All the elements have a set of common properties, or attributes; they are presented in the element properties view. These attributes concern information about element positioning on the page. Jaspersoft Studio positions an element relative to the band to which the element belongs (or, more broadly, to its container). The band width is always equal to the document page width minus the left and right margins; its height can change depending on the type of band and the contained elements.

The element types are presented in a palette, usually located in the top right portion of the main window:

Element attributes are divided into categories, visible via tabs in the Properties view. The attributes available depend on the element type.

Appearance and Borders are shared among many elements and contain the attributes that define the graphical appearance of the elements, such the width of its borders, the background color, and so on. The Image category is a special one, because it is present only for the elements of the type Image.

Commonly, the value of an attribute is undefined, and it has a common default value. This means that the element does not have a specific behavior defined, but gets a behavior from somewhere else. For example, the default value of the attribute "background color" is undefined in most of cases, but when a non-transparent element is added to the designer, we can see that it has a white background. The value of the background color attribute is inherited from a lower level.