excel pivot tables r100727

Excel Pivot Tables of 21

Copyright 2007, Hawaii Department of Education, Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Student Support, Advanced Technology Research Branch. These materials may be used for non-commercial educational purposes only. Permission to use this information is granted freely as long as this notice is kept with it.

Excel Pivot Tables Course Prerequisites .............................................................................................................................................. 3

Part 1.1: Introducing Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts ............................................................................... 4 Exercise: ................................................................................................................................................................ 4

P1.2 Setting up and Formatting Pivot Table Data Fields .......................................................................... 5 Exercise: ................................................................................................................................................................ 5

P1.3 Creating a Pivot Table ...................................................................................................................... 7 Exercise ................................................................................................................................................................. 7

P1.4 The Pivot Table Toolbar .................................................................................................................... 7 P1.5 The Structure of a Pivot Table .......................................................................................................... 8 P1.6 Add Data Items ................................................................................................................................. 8

Exercise: ................................................................................................................................................................ 8 P1.7 Format Values ................................................................................................................................... 9

Exercise: ................................................................................................................................................................ 9 P1.8 Data Items – Field Settings ............................................................................................................... 9

Exercise: ................................................................................................................................................................ 9 P1.9 Setting up Pivot Table Categories - Rows ...................................................................................... 10 P1.10 Setting up Pivot Table Categories - Columns ............................................................................... 10 P1.11 Drag Field Name to Switch Layout ............................................................................................... 10

Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 10 P1.12 Setting up Sub-categories ............................................................................................................. 11

Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 11 P1.13 Reformatting on the Fly ................................................................................................................. 11

Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 11 P1.14 Choosing the Best Layout ............................................................................................................. 12

Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 12 P1.15 Removing a Field .......................................................................................................................... 12

Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 12

Part 2: Common Mistakes ........................................................................................................................ 12 P2.1 Miss Placing Data Items ................................................................................................................. 13

Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 13 Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 13

P2.2 Missing PivotTable Field List .......................................................................................................... 14 P2.3 Missing PivotTable Toolbar ............................................................................................................. 14

Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 14

Part 3: Understanding Your Data ............................................................................................................ 15 Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 15

P3.1 Review Your Data & Column Headings .......................................................................................... 16

Part 4: Understanding the Relationship between Pivot Charts and Tables ....................................... 16 P4.1 Creating Pivot Charts ...................................................................................................................... 16

Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 16 P4.2 PivotChart Filter Pane ..................................................................................................................... 17 P4.3 Adding Fields to your PivotChart .................................................................................................... 17

Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 17 P4.4 Removing Fields from your PivotChart ........................................................................................... 18 P4.5 Printing Your PivotChart ................................................................................................................. 18

Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 18 P4.6 Sorting Your Data in Ascending or Descending Order ................................................................... 19

Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 19



Part 5: What do I need to Know About PivotTables? ............................................................................ 19 P5.1 Refreshing Your Data ..................................................................................................................... 19

Review the Relationship Again:............................................................................................................................ 19 P5.2 Limited by Available Memory .......................................................................................................... 20

P5.2 Suggested Fixes .......................................................................................................................................... 20 P5.3 Limited by the Version of Excel you are Running ........................................................................... 20

P5.3 Suggested Fixes .......................................................................................................................................... 20 P5.4 The 3 Golden Rules ........................................................................................................................ 21 P5.5 Try it! ............................................................................................................................................... 21

Exercise: ................................................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 21 Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 21

P5.6 Analyzing Data: ............................................................................................................................... 21 Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 21 Exercise: .............................................................................................................................................................. 21

Post – Assessment Questionnaire .......................................................................................................... 21



Excel Pivot Tables

This advanced workshop focuses on working with pivot tables. Pivot table reports help organize and compare data so you can see patterns, trends and relationships. The desired prerequisite for this workshop is intermediate-level knowledge of Excel. We will be working on Windows computers during this workshop.

