick the boxes next to each person’s name to complete bulk actions.

Editing

To edit a report, click into the report from the All Reports page or the Report Library, then click the Edit button. The edit page allows you to alter settings such as columns, filters, groupings and collation all in one place.

Report title

Changing your report's title alters the name you see for the report on pages like the All Reports page or the Report Library. 

You might want to change a report's title to make it more searchable or make it appear higher up in alphabetised lists. All you need to do is:

• Click the box next to the words Report title*
• Edit or replace the text in the box
• Click Save & View Report to save your title changes

Date Range

The data range determines which records in your report's primary focus to display information for in your columns.

For example, if your report is about 'Students', setting your date range to this academic year ensures the report only includes students who were enrolled at some point during the current academic year, and excludes students who left before the start of the year or won't be joining the school until next year.

To edit a date range:

• Click on the Date Range dropdown
• Select your date range type from the list
• (For custom date ranges, set your custom range in the From and To boxes by typing the date, or by clicking the calendar icons and selecting dates from the calendar pop-up.

There are two types of date ranges to choose from: relative dates and custom dates.

• Relative dates are a dynamic date range that automatically updates over time. This allows reports to adapt without manual adjustments. 
  
  For instance, 'today' updates daily to the current date, so if you set it now, it will display tomorrow's date when you view the report.
  
  Custom dynamic date ranges, such as 'two weeks ago', are not available. You can only choose from the options in the drop-down menu.
  
  The available dynamic date ranges are:
   
  • Current academic year
  • Next academic year
  • Previous academic year
  • Two academic years ago
  • Last week
  • This week
  • Today
  • Yesterday
  • Current term
  • Last term
     
• Custom dates are fixed dates that are selected in the From and To fields after choosing Custom in the Date Range drop-down.
  
  The From and To dates do not update automatically over time and must be changed manually.
  
  For instance, setting From to September 1, 2025, and To to December 31, 2025, will keep your report focused on that period until you change the dates.
  
  When using custom date ranges, make sure to: 
   
  • Change the Date Range drop-down to custom; otherwise, the system will apply the dynamic range listed and ignore the dates in the To and From fields.
  • Set dates in the To and From fields. If you leave these fields blank when the Custom date range type is selected, the system will not allow you to proceed to the next step. 
     

Report Columns

Report columns let you customise which data items for your report's subjects display in the report.

For example, a "Preferred Name" column applied to a report about Students with the date range "Today" adds a column to your report that lists the preferred names of all students enrolled in your school today. Adding an additional column for FSM?, for example, then lists whether these same students are Free School Meals eligible in the same row as their names.

To add more columns to your report:

• Click the green +Add another button in the Report Columns section.
• Click on the New Column drop-down
• Start typing the name of the column you want to narrow down the list, or scroll through the list to find the column you need
• Select the column or columns in the drop-down (you can add multiple columns in one go by selecting multiple column types from the drop-down)
• Press the green Add Column button to add the column

Once you click Add Column, an Edit Column slide-over opens. This slide-over allows you to change specific settings for your report column, like dates and formatting.

For columns you have already added, you can use the pencil icon next to the column name in the Report Column list to get to the Edit Column screen.
 

Things you might want to edit include:
 

• Column Label - setting a column label changes the name you see for the column in the editor and in your report headings from the default column name. Just type into the text box and press Save to apply the change. To revert a labelled column to its default name, remove all of the text in the box and press Save.
   
• Date range - Many column types make use of date ranges, which help filter the data displayed in your column report. 
  
  For example, in a report about students, you could set an attendance column to show last week's percentage instead of the entire year.
   
• Format - Format dropdowns let you select how your data is displayed in the report.
  
  For instance, in a Date of Birth column, you can display dates in 8 formats, such as British (dd/mm/yyyy), American (mm/dd/yy), and Hijiri.
   
• Summary Row Formula - Summary rows appear at the bottom of your report column and summarise the column data according to your specification. Summary Row Formula options you might see are:
   
  • Row Count can be used for all columns and shows the number of values in a column.
  • Average and Sum functions are only available for columns that contain numerical values, such as attendance columns. 
     
    • Sum tallies all of the values in a row by adding them together and providing the total.
    • Average provides the mean value of the values in the column (the Sum of the values divided by the Row Count). 
       

