ConnectWise Report Designer

The Report Designer is where you build and edit reports in Report Writer. It is organized into tabs — each tab controls a different aspect of the report. To start a new report, select New Item in Report Writer. You land on the Data Sources tab.

Designer tabs

Toolbar

Lets you create, save, and export reports. Also surfaces Report Designer settings.

Data Sources

Where you select the database tables or views your report pulls from. Your system administrator can pre-configure the available data sources to simplify selection and hide irrelevant parts of the data model.

Fields

Where the report is actually built. Define which fields from the data source appear in the report, and set up grouping, sorting, and totals.

Summary

Creates a summary table above or below the detail rows. Choose aggregation functions (sum, count, average, etc.) per field. Use the Group function option to group fields together in the summary.

Chart

Builds a chart from the data source selected on the Data Sources tab. Multiple chart types are available.

Gauge

Creates a panel of gauges, each grouped by a field from your dataset.

Misc

Adds a title, description, header, and footer to the report, with justification controls for each. Also where you find:

• Sharing settings
• Scheduling controls
• Drill-down configuration

Style

Controls the visual appearance of the report: border color, header color, row color, and the order of report items.

Filters

Narrows the report to specific records. Filters apply to the fields from the table or view selected in Data Sources.

Preview

Renders the report as it will appear in the report viewer. Use this tab to check your layout and settings before publishing.

Note: To search for specific tables or fields within connected databases, use Instant Reports — it provides keyword-based lookup across the data model without building a full report first.