An Introduction to

Excel’s Pivot Table

 This document is a brief introduction
to the Excel 2003 Pivot Table.

The Pivot Table remains one of the

most powerful and easy-to-use
tools in Excel for managing data.

Once you begin using the Pivot Table

you’ll probably find it very intuitive.
Learning about the Pivot Table will be
well worth your time if you
routinely organize, manage,
or analyze data in Excel.

Microsoft will soon release a new version

of Excel (Excel version 12/2007) with
a beefed-up Pivot Table. Whatever you
learn from this introduction you can apply to
the new version when you start using it.

Paula Ecklund
The Fuqua School of Business
Duke University
Summer 2006
CONTENTS

An introduction to the Excel Pivot Table .......................................................1

Why organize list data into a Pivot Table?....................................................1

What’s required to construct a Pivot Table? .................................................2

Creating a simple Pivot Table: Step-by-Step ................................................3

1. Start with Your Data

2. Invoke the Pivot Table Wizard
3. Specify the Data Location and Report Type
4. Confirm the Data to Use
5. Locate the Pivot Table and End the Wizard
6. Draft the First Version of the Pivot Table
7. Modify the Pivot Table

More about the Pivot Table ..........................................................................6

A Row Field
A Column Field
A Data Field
Data Plus Row Only or Data Plus Column Only
Drag and Drop
Inner Row or Inner Column Fields
The Pivot Table Page Field

Determining Pivot Table Layout....................................................................10

Formatting Data in the Pivot Table ...............................................................12

Refreshing Pivot Table Data.........................................................................14

Sorting Pivot Table Data...............................................................................14

Learning More about Excel’s Pivot Table .....................................................16

An Introduction to the Excel Pivot Table

Microsoft introduced Pivot Tables into Excel with Excel version 5. Pivot Tables replaced Excel’s
older cross-tabulation feature. A Pivot Table displays the data contained in a column of an Excel
list (database) by means of subtotals (or other calculations) that are defined by another column
in the same list. The other calculations might be averages, counts, percentages, standard
deviations, and so on.

Why organize list data into a Pivot Table?

Three key reasons for organizing data into a Pivot Table are:
ƒ To summarize the data contained in a lengthy list into a compact format
ƒ To find relationships within the data that are otherwise hard to see because of the
amount of detail
ƒ To organize the data into a format that’s easy to chart

Below is a simple example that shows how putting data in a Pivot Table can be useful.

Data in Excel Pivot Table format.

Data in Excel list format.

The illustration at left above is a view of a simple list, or Excel database. Even looking at this
short list it’s difficult to discern patterns in the data. For example, it takes a bit of study to see
that the number of Units Sold in the Northeast region is much greater than the number of Units
Sold for the Southwest region or to find out that Gouda outsells Brie in the Northwest.
Questions like this can certainly be answered, but only with some effort.

By contrast, the Pivot Table in the illustration at the above right simplifies and summarizes the
data to make relationships and patterns obvious. And, if you had much more data in the list
(perhaps with many additional entries for each region), a condensed Pivot Table summary the
same size as the one at right could still be achieved.

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The Pivot Table allows the inclusion or exclusion of any part of the list data. For example, I’ve
excluded the year information in the sample Pivot Table above. I could easily add it back in.

To chart the data in the list pictured at left above you’d first need to restructure the data and
obtain the sum for each region. The Pivot Table simplifies preparing the data for charting
because it obtains subtotals automatically. Excel’s Pivot Table also includes a Pivot Chart
feature and the Pivot chart can be selected during the automated creation process or at any
point afterward.

160

140 The summarized and organized by

120
the Pivot Table can be viewed either
as a chart or as both a Pivot Table
100
Brie
and a Pivot Chart.
80
Gouda
60

40

20

0
Northeast Northw est Southeast Southw est

What’s required to construct a Pivot Table?

The data used to create a Pivot Table must be in Excel list format. Excel list format means that
rows are records, all the data in a column is the same kind of data, headers are at the top of each
column, and all the data is located in one place with no gaps.

