Excel Tutorials: How to use Excel 2007 Pivot Table Step by Step

Pivot Table Overview

Excel Pivot Table Tutorial

© Ted French

For more Excel tips and tricks go to my static page:  Excel Tutorials and Tricks Series.

Excel Pivot Table Tutorial

Related tutorial: Excel 2003 Pivot Table Tutorial (video).
An Excel pivot table is a versatile reporting tool that makes it easy to extract information from a large table of data without the use of formulas.
A pivot table is extremely user friendly in that by moving, or pivoting, fields of data from one location to another using drag and drop we can look at the same data in a number of different ways.
This tutorial covers creating and using a pivot table to extract different information from one data sample.

Enter the Pivot Table Data

Excel Pivot Table Tutorial

© Ted French

Enter the Pivot Table Data

Note: For help with these instructions see the image example above.
The first step in creating a pivot table
is to enter the data into the worksheet.
When doing so, keep the following points in mind:

• At least three columns of data are needed to create a pivot table.
  
  
• It is important to enter data correctly. Errors, caused by incorrect data entry, are the source of many problems related to data management.
  
  
• Leave no blank rows or columns when entering the data. This includes NOT leaving a blank row between the column headings and the first row of data.

For this tutorial:

Enter the data into cells A1 to D12 as seen in the image above. For those who do not feel like typing, the data, instructions for copying it into Excel, are available at this link.

Create the Pivot Table

Excel Pivot Table Tutorial

© Ted French

Create the Pivot Table

Note: For help with these instructions see the image example above.

1. Drag select cells A2 to D12 to highlight them.
   
   
2. Click on the Insert tab of the ribbon.
   
   
3. Click on the down arrow at the bottom of Pivot Table button to open the drop down list.
   
   
4. Click on Pivot Table in the list to open the Create Pivot Table dialog box.
   
   
5. By pre-selecting the data range A2 to F12, the Table/Range line in the dialog box should be filled in for us.
   
   
6. Choose Existing Worksheet for the location of the pivot table.
   
   
7. Click on the Location line in the dialog box.
   
   
8. Click on cell D16 in the worksheet to enter that cell reference into the location line.
   
   
9. Click OK.

A blank pivot table should appear on the worksheet with the top left corner of the pivot table in cell D16.
The Pivot Table Field List panel should open on the right hand side of the Excel window.
At the top of the Pivot Table Field List panel are the field names ( column headings ) from our data table. The data areas at the bottom of the panel are linked to the pivot table.

Adding Data to the Pivot Table

Excel Pivot Table Tutorial

© Ted French

Adding Data to the Pivot Table

Note: For help with these instructions see the image example above.
You have two choices when it comes to adding data to the Pivot Table:

• Drag the field names from the Pivot Table Field List panel and drop them on the Pivot Table in the worksheet.
  
  
• Drag the field names to the bottom of the Pivot Table Field List panel and drop them in the data areas.

The data areas in the Pivot Table Field List panel are linked to corresponding areas of the pivot table. As you add the field names to the data areas, your data is added to the pivot table.
Depending on which fields are placed in which data area, different results can be obtained.

For this tutorial:

1. Drag the field names to these data areas:
• Total Sales to the Report Filter area
• Region to the Column Labels area
• Sales Rep to the Row Labels area
• Orders to the Values area


2. Once completed, the Pivot Table should have the data laid out in the same order as the example in step 1 of this tutorial.

Filtering the Pivot Table Data

Excel Pivot Table Tutorial

© Ted French

Filtering the Pivot Table Data

Note: For help with these instructions see the image example above.
The Pivot Table has built in filtering tools that can be used to fine tune the results shown by the Pivot Table.
Filtering data involves using specific criteria to limit what data is displayed by the Pivot Table.

For this tutorial:

1. Click on the down arrow next to the Region heading in the Pivot Table to open the filter's drop down list.
   
   
2. Click on the check box next to the Select All option to remove the check mark from all the boxes in this list.
   
   
3. Click on the check boxes next to the East and North options to add check marks to these boxes.
   
   
4. Click OK.
   
   
5. The Pivot Table should now show only the order totals for the sales reps that work in the East and North regions.

Change the Pivot Table Data

Excel Pivot Table Tutorial

© Ted French

Change the Pivot Table Data

Note: For help with these instructions see the image example above.
To change the results shown by the Pivot Table:

1. Rearrange the pivot table by dragging the data fields from one data area to another in the Pivot Table Field List panel.
   
   
2. Apply filtering to get the desired results.

For this tutorial:

1. Drag the field names to these data areas:
• Orders to the Report Filter area
• Sales Rep to the Column Labels area
• Region to the Row Labels area
• Total Sales to the Values area
2. Click on the down arrow next to the Region heading in the Pivot Table to open the filter's drop down list.
   
   
3. Click twice on the check box next to the Select All option to first add and then remove the check marks from all the boxes in this list.
   
   
4. Click on the check box next to the West option to add a check mark to this box.
   
   
5. Click OK.
   
   
6. The Pivot Table should now show the total sales for only those sales reps that work in the West region.