Print layouts often require appearance customizations. Changing the look and feel of a print layout is done using Appearance properties. Examples of appearance properties include font, background color and foreground color. Appearance properties can be applied at the Print Layout, Band and Control level. The configuration of one component may effect another through Inheritance.

There are two ways to configure the Appearance properties of a print layout component: setting the appearance properties on a per component basis, or by configuring and applying Styles. The properties for each appear similar to one another, with some minor differences. These properties must be applied to print layout components while being mindful of property Inheritance.

If you want prints to follow a standard style, you may want to create branded layouts in the paper sizes your organization uses. Sharing prebranded layouts with other authors in your organization allows them to create copies to use as the basis of new layouts. This frees authors from having to repeat the branding effort each time they create a new layout. See the tutorial for a guide on how to create a pre-branded layout for your organization.