Then, identify these two elements in your data:

ƒ a data field, where the data field is the variable you want to summarize. (There
can be more than one data field. A data field is usually numeric data although it
can be non-numeric.)

ƒ a row and/or column field where the row and/or column fields are the variables
that will “control” the data summary

A step-by-step introduction to creating a simple Pivot Table follows.

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Creating a simple Pivot Table: Step-by-Step

1. Start with Your Data

Although you need not start the Pivot Table creation process in the worksheet with your
data, the process is easier if you make any one of your data (list) cells the current cell.

2. Invoke the Pivot Table Wizard

From Excel’s menus choose Data, Pivot Table and Pivot Chart Report. Excel opens the
“PivotTable and PivotChart Wizard” to the first of the Wizard’s three steps.

3. Specify Data Location and Report Type

The first Wizard step asks you to specify the location of your data. Most commonly
you’ll get your data from an Excel list that’s part of the current worksheet so leave the
default option “Microsoft Office Excel list or database” selected. In this Wizard step you
can also choose whether or not to generate a Pivot Chart along with a Pivot Table. (A
Pivot Chart can easily be added after the Pivot Table is created.) Click Next.

4. Confirm the Data to Use

If you started the Wizard with one of your list cells the current cell, the Pivot Table
Wizard completes Step 2 for you; it recognizes the list range automatically.

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 If you didn’t make a list cell the current cell then this is the step in which you identify
the Pivot Table data. A range reference (like the one shown above) or a range name can
be used here.

5. Locate the Pivot Table and End the Wizard

By default Excel creates the Pivot Table structure on a new worksheet unless you choose
the alternative “Existing worksheet” option. Click Finish.

6. Draft the First Version of the Pivot Table

You now have an empty Pivot Table layout with a “Pivot Table Field List” that displays
the names of every column in the source data. Drag items from the field list to
appropriate spots on the Pivot Table.

A special Pivot Table Toolbar also appears

and floats on the worksheet surface.

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 To draft a first version of the Pivot Table, drag items from the field list onto areas of the
Pivot Table structure. For example, the very simple Pivot Table illustrated below uses
Client Name as the Pivot Table row field and Total Sales as the Pivot Table data field.

The default Pivot Table operation on data is a sum. As simple as this Pivot Table is, it
summarizes by client name all the “Total Sales” values in the data. For example, at left is
a partial view of the source data. Records for the City of Morton are shown. The Pivot
Table with Client Name in the row field and Total Sales in the data field automatically
sums all sales values by client.

7. Modify the Pivot Table

Drag and drop fields on and off the Pivot Table to see the views of data you need.

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More about the Pivot Table

A Row Field
A row field in a Pivot Table is a variable that takes on different values. For example, a
row field might be “Manufacturer” and its values might be “Schwinn”, “Cannondale”,
and “Omega”.

The values a variable takes on are sometimes referred to as “items”.

In the example below, for each value of the variable “Manufacturer”, the Pivot Table
displays a summary of the chosen data field in an adjoining column. The data field in
this example is “Annual Sales” and the summary function is sum.

Sum of Annual Sales

Manufacturer Total
Cannondale $823
Omega $435
Schwinn $500
Grand Total $1,758

Notice that the Pivot Table uses the label “Sum of Annual Sales” to identify not only the
data field (Annual Sales) but also the default summary operation (sum).

A Column Field
A Pivot Table column field works like a row field. A column field might be the variable
“Year” with values ranging from 1995 to 1998. Data beneath each column in the Pivot
Table is associated with the year at the head of the column.

Manufacturer Year Annual Sales Sum of Annual Year

Schwinn 1995 $500 Manufacturer 1995 1996 1997 1998 Grand Total
Cannondale 1995 $823 Cannondale 823 840 855 889 3407
Omega 1995 $435 Omega 435 420 418 400 1673
Schwinn 1996 $523 Schwinn 500 523 550 585 2158
Cannondale 1996 $840 Grand Total 1758 1783 1823 1874 7238
Omega 1996 $420
Schwinn 1997 $550
Cannondale 1997 $855
Omega 1997 $418
Schwinn 1998 $585
Cannondale 1998 $889
Omega 1998 $400

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 The basic effect of row and column fields in a Pivot Table is that each value or item that
the field takes on defines a different row or column. So if a list has a row field with three
items (Schwinn, Cannondale, Omega) and a column field that with four items (1995,
1996, 1997, 1998), the Pivot Table has three rows and four columns, and therefore twelve
summary cells (exclusive of the cells that hold Grand Totals and labels).