Course Prerequisites Insert Function dialog box for functions such as, sum, min, max and average Sort, filter and subtotal categorized data Add and delete worksheets in Excel workbooks Import and export data to and from Excel Format data such as currency and dates in worksheet rows and columns Work with worksheet formulas Format charts

An electronic version of the handout material is provided for you on the course CD. These materials may be used with your staff for professional development as long as the original copyright remains in place. The Pivot tables and charts feature in Excel lets educators begin disaggregating and analyzing data within seconds of receiving original data files from state departments, testing companies, and/or school districts and/or classroom records.



Part 1.1: Introducing Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts Pivot tables and charts are a powerful feature in Excel that allows you to analyze your data with just a few mouse clicks. With pivot tables you can reformat your data easily by spinning (pivoting) the data axis, or filtering content without affecting the underlying data. The image on the right shows an example of a pivot table that has some simple color formatting applied to help break up the various areas. There are two main areas in a pivot table:

1. The data items section which is the table itself.

2. The page items section which is an optional section that adds additional filtering options.

Exercise: Open the Example_Data_01.xls, click on the (P1.1) file to see another example of a pivot table. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with a pivot table and how they work before we begin building one. Case Study: This pivot table looks at how students are progressing in language arts for the month of September. Task 1: We want to look at how the 5 students who are receiving extra tutoring help are doing. To make it easier to review the data, click on the "Student” filter in cell a5, notice that all of the students have a check box next to their name, which means that the data for each student is showing in our report. To deselect all of the names, uncheck the top box "Select All”, and then select 5 students by placing a check in the box next to their name. Next: When you have taken a look at the 5 students that received extra tutoring help click on the "Student" filter in cell a5 and "Select All" to display all of the student data again. Task 2: Now we want to take at the only the students who are in Ms. Smith's class. Notice that page items have a field label in column "A" and a display box in column "B" that identifies what content is currently displayed. By default page items are set to display "All".



Click on the "Teacher" filter in cell a2, and select a teacher. You may also want to take a look at how students are doing by race by changing the filter in cell b1. When you are done return the filter to "All". Note: You may have noticed that there are a few issues with the fields, filter options, and the data that is available in this pivot table. We will be covering those issues in the next section (P1.2).

P1.2 Setting up and Formatting Pivot Table Data Fields Many of the data layouts that are used in spreadsheets for presentations are not appropriate when used as the source data for a pivot table report. Here are some important guidelines for preparing and using data as a source for PivotTables.

Source data or raw data, should be in a list format (tabular layout), and must have column headings. The labels in the first row of your data should describe the information in each column. Your pivot table cannot be created without the column headings. Each column heading should be unique, so that you can identify the column in the list of available fields.

The column headings should be in one cell and should not be stacked in multiple rows

Delete any empty blank columns or rows in your data source.

Fill-in any empty cells with some logical missing-value wherever possible.

Avoid storing data in section headings Avoid repeating groups as columns Apply appropriate type formatting to your

fields. Exercise: Open Example_data_01.xls, click on the (PivotTable_1.2) worksheet. Click in cell A3 to activate the pivot table and to bring up the field list. Scroll through the field list; notice there are duplicate field names which will make it difficult to work with your data accurately. Then click on the next worksheet (Data_1.3). Review the recommendations above and make the necessary changes to your source data. Save your changes. Instructions: For the purpose of this workshop we are only going to apply the changes to the September and October Data. If you were using this spread sheet as your source data you would need to go in and make changes to all of the months.

Example_data_01.xls contains the source data for the first part of this lesson, however if we look at the guidelines for setting up our source data you will see that we have some problem areas. It is possible to create PivotTables from this data, although it will not be ideal. As you work through the samples, think about how you could alter the data source so that is more functional.



1. In row 3 - change the 3 letter month to "September - 5 questions in each skill area with a maximum of 35 pts." Do the same for "October - 5 questions....."

Change the column headings for: 2. From Race/Ethnicity to Ethnicity 3. From Focus (out of 5) to Focus Sep (etc..) -

For September and October Only 4. From Focus % (out of 5) to Focus % Sep

(etc...) - For September and October Only 5. Fill in all empty values with zero (0). Be sure

not to delete any formulas in the total column.

