# Access 2007 question (XP Pro)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2007-question-xp-pro/527691
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 4, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2007-question-xp-pro/527691 "2010-02-04T17:32:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2007-question-xp-pro/527691/1 "2010-02-04T17:32:44Z")
Okay, I may be getting in over my head here, but I’m going to give it a try.
Let’s say that I create a table, and that one of the columns is set up as a Memo field. If the text that is stored in the field is a block of HTML code, is there a way that I can generate a report which displays the contents as it would be read by a browser?
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### Author:  [@Ruminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruminator)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2007-question-xp-pro/527691/2 "2010-02-04T17:52:30Z")
I don’t think you can make Access generate an pure text report stripped of all formatting.
Instead, you’d have to write some custom code to transfer the memo field contents to a file. Similar to example shown here: [http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/35504157/how-to-write-text-file.aspx](http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/35504157/how-to-write-text-file.aspx)
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### Author:  [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2007-question-xp-pro/527691/3 "2010-02-04T17:59:38Z")
Disclaimer: I don’t have 2007, still in 2003, so I’m just tossing out some possible avenues to pursue.
Does the report have to be in Access?
Because Word can produce HTML documents, and it will read Access data. So you might be able to do a merge file with the Memo fields.
I know A2003 has Data Access Pages, although I’ve never used them. My understanding is that they’re basically html reports. Does 2007 have something similar that you could use?
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### Author:  [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2007-question-xp-pro/527691/4 "2010-02-04T18:04:39Z")
I don’t want to strip out the coding. I want the database to use the HTML in the cell to format the text correctly.
So if the cell contains this text:
> [@](#):
>
> \Part 1\\You \really\ need to stop staring at me like that, kid.\
The report shows this:
> [@](#):
>
> Part 1
> You \*really \*need to stop staring at me like that, kid.
For the record, I’ve tried setting up the cell to contain RTF data, but that method isn’t working well in preserving paragraph formats.
And yes, it does need to be in a database. These blocks of HTML will be cross-linked to data from numerous tables.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2007-question-xp-pro/527691/5 "2010-02-04T22:24:50Z")
Somewhere amongst the huge list of activex objects you can add to your forms and reports, there should be one that renders HTML - I thought it was called IEcontrol or some such, but I can’t find it.
It should be like a textbox to use, but capable of rendering HTML
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### Author:  [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2007-question-xp-pro/527691/6 "2010-02-04T23:37:27Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> Somewhere amongst the huge list of activex objects you can add to your forms and reports, there should be one that renders HTML - I thought it was called IEcontrol or some such, but I can’t find it.
>
> It should be like a textbox to use, but capable of rendering HTML
That would be the Microsoft Web Browser Active X control.
I know it will do the job for displaying HTML if you add it to a form, but I don’t know if it will print HTML in a report. It’s worth a try though…