A Data Field
The data field is the variable that the Pivot Table summarizes. For each combination of
values in the row and column fields, the data field takes on a different value and this
value appears in the Pivot Table’s cells.

When you define a Pivot Table you must identify a data field or Excel displays an error.
By contrast, however, you need not define either a row or a column field. If you build a
Pivot Table with a data field only Excel won’t display an error message but the Pivot
Table won’t provide a very meaningful result either. Without a row and/or column
“control”, Excel returns a simple table since it has no way to summarize the data.

There are many summarizing calculations available in a Pivot Table. Most often the data
to be summarized is numeric; the default summary for numeric data is a sum. For
example, if your Pivot Table data field is Total Sales, the field dialog for Total Sales
(below) shows that it can be summarized by sum, count, average, max, min, etc.

If the data to be summarized is text data, not numeric, the default summary is count. For
example “Employees” might be a data field and a Pivot Table might count of the
number of employees by department.

Custom calculations can be applied to the data field, including running totals, percent of
row, percent of column, and so on. If you need some calculation not provided within the
Pivot Table, you can perform that calculation outside the context of the Pivot Table.
Then you can include the calculated variable in your list when you start the Pivot Table

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 Wizard. The Pivot Table also has an option to create a calculated field and a calculated
item. To explore these options, check Excel’s Pivot Table online help.

Data Plus Row Only or Data Plus Column Only

If you specify a data field and a row field only, your Pivot Table will have one column
that contains the values of the row field and another column to its right that contains the
corresponding summary values for the data field. If you specify a data field and a
column field only, your Pivot Table will have a top row that holds the values of the
column field and a row beneath that holds the corresponding summary values of the
data field.
Sum of Annual Sales Sum of Annual Sales Year
Manufacturer Total 1995 1996 1997 1998 Grand Total
Cannondale 3407 Total 1758 1783 1823 1874 7238
Omega 1673 Column-only Pivot Table
Schwinn 2158
Grand Total 7238
Row-only Pivot Table

Drag and Drop

The Pivot Table gets its name because it’s easy to modify, or pivot, the positions of the
Pivot Table fields. Imagine a point at the upper left-hand corner of the Pivot Table as the
pivot point. You can drag and drop a row field up and to the right, making it a column
field. And you can drag and drop a column field down and to the left, making it a row
field. Although you can return to the Wizard’s layout view to make changes if you like
it’s easier to do it on the fly without using the Wizard.

Inner Row or Inner Column Fields

If you have more than two variables in your list that you want to use as row or column
fields you can define subsidiary or inner row or column fields.

Sum of Units Sold In the example at left, “Product” is considered an inner row
Region Product Total field while “Region” is the outer row field.
Northeast Brie 110
The effect of an inner field is to add another level of detail
Gouda 128 to the Pivot Table. Within one category, or value (such as
Northwest Brie 137 Northeast) of the outer field, there are two inner field
Gouda 151 values (Brie and Gouda).
Southeast Brie 63
Gouda 72 The data field is first summarized by the value of the outer
Southwest Brie 87 row field. Within that first-level summary, the data field is
Grand Total 748 further summarized by the corresponding values of the
inner row field.

Inner and outer column fields work the same way as inner and outer row fields.

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The Pivot Table Page Field
The page field operates like the row and column fields but provides a third dimension to
your data. It allows you to add another variable to your Pivot Table without necessarily
viewing all its values at the same time.

In the example at left, the page field is “SalesPerson

Name”. he default is to show data for (All) values.

Clicking the page field drop-down

displays the page field values. Only
two options are possible: (All) or the
selection of one value from the drop-
down.

Selecting a single page field value can greatly reduce

the amount of data the Pivot Table displays.

A page field can be established in

the initial draft of a Pivot Table or
at any time afterward.