Note: This is one of those areas that you want to be careful of. Students who do not take the test are different from students who take the take but do not have a score of 1 or higher. When averaging your data this will make a difference. You should add an area for notes, so that you can make audit note stating the number of students, along with the reason why should they did not receive a score. I.e. Mark had the flu and was excused from this in-class assignment. You would not want to delete these students from your data set, unless they did not receive a score at any point in the year.

6. When you are done working with your source data, return to the (PivotTable_1.2) worksheet. Find the refresh icon on the PivotTable toolbar to update the data that is available for your PivotTable.

( Refresh Icon)

7. Scroll through the field list once again, if you have renamed the column headings you should see your changes in the field list.

a. Do the new column headings help you to identify the data that is stored in each column?

b. Do you still have cells with the following data error (#DIV/0!)?



P1.3 Creating a Pivot Table Once you have your data prepared. You are ready to create your PivotTable. Exercise: In the same Excel file Example_Data_01.xls click on worksheet (Data_1.3).

1. To begin put your cursor anywhere within the data, on the text menu select Data (v2007: Insert),

2. then choose, PivotTable and PivotChart Report

3. The PivotTable Wizard will open, to help you select your data, for now accept the defaults for step 1 and click the Finish button.

4. A new worksheet with a blank PivotTable will be created and is ready for you to begin building your pivot table.

5. Double click on the new worksheet tab and rename it to: (blank_1.4)

6. Click in cell A3 (anywhere within your table) to bring up the PivotTable Toolbar

Note: If you are working with Excel version 2007 you will have to select your data then click the OK button. We will only be using the September and October data for this exercise. The Range for the data is: ($A$4:$AI$106 )

P1.4 The Pivot Table Toolbar Once your PivotTable is active the PivotTable toolbar will appear giving you access to the tools you need to work with your PivotTable and Pivot Charts. If your toolbar is not visible click anywhere within your table. Toolbar Icons: (Excel version 2003)

1. PivotTable Menu – Contains additional command such as, “Group and Show Detail” and “Sort and Top 10”

2. Format Report – change the visual format 3. Chart Wizard 4. Hide Detail 5. Show Detail 6. Refresh Data 7. Include Hidden Items in Totals 8. Always Display Items 9. Field Settings 10. Show Field List

Toolbar Icons: (Excel version 2007) Are all labeled, and contain additional information on how to use each icon, along with a link to a help document. Even thought things look really different you will see all of the same options.

Excel version 2003 & prior

Excel version 2003

Excel version 2007

Excel version 2007 - Close-up



P1.5 The Structure of a Pivot Table You should still have worksheet (blank_1.4) open with a blank pivot table. If your table is not active, click in cell A3 (or any cell within the table) to activate the table and view the sections of the PivotTable. Orange: Aggregate Data: The center is where you would put your aggregate data item(s). Let’s say for example math scores that represent the overall aggregate of your classroom, school, or district. Blue: Categories: Row or Column Items: Then you would decide how you want to sort and view your data by dragging a field into the row or column area. Say you want to break up your data by year, district, school, instructor, benchmarks, or gender. Green: Filters: Page Items: The page items section at the top of the table, allow you to filter and sort the data further to determine how much of the data is reviewed.

P1.6 Add Data Items You should still have worksheet (blank_1.4) open with a blank pivot table. Clicking anywhere within the table should bring up the Field list panel, unless you have previously clicked on the X (close icon) for the panel. If the Field list panel does not open when you click within your pivot table, use the Field List icon on the Pivot Table toolbar. The Field list will display a list of the available fields (column headings) in your source data. The list may be docked on the right-hand side of your screen or it may be floating. To begin building your PivotTable you will need to decide which value you want to work with and what questions you want to ask of your data.

Exercise: 1. Click and drag the field name, we will use

the field Focus for September into the “Drop Data Items Here” area of the pivot table.

2. Your screen will change to display a column header and a single row of aggregated data.

Note: The default calculation is different depending on the type of data you are using.



P1.7 Format Values The first golden rule is to begin by formatting the calculation type for the first data item before you continue, whether it is sum, average, count or a customized formula.

