Need help with Microsoft Access access report not printing page header, page footer or report footer you can see them in report view but not in print view.

Dear Edna,

As a forum moderator, I genuinely wish I could directly access your account or delve into the backend systems to diagnose and fix this for you. Unfortunately, my role here is limited to providing general guidance and solutions you can try from your side. I did attempt to replicate the issue on my end, and Access is behaving normally here.

If the missing header or footer belongs to a sub report, this behavior may actually be expected. When printing, pagination is controlled by the main report, so a sub report's Page Header or Page Footer might not appear as expected. For content that must print from within a sub report, a Group Header, Group Footer, or Report Footer is generally more suitable. If these sections belong to the main report rather than a sub report, this explanation would not apply.

For reference: https://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/threads/sub-report-showing-its-page-footer-in-report-view-but-not-in-print-preview-mode.331923/ (This link is shared by community members for your convenience. It points to a third-party site that is not managed or verified by Microsoft. We can’t guarantee the quality, safety, or suitability of any content or software found there. Please review carefully and make sure you understand any potential risks before using it)

Create a small test report, this will help separate a damaged or code-driven report from an Access build problem. On the affected computer:

1. Create a blank Access database.
2. Create a simple table with two or three records.
3. Create a new report.
4. Add visible text to the Page Header, Detail, Page Footer, and Report Footer sections.
5. Add a line and a rectangle.
6. Open the report in Print Preview.
7. Test with Microsoft Print to PDF.

The result will tell you a great deal:

• If the new report also loses sections, the issue likely lies with the Access installation or a recent update.
• If the new report works correctly, inspect the original report's properties, grouping, sub reports, and event code.
• If text prints but lines disappear, this closely matches a reported Version 2608 regression.

I found several reports from August 2026 describing very similar behavior. One report identifies Access Version 2608, Build 16.0.20326.20034 and 16.0.20326.20044 (64-bit), where line controls disappear in Print Preview and printed output. An earlier incident also caused borders to disappear from Print Preview, which the Access team was reported to be investigating. The documented reports specifically concern line controls, so this does not yet confirm that the entire missing-section behavior has the same cause, but the timing makes the build important to check. 

To check your own build, please open Access and go to File > Account > About Access. Make a note of the version and build number shown at the top. If you are on Version 2608, Build 20326, that matches the affected builds in those reports. The reports indicate that rolling Access back to an earlier build restores the missing elements immediately. If this is affecting your day-to-day work, that may be worth considering as a temporary measure while a fix is released. Your IT administrator would be best placed to handle this, as it involves reverting the Office installation and temporarily pausing updates.

It is also worth submitting feedback directly from within Access, via Help > Feedback > Report a problem. Reports from affected users genuinely help the product team prioritise a fix, particularly when several people report the same build.

If your organization has an IT administrator, please also ask them to open a service request with Microsoft Support. A support engineer can confirm whether this is a known regression in the current build, and if so, provide the expected timeline for a fix or an official rollback recommendation. For detailed instructions on how to get support, please refer to Get support - Microsoft 365 admin. If you are not sure who your IT administrator is, please refer to How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support.

If this is a personal or small business setup without an administrator, you can contact Microsoft Support directly at https://support.microsoft.com/contactus

Related reports:

Access Reports not printing correctly - Microsoft Q&A

Access 2608 Build 20326: Line controls disappear in Print Preview | Microsoft Community Hub

Office 365 - Reports - Bug - No border is coming in display of preview - Microsoft Q&A

I hope this information helps clarify the situation and provides you with workable solutions. Please know that even though I can't directly intervene, directing you to the correct, specialized support is the most effective help I can provide from my position. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Please let me know if you need anything else. Wishing you all the best. 

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