A field designated as a page field

can be removed or dragged to
another area of the Pivot Table.

A Pivot Table can have more than

one page field.

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 Choose the Show Pages option at the bottom of the
PivotTable drop-down menu on the Pivot Table toolbar
to automatically generate a Pivot Table on a separate
worksheet for each page field possibility.

Determining Pivot Table Layout

A discrete variable generally has a relatively small number of unique values. Examples of
discrete variables are department names, model names, or customer names. Discrete
values are most suitable as row and column variables in a Pivot Table, although they can
be used as data fields. For a discrete variable used as a data field, however, the Pivot
Table will only be able to display a summary by count.

A continuous variable can take on a large range of values. Examples of continuous

variables are profit margin, units sold, or dates. It’s generally not a good idea to use a
continuous variable as a row or column field in a Pivot Table because a continuous
variable can take on so many values that the Pivot Table would likely become
impossibly large. For example, if you’re analyzing sales values for one year and you
have 365 items of sales date data, you’re likely to run out of Excel worksheet display
space if you make date a column field. Normally, you’d use a continuous variable as the
data field in a Pivot Table in order to see the sum or average or other summary
calculation of its values for different levels of discrete variables.

Partial view of a very wide Pivot Table

where the continuous variable Date is
used as a column field and the field
holds individual days.

“Grouping” is one method available to

reduce the amount of data displayed.

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 Dates used as row or column headers, for example, are often grouped for this reason.

Group a date field by right-clicking the

field label, choosing Group and Show
Detail from the initial context menu that
displays and then choosing Group from
the second context menu.

A special “Grouping” dialog displays. Excel suggests a

grouping; you can choose a different grouping or
more than one grouping. For example, one could
choose to group date data both by Months and
Quarters.

In the illustration below, day dates as the row field

have been grouped by both months and quarters.
Excel figures out the quarters and makes that the
outermost column field to group months. Days are
grouped by month and form the innermost column
field.

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Formatting Data in the Pivot Table
No matter what the format of the Pivot Table’s source data, the initial format of the data in a
Pivot Table is “General”. After creating a Pivot Table you can use Excel’s normal formatting
commands to format cells. To retain formatting when you refresh the data in a PivotTable or
change the layout, do the following:

• Click a cell in the PivotTable, and on the Pivot Table toolbar choose the Pivot Table
button, then Table Options. In the “Format options” part of the dialog that displays, make
sure the “Preserve formatting” check box is selected.
• Then, before you select the Pivot Table data you want to format, make sure that Pivot
Table “Enable Selection” is activated (Choose the Pivot Table button on the toolbar, then
Select, Enable Selection).
Without the steps above, if you make any change to your Pivot Table after you’ve applied
formatting (even if the change is only to refresh the data), your formatting is lost.

A good method for formatting a numeric Pivot Table data field is to use the formatting
options built into the Pivot Table itself. To do this:
1. Select any cell in the Pivot Table that represents its data field.
2. Click the Pivot Table Field button on the Pivot Table toolbar. The “Pivot Table Field”
dialog displays.
3. Click the Number button on this dialog to open the “Format Cells” dialog.
4. Choose one of the available formats, click OK to close the “Format Cells” dialog and
then OK again to close the “Pivot Table Field” dialog.

If you format your Pivot Table in this way, the formatting you select is retained even if you
change the layout of the Pivot Table. This formatting is for numeric data only, not for text
fields that might be used for row, column, or page fields.

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To change the entire look of a Pivot Table, use the Pivot Table’s Format Report option
(available from the Pivot Table toolbar drop-down menu).

A new format you choose from the Pivot Table “AutoFormat” dialog remains with your
Pivot Table even if you refresh the data, pivot the table, or add or remove a field.

The Pivot Table

AutoFormat dialog
displays ten table
autoformats and ten
report autoformats.

A table-style autoformat
leaves the data arrangement alone and adds just formatting such as bolding, reverse
video, etc. A report-style autoformat adds formatting but also rearranges the data so it’s
column-oriented.