• Hide field tickbox - Checking this box will hide the report column in your final report without deleting it. 

  This allows you to customise what your report displays while retaining data you may want to use later, such as in an advanced calculated formula or for ordering your report.

If you decide you no longer need a column, you can delete the column from your report by clicking the Bin icon to the right of the column's name in the Report Columns list. 
 

Note: Deleted columns cannot be recovered. You must re-add them with the same settings if deleted by mistake.

Ordering columns

To change the order of your report columns, drag and drop columns in the list of Report Columns.

Columns at the top of the list appear further to the left in your report, and ones towards the bottom appear further to the right.

To move a column further to the right when viewing your report, for example, drag and drop the column so that it is listed further below the columns you want to move to the left of that column.

Column sorting

Column sorting allows you to sort your report by the data in columns alphabetically or chronologically. 

Click the green +Add another button to add more columns for sorting.

Change the ordering applied to a column by clicking the circle next to your preference.
 

• A-Z sorts text alphabetically; Z-A sorts it in reverse alphabetical order.
• A-Z sorts dates chronologically (older dates first); Z-A does the reverse.
• A-Z for numbers shows smaller first (low to high); Z-A shows larger first (high to low).

Filters

Filters enable you to retain specific rows in your report while hiding others. A filter reduces the total number of records you see to only those that match your criteria. 

To add a new filter:

• Click +Add another
• Use the Select filter dropdown to choose your filter
• Click the green Add Filter button

Delete filters from your report by clicking the Bin icon next to a filter

Edit filters by navigating to the Filters section and clicking the Pencil icon next to the filter you want to modify.

For more details on filters, how they work and which filter types you can use, see this article: Using AND and OR filters in the Custom Report Writer

Groupings

Each row in your report shows data for the selected individuals or items. Groupings help categorise these results into clusters.

To add a new grouping:

• Click +Add another
• Use the Group by dropdown to choose your grouping
• Click the green Add Grouping button

Delete groupings by clicking the Bin icon next to a grouping.

Edit groupings by going to the Groupings section and clicking the Pencil icon next to a filter.

Whether you are editing or adding a grouping, on the Edit Grouping slide-over, you might see some settings to add or adjust.

• If you see a Date Range section on the slide-over, you can set the dates to group your report subjects. This range specifies the dates during which the subjects are included in the cluster, particularly if their membership changes over time.
  
  For instance, if your report focuses on students in the Current Academic Year, but you want to group them by last year's year groups, set the date range to Previous academic year.
  
  
   
• If you see other drop-downs on the slide-over, these help narrow down your 'group by' options beyond just date. If a drop-down has an asterisk (*), you must select an option to proceed.
  
  For instance, in the Demographics groupings, you'll find a "Pick demographics" drop-down and an "Also include Inverse demographics" drop-down; both are required. 
  
  The first allows you to choose which demographics to cluster in your report, while the second specifies if you want students outside those groups to have separate clusters.
  
  

Collations

Collating a report helps you organise results into sections, allowing you to choose how rows are grouped when downloading.

For instance, if your report lists all students, you can separate them by year group for printing or downloading by adding a collation.

To add a new collation:

• Click +Add another
• Use the Collate by dropdown to choose your grouping
• Click the green Add Collation button

Delete collations by clicking the Bin icon next to a grouping.

Edit groupings by going to the Collations section and clicking the Pencil icon next to a filter.

Collations are not compatible with groupings, so if you added a grouping above, you will see a message stating "Sorry - you can't add a collation to this report, as your report is already grouped." You would need to remove your groupings to make this option available.

Bulk changing column dates and hiding columns

You can change your column date-ranges in bulk - useful when you have many columns and you want to update the date-range of all them at once. Just click the Bulk Change date Ranges button.

In the slide over, tick the boxes of the columns you wish to change the date range for and set the new date range, then click Save Changes.

Hide columns

Choose to hide columns in bulk by clicking Bulk Edit Column Settings.

Deleting

Only reports that you have created can be deleted. If you wish to delete a report that you did not make, you will need to contact the report owner.

To delete a report, select the report, then click the Delete button.

It is not possible to recover a deleted report. Any deleted reports that need to be recovered must be manually recreated.