# Report Wizard: Categories

Select which data to use on the report. The left pane shows the data categories you can access. To see the fields in a category, select it, then click the View Category Fields icon.

What are data categories?

Data categories are tables of data, which are organized by rows and columns. Columns are also known as data fields. A row of data has entries for one or more columns in the category. When you add a data field onto a report you are seeing the information in one column of data for every row in the category.

For example, a data category for Employees could have columns for the first and last names of each employee, an identification number, and a home phone number. Each row represents a person, and each column contains a specific type of information such as Last Name or Phone Number.

Example of a data category for employee records

You add entire categories at a time to a report, but in the report view you select only the columns you want to see. When you add a data field to the report design, even though you only see one column, the rest of the table is still present behind the scenes. You will never lose the connections between items in each row, and you can always add more fields.

Adding categories

On the Categories page, add data categories to the report. Later on, you can select which fields you actually want to see in the report layout.

Dragging a category to the Category Name pane

Tip: As you add categories, unrelated categories will become unavailable.