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Refreshing Pivot Table Data
A Pivot Table isn’t directly linked to its source data. Instead it’s linked to a hidden cache
that’s build from the data source. If you create a Pivot Table from, for example, a
worksheet list and then change the data in the list, the Pivot Table does not
automatically update. To update the Pivot Table, click any cell within the Table and click
the Refresh Data button (the red exclamation mark) on the Pivot Table toolbar. Then
Excel gets the new data from your changed Excel list. As an alternative you can also
right-click a cell in the Pivot Table and choose Refresh Data from the pop-up menu that
appears.

Sorting Pivot Table Data

Excel usually displays a Pivot Table with field items in sorted order (ascending by rows
for a row field and ascending by columns for a column field).

Ascending
Ascending

You may prefer to have your Pivot Table data sorted differently from the default. You
can sort the Pivot Table either by labels or by values. There are two ways to sort Pivot
Table data: “Externally” using Excel’s regular sorting feature, or “internally”, using the
internal Pivot Table sort option. The internal sort you set remains even if you refresh the
data (adding or deleting fields and values).

To Sort by Label using the “External” Method

Choose the label to sort on. From Excel’s Data
menu option choose Sort. Under “Sort by” choose
Ascending or Descending. Under “Sort” choose
Labels. Or, click an item and click the ascending or
descending sort button on Excel’s Standard
toolbar.

The “Sort” dialog at right sorts the Pivot Table

below by “Client Region” in descending order.

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To Sort by Label using the “Internal” Method
If you choose to sort Pivot Table data using
Excel’s “external” sort, the “Sort” dialog that
displays reminds you that the Pivot Table
also has its own sort.

The advantage of the Pivot Table sort is that the sort is maintained even if the report
data is updated or its layout changed. To sort is this way, double-click either the row
field header or the column field header on which you want to sort. The Pivot Table
opens the field dialog for that field. In that dialog, choose the Advanced button to open
the Advanced Options field dialog, like the one illustrated below. Under “AutoSort
Options” choose Ascending or Descending. For the “Using field” box, choose the field
you’re sorting on. (A Manual sort is the default.)

To Sort by Pivot Table Data Values using the “External” Method

If you don't care about retaining the sort sequence when you refresh the table, sort the
data items manually using Excel’s regular sort. (If you’ve been using the Pivot Table
AutoSort, reset the option to Manual, the default.) Then select the field you want to sort
on and choose Data, Sort from Excel’s menus. In the “Sort by” box, enter the reference of
a cell in the data area for the values you want to sort on. Or, click any cell in the Pivot
Table data area and click either the ascending or descending sort button on Excel’s
Standard toolbar.

Data sorted descending by Grand Total

for rows using Excel’s Standard
Toolbar sort button.

15
 To Sort by Pivot Table Data Values using the “Internal” Method
Double-click the field label associated with the item on which you want to sort to open
its field dialog. If you select a column label, items will be sorted from left to right. If you
select a row label, items will be sorted from top to bottom. In the field dialog box click
the Advanced button to open the “PivotTable Field Advanced Options” dialog. Under
“AutoSort options” choose Ascending or Descending. IMPORTANT: Then, in the “Using
field” box, choose the data field that has the values that you want to use to sort the items.

In the Pivot Table shown below, data is

sorted using the internal Pivot Table sort. The
sort is initiated using the “Client Region”
label but in the “Advanced Options” dialog
the “using field” is specified as “Sum of Total
Sales”. Data is sorted ascending by the Grand
Total of Sum of Total Sales.

Because this sort is internal to the Pivot Table

it will remain even if data is added, deleted,
or refreshed or if the layout is changed.

Internal sort by “Client Region”

using the “Sum of Total Sales”.

Learning more about Excel’s Pivot Table

Excel’s Pivot Table is one of its most powerful and easy-to-use tools. To learn more about the
Pivot Table consult a good Excel reference, find web resources, and/or see Excel’s online help.
Examples:

Text - Pivot Table Data Crunching, Jelen and Alexander, Que, 2006, ISBN 0-7897-3435-4.
Web – http://faculty.fuqua.duke.edu/~pecklund/ExcelReview/ExcelReview.htm

End of Excel Pivot Table Introduction

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