Exercise: For this exercise you will return to the blank PivotTable worksheet (PivotTable_1.2). This PivotTable is using Data_1.3, which is the data that you prepared in P1.2.

1. Click in cell A3 (any cell within your table) to activate the PivotTable and bring up the Field list Panel.

2. Click on the field named “Focus (out of 5) for September” (it will vary depending on how you named it) and drop it in the large area for “Data Items”.

Note: If you have additional data items you will have to go in and adjust the calculation type for each item, however it will pick up the formatting from the first item. If you don’t follow the first golden rule, you will have to set the formatting for each additional item.

The heading will change to display the calculation type and field name.

P1.8 Data Items – Field Settings

Exercise: 1. The calculation type may default to count

(see cell a3). To change the calculation type, click in cell b4, and select “Field Settings” from the PivotTable toolbar, or from the short cut menu and select “average”.

2. Click on the “Number Format” button to rename the field if needed, set the field type to “Number” and set the decimal place to zero.

3. The field bar will change to display the type of calculation and the field name.

4. Click ok, to accept the changes, and cancel to close the window without making any changes.

Note: If your data is a number, but the cell is formatted for “general” or “text” the field value will always default to “count”. In some cases it may be more productive to go back to your source data and change the cell format to number. However PivotTables can be a little quirky at times, and may not pick up the data type from the source, in which case you will have to determine the field type within the PivotTable.



P1.9 Setting up Pivot Table Categories - Rows Once you have added your first data item, you can start dragging categories into the row or column items area, to disaggregate that data. Review your field list to see what categories are available in your data set. In the data set that we are working with, we can select from student, teacher, or race/ethnicity. As you drag data into your table you will notice that the sections are highlighted when they become active (top image). When you release your mouse the data will be added to the selected area (bottom image).

P1.10 Setting up Pivot Table Categories - Columns In this image we see the same data viewed in a column format.

P1.11 Drag Field Name to Switch Layout You can switch the field from row-to-column and column-to-row until you decide which layout makes visual sense to you.

Exercise: We are going to continue building our PivotTable using worksheet (PivotTable_1.2).

1. Click in cell A3 to activate your table and bring up the Field List.

2. Click and drag the “Teacher” field adding it into the row data area. (see image p1.9)

3. Now click on the field bar/header which is in cell a4 and drag it to the column data area. (see image p1.10)

4. Now click and drag the field bar/header which is now in cell b3 and drag it back to the row data area.



P1.12 Setting up Sub-categories To add a sub-category, click and drag in another field, let’s say “Race / Ethnicity”, as you move the mouse cursor to the edge of the existing field the divider will become highlighted. You can place the new field to the left or to the right of the existing field. In the example we have placed the sub-category field to the right of the “Teacher” field.



2. Click and drag the “Ethnicity” field adding it into the row data area to the right of the “Teacher” field. (see image p1.12)

P1.13 Reformatting on the Fly At any given time you can reformat the data by dragging a field into another position. You don’t need to do any sorting or change any formulas; Excel is doing all of the work for you on the fly. In the example we have moved the sub-category field from a row data item to a column data item.



2. Click and drag the “Ethnicity” field adding it into the column data area. (see image p1.13)



P1.14 Choosing the Best Layout Here we see the “Race / Ethnicity” sub-category to the left of the “Teacher” field. Making it quick and easy for you to select the layout that displays your data the best.



2. Click and drag the “Ethnicity” field adding it into the row data area. This time to the left of the “Teacher” field. (see image p1.14)

P1.15 Removing a Field Click and drag the field away from the PivotTable until the cursor displays a “red X”. Once you see the “red X” release the mouse button and the field will be removed from the pivot table. The field is still available in the field list, and all of your data is still intact. Excel version 2007: You can also uncheck the field box in the field list to remove an item.



2. This time, click and drag the “Ethnicity” field outside of the table area until you see your cursor change to a gray bar with a red X, then release your mouse to delete the field from the table. (see image p1.15)

Part 2: Common Mistakes Let’s address a couple of common problems that arise when you are working with pivot tables.



