Pivot Table

Being abel to quickly analyze data can help you make better business decision. But sometimes it's hard to know where to start, especially when you have lot of data. PivotTables are a great way to summarize,analyze,explore and present your data, and you can create them with just a few clicks. PivoTables are highly flexible and can be quickly adjusted depending on how you need to display your reuslts. You can also create PivotCharts base on PivotTables that will automatically update when your PivotTables do

Before you get started

• You data should be organized in tabular format, and not have any blank rows or columns. ideally, you can use an Excel table.
• Tables are a great PivotTable data source, because rows added to a tabel are automatically included in the PivotTable when you refresh the data, and any new columns will be included in the PivotTable Fields List. Otherwise, you need to either manually update the data source range, or use a dynamic named range formula
• Data types in columns should be the same. For example, you shouldn't mix dates and text in the same column.
• PivitTavles work on a snapshot of your data, called the cache, so your actual data doesn't get altered in any way.

Create a PivotTable

If you have limited experience with PivotTables, or are not sure how to get stargted, a Recommended PivotTable  is a good choice. When you use this feature, Excel determines a meaningful layout by matching the data with the most suitable areas in the PivotTable. This helps give you a starting point for additional experimentation. After a recommended PivotTable is created, You can explore different orientations and rearrange fields to achieve you specific results. The Recommended PivotTables feature wae added in Excel 2013, so if you have an earlier version, follow the instruction below for how to manually create a PivotTable instead.

Recommended PivotTable

• Click a cell in the source data or table range.
• Go to Insert >Tables >Recimmended PivotTable

• Excel analyzes your data and presents you with several options, like in this example using the household expense data.

• Select the PivotTable that looks best to you and press OK. Excel will carete a PivotTabel on a new sheet, and display the PivotTable Fields List

NOTE: The Screen shorts in this article were taken in Excel 2016. If you have a different version your view might be slightly different, but unless otherwise noted, the functionality is the same.

Manually Create a PivotTable

• Click a cell in the source data or table rante.
• Go to Insert > Tables > PivotTable

If your using Excel for Mac 2011 and earlier, the PivotTable button is on the Data tab in the Analysis group.

• Excel will display the Create PivotTable dialog with your range or table names selected in this case.

• In the Choose where you want to PivotTable report to be placed selection, select New worksheet, or Existing Worksheet. For Existing Worksheet, you'll need to select both the worksheet and the cell where you want the PivotTable placed.
• If you want to include multiple tables or data sourece in your PivotTable, click the Add this data to the Data Model check box
• Click OK, and Excel will create a blank PivotTable, and display the PivotTable Fields list.