--- title: "Report Designer" slug: "report-designer" updated: 2024-10-31T12:03:51Z published: 2024-10-31T12:03:51Z canonical: "help.mail-and-deploy.com/report-designer" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.mail-and-deploy.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Report Designer ### General The actual report design process cannot be performed in the web user interface (such as the [Management Service](/release35/docs/services)) due to technical limitations. Instead, a local desktop application called *Mail & Deploy Designer* will be used to design reports. ### Installing Mail & Deploy Designer Before Mail & Deploy Designer can be used for the first time, it needs to be installed (see [Requirements](/release35/docs/requirements) for more information). NOTE Mail & Deploy Designer only needs to be installed once per computer and user. To install Mail & Deploy Designer, you need to connect to the [Management Service](/release35/docs/services) and click Reports in the main menu. At the bottom of the page, the button *Download Designer* needs to be clicked which will initiate a download of a file named *Designer.zip*; that file will be downloaded from [Mail & Deploy Server](/release35/docs/server), not from the internet. Then open the ZIP file and double-click the file *Mail & Deploy Designer Installer.exe* to perform the installation. NOTE It is not required to have local administrator rights to perform the installation. NOTE The Data\Designer folder of your Mail & Deploy root installation directory contains an *Installer.msi *file that can be used for unattended installations; it silently performs the same installation as when manually installing the designer as described above. ### Launching Mail & Deploy Designer To launch Mail & Deploy Designer for a particular report, connect to the [Management Service](/release35/docs/services) and click Reports in the main menu. Then click the Design Report button for the report you want to design: ![](https://cdn.document360.io/e3657e0f-d0b6-4032-8271-1f5869a7b807/Images/Documentation/image%289%29.png) **Design Report Button** In some browsers, a dialog may appear that asks you whether you want to confirm the launch Mail & Deploy Designer. If that is the case, confirm it: ![](https://cdn.document360.io/e3657e0f-d0b6-4032-8271-1f5869a7b807/Images/Documentation/image%2810%29.png) **Confirmation Dialog in Google Chrome** ### Main User Interface The main user interface is divided into several sections: ![](https://cdn.document360.io/e3657e0f-d0b6-4032-8271-1f5869a7b807/Images/Documentation/image%2811%29.png) **Mail & Deploy Designer Main User Interface** #### [1] - Content Explorer The content explorer displays all the contents of the [Report](/release35/docs/introduction-to-reports) in a tree hierarchy. You can add content to the content explorer by right-clicking the folder to which you want add content to; a context menu will appear that let's you decide what to add to the folder. > **Example:** If you want to add a new [Parameter](/release35/docs/parameters) to the report, right-click the Parameters folder and then choose New Parameter. In order to perform an action on a content item (e.g. delete the item), right-click the item and choose the appropriate action in the context menu. > **Example:** If you want to delete a [Parameter](/release35/docs/parameters) from the report, right-click the parameter and then click Delete Parameter. #### [2] - Property Grid The property grid always displays properties of the item that is currently selected in the content explorer. Every property has a tooltip that can be displayed by hovering the mouse over the name of the property. ![](https://cdn.document360.io/e3657e0f-d0b6-4032-8271-1f5869a7b807/Images/Documentation/image%2812%29.png) **Property Tooltip** #### [3] - Content Editor The content editor is used to edit types of content that support it (such as [Modules](/release35/docs/modules)). You can launch the content editor by double-clicking the item in the context explorer. > Example: If you want to edit a [Module](/release35/docs/modules), double-click the module in the context explorer. The content editor supports the following items: - [Modules](/release35/docs/modules) - Templates #### [4] - Additional Information This part of the user interface contains additional information that may be relevent when designing the report. You can toggle between a minimized and the normal view of this area of the user interface by clicking on *Additional Information*. #### [5] - Main Toolbar The main toolbar contains buttons to: - Save the report. - Save the report and close the designer. - Close the desigenr without saving the report. - Creating previews of the report in various file types (the available file types depend on the type of the report). - Refresh the data loaded from the server (e.g. if you have added a new [Datasource](/release35/docs/introduction-to-datasources) or you have rebuilt the cache of a datasource, you can click the refresh button to load this data into the designer). - Manage [Global Variables](/release35/docs/global-variables). - Manage [Global Styles](/release35/docs/global-styles). - Manage [Global Modules](/release35/docs/global-modules). - Toggle between the expanded view (where the content editor takes all of the available space) and the normal view (where the content explorer, content editor, and the additional information are shown).