Advanced PivotTables: Combining Data from Multiple Sheets

When you want to create a PivotTable, what do you do if you have data in different
worksheets? If you’re using Excel 2013, you have a streamlined method of doing this.
There’s a technique called the Data Model, and it uses data relationships the way a
database does.

In this tutorial, I'll show you everything you need to make a PivotTable in Excel 2013
from data in multiple sheets, using the Data Model.

Screencast

If you want to follow along with this tutorial using your own Excel file, you can do so. Or
if you prefer, download the zip file included for this tutorial, which contains a sample
workbook called Pivot Consolidate.xlsx.

Examining the Data

This workbook has three worksheets: Customer Info, Order Info, and Payment Info.

Click the Customer Info sheet, and see that it contains order numbers and the name
and state of customers.
 Cu
stomer Info sheet
Click the Order Info sheet, and see that it also contains order numbers, as well as fields
for the month, the products ordered, and whether or not the products are organic.

Or
der Info sheet
Click the Payment Info sheet, and see that it contains order numbers, the dollar amount
of each sale, the payment method, and whether the order was placed by a new or an
existing customer.

Pa
yment Info sheet
By connecting all these sheets inside the PivotTable’s task pane, we can selected data
from each of the sheets. Since the order numbers exist in all three sheets, they will
become the connection points. This is what a database calls a primary key. Note that it
isn’t always necessary to have a primary key, but it reduces the chance of error.

Create Named Tables

Before creating the PivotTable, let’s create a table from each of the sheets.

Click back on the Customer Table, then click anywhere inside the data area. Go to
the Insert tab of the ribbon bar, then click the Table icon.
 Co
nvert data on a worksheet by selecting Insert > Table
The Create Table dialog box correctly identifies the area of the table. The checkbox on
bottom should also identify that the first row of the table is for headers. (If not, select
that option.)
 Th
e Create Table dialog should correctly guess the data area
Click OK, and now you have a table with striped shading and filter buttons. You can
click inside it to deselect, if you want a better look at it (just don’t click outside the table).
The ribbon bar also displays a Design tab for the table. On the left side of the ribbon,
the Table Name box shows a temporary name of Table1. Delete that, and call
it Customer_Info (use an underscore instead of a space). Then press Enter.
 Ap
ply a name to each table
Repeat this process on the Order Info and Payment Info sheets. Call the
tablesOrder_Info and Payment_Info, respectively.

Now we’re ready to insert the PivotTable.

Inserting the PivotTable

On the Payment Info sheet, make sure the cursor is somewhere in the table. Go back to
the Insert tab of the ribbon, and click the PivotTable icon (it’s the very first icon).

Wit
h the cursor inside one of the tables, select Insert > PivotTable
The dialog box that appears should correctly identify the table and select that the
PivotTable will go on a new worksheet. On bottom, click the check box for Add this
data to the Data Model. Then click OK.
 Ad
ding the data to the Data Model is what allow the connections to work
You’ll now have a PivotTable on a new worksheet, there will be a task pane on the right
side of the screen, and the ribbon bar will display the Analyze tab.

The task pane shows the table and fields of just the active sheet, so click ALL to see all
the tables that you created. But before we can use them, we have to connect them to
each other, and that means creating relationships. Click the Relationshipsbutton on the
ribbon bar.

Setting Up Table Relationships

Clicking that button displays the Manage Relationships dialog. Click the New button,
and that displays the Create Relationship dialog. We’ll create two relationships using
the Order # field as the connector.
From the drop-down lists, choose Payment_Info for the table, and next to it, pickOrder
# from the Column drop-down. On the second row, choose Customer_Infofrom the
Related Table drop-down list, and next to it, pick Order # from the Related Column
drop-down list.

Th
ere are three tables, so create two relationships
This means the Payment_Info and Customer_Info tables are related where they have
matching order numbers.

Click OK, and we see that relationship listed in the Manage Relationships box.

Repeat this process to create a relationship that joins Payment_Info to Order_Info, also
using the Order # field. The Manage Relationships box should now look like this:
 Th
e Manage Relationships dialog will display the relationships that you create
Note that it isn’t necessary to create a relationship between the Order_Info and
Customer_Info tables, since they’re joined automatically through the Payment_Info
table.

Click the Close button at the bottom of the box. Now we can finally drag fields into the
PivotTable.

Inserting Fields Into the PivotTable

In the ALL section of the task pane, click the small arrows to twirl open the three tables,
so you see their fields. Drag fields into the PivotTable areas as follows:

 State and Month into rows

 Product into columns
 $ Sale into values
 Status into filters
 Dr
ag fields from each of the three tables into the PivotTable
You can now use and modify this like any other PivotTable.

Conclusion

Using the new Object Data Model feature in Excel 2013, you can cherry-pick fields from
multiple worksheets to create a unified PivotTable. Keep in mind that the rows of each
table need to be related to each other in some way. You’ll have the best chance of
success when the tables have a common field with unique values.