The Excel PivotPower add-in on the Contextures website has been updated.

The PivotPower add-in makes it easier to change the summary functions in a pivot table, or add protection, and has several other helpful commands.

After you install the add-in, it shows up as a drop down list on the Excel Ribbon's Add-Ins tab. In older versions of Excel, the add-in creates a PIVOT menu on the Excel menu bar.

You can select a cell in a pivot table, and run a command, so the changes only affect the selected pivot table.

Or, select a cell that isn't in a pivot table, and the command will change all the pivot tables on the active sheet.

To download the file, you can go to the PivotPower Add-In page on the Contextures website. You'll find installation instructions and details on the PivotPower commands.

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If you love the new PowerPivot add-in for Excel 2010, you can enter the latest contest on the PowerPivotPro blog. Show off your efficient PowerPivot techniques, and win one of the two top prizes -- a 1 year MSDN subscription.

Send in your sample workbooks, with charts and slicers and cross-filtering enabled. Impress Rob with your PowerPivot skills, and you might win one of the top prizes, or a PowerPivot poster.

Here's how Rob will decide the winner:

Entries will be judged on, in roughly descending order:

1. Performance – I will compare query speed with slicer cross-filtering turned on vs. turned off.  Smaller differences are better for this contest.
2. Polish – as I slice the report, do the charts all still look nice?  Ex:  Blank space in charts = not good.
3. Ease – how hard is it to execute your technique?  We will turn winning entries into blog posts, and this will become a new reference technique here at PowerPivotPro.
4. Originality – this never hurts but is not crucial.  Fun is good.  Unexpected benefits and features are even better.

I don't see a closing date for the contest, so you'd better get started soon, and send in your entry ASAP.

Update: Contest closes Sunday October 3rd, 11:59 PM US Pacific time

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The team at PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel 2010 created the Excelerators Quiz, where you can test your Excel skills. To make the challenge more exciting, they’re sponsoring a giveaway on the Contextures blog (for USA residents only).

The blog giveaway prize has a total value of over $250, and will include a Dell ST2310 23 inch flat panel monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

How to Enter

To enter the giveaway, after you take the Excelerators Quiz, go to the Contextures blog, read the rules, and add a comment. In your comment:

• Create your own unique question for the Excelerators Quiz.
• Make your question multiple choice, with the correct answer as one of the four options.

The Alpha Geek Challenge

The PowerPivot team has also launched an Alpha Geek Challenge for more advanced excel geeks. Donald Farmer will host a PowerPivot competition in which the Grand Prize winner will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the 2010 Microsoft BI Conference in New Orleans, LA in June.

After you finish the Excelerators Quiz, and enter the Contextures blog giveaway contest, see how you do in the Alpha Geek Challenge!

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Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel 2010 is a data analysis add-in for Excel 2010, and is part of the Office 2010 Beta. You can test PowerPivot in the hands-on Virtual Lab, or in the Office 2010 Beta, if you’ve downloaded that.

That’s where I tested PowerPivot last weekend, and described the experience in my Contextures blog article, Drill Into Data With PowerPivot.

There are step-by-step instructions in the module, and you can experiment a bit on your own too. For example, I tried a few of the Slicer  formatting features.

You can connect each slicer to one or more of the pivot tables, and filter all the connected pivot tables at the same time.

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• See also: My PowerPivot for Excel 2010 Virtual Lab Review
• For more information on PowerPivot, see the PowerPivot Team blog.
• For a new pivot table formatting tip, see John Walkenbach’s Spreadsheet Blog: Unlinking A Pivot Table

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