P2.1 Miss Placing Data Items The first common mistake is to drop the category field into the data area, instead of the row or column area. When this happens you end up with two data values, and you won’t see a field bar to grab and drag the field (Teacher) into another area. To move the field:

v2003: Click the “Data” drop down menu ( ), and uncheck the field you want to delete. v2007: Uncheck the field you want to remove from the field list.



2. Click and drag the “Teacher” field adding it to cell b4 the “Data Items” area (see image p1.15).

3. If you are using v2003 or prior you should now see a filter menu on the column labeled “Data”. Uncheck the “Teacher” field.

4. If you are using v2007 uncheck the field you want to remove from the field list, or drag the field into the row data area in the field list panel.

5. Click and drag the “Teacher” field into cell a4, and notice that the same thing occurs, except the data is represented in rows.

6. Again remove the “Teacher” field from the data items area. (see # 3 or 4 depending on your version)

7. Click and drag the “Teacher” field into the row items area. Your table should now be back to its original state. (see image P1.9)

Exercise: 1. Repeat the step you took earlier when you

misplaced fields in the “Data Items” area. Click and drag the other skill areas

a. content, b. organization, c. mechanics, d. Imagery, and e. style for September into the “Data

Items”. Adding each to the right of the existing field(s). (see image p2.2).

2. Click and drag in the Total field for September into the “Data Items”, to the right of the existing fields.



P2.2 Missing PivotTable Field List The field list is only visible when the pivot table is active. Meaning that you are working within the table. If you have click on a cell within your pivot table and do not see the field list floating or docked on the right-side of your screen, you may have closed the panel using the close icon (X).

1. To bring up the Field List panel again, click on the Field List icon on the PivotTable toolbar.

Excel version 2003

P2.3 Missing PivotTable Toolbar The toolbar can be turned on or off in all versions of Excel prior to Excel 2007. If your toolbar does not appear when you click within your pivot table you can turn it on manually by:

1. by selecting “view” on the text menu, 2. click on “toolbars” 3. and place a checkmark before the toolbar

you want to turn on, in this case “PivotTables”

The PivotTable toolbar is a “smart” feature, which means that it will automatically appear when the pivot table is active. The toolbar maybe docked on a layer of icon toolbars, or may be floating somewhere on your screen, depending on how you like to work. If you move your toolbar, Excel will reopen it in the same position. When your toolbars is floating on your screen, it will have a title bar (see excel version prior to 2003). Click and drag the title bar to move the toolbar. Click the X icon to close the toolbar.

Exercise: When your toolbar is docked, it will have a handle at the beginning of the toolbar (see Excel version 2007) that looks like a line of vertical dots.

1. Click and drag the toolbar handle to move it into another area of your screen.

2. To float a toolbar, pull it towards the center of the page.

3. Click and drag the title bar, and push it into the right side of your screen to dock.

4. You can also dock the toolbar on the bottom, or the left side of your screen.

5. Replace the toolbar in an area that is easy for you to work with and that has enough room to display all of the icons on the toolbar.

Excel version prior to 2003

Excel version 2003

Excel version 2007

Excel version 2007 - Close-up In Excel 2007 the toolbar feature cannot be turned on or off, however two new options will appear on your text menu, with the word “PivotTable Tools” above them, when you click in any cell within your table.



Part 3: Understanding Your Data The second golden rule and the key to using PivotTables is that you need to know your data and its suitability for a pivot table. Top Image: For example you will receive an error #DIV/0! If you try to run an “Average” calculation on a field that contains text, such as labels or improperly formatted data, instead of a field that contains numerical data. Bottom Image: A text field dropped into the “data items” section will sometimes default to “count” and provide you with the total number of samples that are “non-blank” records. This is handy if you want to run a non-mathematical function on the data like, compiling a count of the number of students who received an A, B, C, D, F or INC, or how many students were in each course. At the beginning of the workshop in “P1.2 Setting up and Formatting PivotTable Data Fields” we prepared our data by filling in all of the records that did not have data with an appropriate value. In our case we added zeros to the skill data. If take a count of the number of students in our sample group, we would get an accurate number because there are no blank fields in our records. If you did not prepare your source data, you would have found that the count did not accurately reflect your sample group.

For example you may have 160 records, but if 58 are blank your total count will display 102.

Exercise: 1. Click on worksheet (PivotTable_1.2) which is

a new blank pivot table. 2. From the text menu select “Move or Copy…” 3. Place a check in the checkbox to make a

copy of the worksheet. 4. Put the new worksheet before the

(Sort_Table) worksheet. 5. Double click on the worksheet tab, and name

it (P3). 6. Click and drag the “Teacher” field into the

row data area. 7. To find out how many students are enrolled

in each class, click and drag the “Teacher” field (from the field list) and add it to the data items. Note that the teacher field is a text field and will default to count.



P3.1 Review Your Data & Column Headings Look at your data and become familiar with the fields that are available. Identify the fields (column headings) that will make good category options and those that will provide good value (data item) options. Sometimes you will have a field that appears to be a numerical field, however the column format is set to general or text. These columns should be converted to “numbers” and the appropriate formatting should be set as soon as the data is added to your pivot table. In our example database, all of the fields, even those with numerical values were set to “general” and will default to “count” if the column format is not changed to “numbers”.

Part 4: Understanding the Relationship between Pivot Charts and Tables The third golden rule is that PivotTables and PivotCharts are linked together. You can work in the table view or the chart view to break out your data and the changes will be reflected in both views. When you are working with the PivotChart you will have access to all of the chart features and types that are available in Excel.

P4.1 Creating Pivot Charts You can create a pivot chart from an existing pivot table with as little as one data item added to the table. Exercise: Create a Pivot Chart from your Pivot Table:

1. Click anywhere within your pivot table and then click on the “Chart Wizard” icon that is on the PivotTable toolbar.

2. Select the type of chart – “Column Bar Chart”3. Select the location for your chart – either on

the same worksheet or on a new worksheet. You can always move your chart later by selecting the “Move Chart” command on the Chart toolbar. For this exercise create your chart on the same worksheet.

4. Click OK



P4.2 PivotChart Filter Pane In Excel version 2007 the fields are accessed from the “PivotChart Filter Pane”. In all previous versions of Excel the fields are accessed by drop down menus that appear on the chart. Click and drag the fields to move them, or use the fields drop down menu to filter field data. Your charts are updated immediately. You can also filter the category fields that are displayed on the axis.

P4.3 Adding Fields to your PivotChart In Excel version 2003 you can click and drag fields onto your chart, positioning them where you would like them to appear. Sub-Category: For example if you would like to add a sub-category to your chart you would add the field to the right of the existing field. Primary Category: If you would like the new field to be the primary category then you would add the new field to the left of the existing field. Page Fields: You can add additional sorting fields by dragging a new field to the top of the chart, which is the “page field” area. In Excel version 2007 you will work primarily within the “field list” panel. Below the check list of available fields you will find the PivotTable areas. Drag and drop the field into the correct area of the table. Sub-Category: If you want to add a sub-category you would drag the new field into the Axis Field area below the existing field (Teacher). Primary Category: If you want your new category to be the primary category you would drag the new field into the Axis Field area above the existing field (Teacher). Page Fields: To add page fields to your drag and drop the field into the “Report Filter” area. All page fields will default to all.

Exercise: We are going to continue building our PivotChart using worksheet (P3). 1. Click in cell A3 to activate your table and bring

up the Field List. 2. Click and drag the “Ethnicity” field into the “Page

Items” area on the top of the chart. 3. On your pivot table or your pivot chart, filter the

Excel Version 2007



Ethnicity so that only the minorities are displayed in the report.

4. Then take a look at only the Caucasians. 5. Perhaps it would be easier if you could see the

break down for both ethnicities at the same time so that you can get a better idea of how each group is doing in comparison to the other. To do this drag the Ethnicity field down into the row items area. Try placing the field on both the left and the right.

P4.4 Removing Fields from your PivotChart Removing fields from your PivotChart works the same as removing fields from the PivotTable. Click and drag the field outside of the area, away from the chart until the cursor displays a “red X”. Once you see the “red X” release the mouse button and the field will be removed from the pivot chart. The field is still available in the field list, and all of your data is still intact. Excel version 2007: You can also uncheck the field box in the field list to remove an item.

P4.5 Printing Your PivotChart In Excel 2003 and earlier the field and field areas show on the chart as a button. To turn these buttons off prior to printing:

Exercise: We are going to continue working with the PivotChart on the (P3) worksheet.

1. Select the PivotChart drop down menu, on the PivotChart toolbar

2. Choose “Hide PivotChart Field Buttons” 3. To access the buttons and make changes to

your pivot chart, select the PivotChart drop down menu, on the PivotChart toolbar and choose “Show PivotChart Field Buttons”

This step is not needed in Excel version 2007, because the field and field areas are not visible on the chart. You will work primarily within the “Field List” panels.



P4.6 Sorting Your Data in Ascending or Descending Order

Exercise: We are going to continue working with the PivotChart on the (P3) worksheet.


2. Click in cell B5 and then click on the sort & filter icon AZ to filter the data in ascending or descending order. Notice that your chart is automatically updated.

Part 5: What do I need to Know About PivotTables? As you might have guessed, it takes a computer with a significant amount of memory to run a robust process like PivotTables and PivotCharts. When you initiate a PivotTable, Excel takes a snapshot of your data and holds it in cache. The cache is a storage area that is not visible in the file. The more data you have the larger the file size will be. The cache snapshot is what allows you to make rapid changes, such as, rearranging fields, adding new fields, or hiding items.

The examples in this tutorial, so far, have come from the Example_Data_01.xls file which is 1.5 MB, and is significantly larger than most Excel files which do not have PivotTables or PivotCharts in them.

P5.1 Refreshing Your Data Any changes you make to your original data source will not be picked up by your pivot table report until you take another snapshot of the data source, or “refresh” the pivot cache.

Review the Relationship Again: The source data is NOT connected to the PivotTable or the PivotChart. What you see in the PivotTable and the PivotChart is based on a snapshot that is frozen in time. If changes are made to the source data, you MUST REFRESH the data, which takes a new snapshot. The PivotTable and the PivotChart ARE connected and will reflect all changes that are made automatically.

Excel version prior to 2003

Excel version 2003

Excel version 2007

Excel version 2007 - Close-up



P5.2 Limited by Available Memory Some of the limitations that you must be aware of are dependent on the amount of memory your computer has available and others will depend on which version of Excel you are running.

P5.2 Suggested Fixes The first limitation which is “Limited by Available Memory” can be remedied by adding more RAM to your system, and making sure that you have a minimum of 20% free space on your hard drive. If you are having problems running an Excel spreadsheet or if it is running slow, try closing all other programs to free up more of your system resources.

P5.3 Limited by the Version of Excel you are Running

P5.3 Suggested Fixes The second limitation which is the “Physical limitations of Excel” is based on the version you are running. If you find that you are working with large, robust files and need to add more items to your PivotTables and PivotCharts, the only workaround may be to upgrade your version of Excel. Be careful to check all of the system requirements before purchasing new software, to be sure that your computer can run the newer version.



P5.4 The 3 Golden Rules

P5.5 Try it! Exercise: Use the 06-07 Enroll-official count.xls file to build pivot tables and charts. Exercise: Use the student_count_2004-06.xls file to see how summarized data can be used to create pivot tables and charts to view the numbers of students in grades K-12, or can be broken down to view only elementary, middle or high school students.

P5.6 Analyzing Data: Can this data be used successfully to create Excel Pivot Tables and Charts? Exercise: Analyze the Star_Magnitude_Graphing.xls file to see if it can be used to create pivot tables and charts. Exercise: Analyze the sat_2001_06.xls file to see if it can be used to create pivot tables and charts.

Post – Assessment Questionnaire

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Documents

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pivot table categories

excel pivot tables page

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