You probably know how easy it is to add or remove the Grand Totals in a pivot table, by using the Ribbon commands.

But keep reading, to see an even quicker way!

Grand Totals on the Ribbon

Yes, it’s easy to change the Grand Total settings on the Ribbon:

• Select any cell in the pivot table
• On the Ribbon, under PivotTable Tools, click the Design tab
• In the Layout group, at the left, click Grand Totals
• Click one of the options.

Quickly Remove Grand Totals

For an even quicker way to remove Grand Totals, follow these steps:

• In the pivot table, right-click the Grand Total label cell (not the total amounts) – either the Row Grand Total or the Column Grand Total
• In the popup menu, click Remove Grand Total

That’s it! Unfortunately, there’s no equally quick way to add Grand Totals, but maybe that feature will be in the next version of Excel.

________

In recent blog posts, we’ve looked at the pivot table Count function, the Average function, and the Min and Max functions. In this article we’ll look at the Product function.

Product Summary Function

The Product summary function shows the result of multiplying all the underlying values in the Values area. The result is the same as using the PRODUCT function on the worksheet to calculate the multiplied values.

In all the years that I've worked with pivot tables, I've never had to use the Product summary function, and can't imagine a situation where it would be useful. However, you can see how it works, and decide if it would be useful in any of your applications.

PRODUCT Worksheet Function

The PRODUCT worksheet function can be useful as a quick way to multiply several values in a worksheet row. For example, in this list of orders, the PRODUCT function multiplies the item quantity, times the cost, times the markup rate, to get the total price for each order.

In column G, you can see the total calculated by using the multiplier operator instead. The only case in which the results are different is where there is a blank cell, such as in row 4. The PRODUCT function treats the blank as a 1, and the multiplier operator treats the blank as a zero.

In this scenario, the PRODUCT worksheet function shows a meaningful result.

PRODUCT Worksheet Function for Columns

However, when you're using data  as the source for a pivot table, you aren't multiplying rows, as you would with the PRODUCT worksheet example above. The pivot table will summarize the data from several, or even thousands of rows, so the PRODUCT function isn't useful, in my experience.

In the screen shot below, you can see the pivot table source data, with the product calculated for each type of item that's sold, using the PRODUCT worksheet function. Instead of multiplying the values in rows, values in the same column (Qty) are being multiplied.

At the bottom of the source data is the overall PRODUCT calculation.

Unlike the previous example, these products are meaningless.

Pivot Table Product Summary Function

When you use the Product summary function in a pivot table that's based on the data source shown above, the results are the same meaningless numbers.

The results of the Product function may be very large numbers and default to a Scientific number format. You can format the numbers as Number format, instead of Scientific format.

Note: Excel only stores and calculates with 15 significant digits of precision, so after the 15th character you'll only see zeros.

_________

In recent blog posts, we've looked at the pivot table Count function and the Average function. Now we'll look at two more functions, that are closely related -- Min and Max.

Max Summary Function

The Max summary function shows the maximum value from the underlying values in the Values area. The result is the same as using the MAX function on the worksheet to calculate the maximum of the values.

In the screen shot below, you can see the source data for a small pivot table, and the maximum quantity, using the worksheet's MAX function, is 97.

With a pivot table, you can quickly see the maximum for each product that was sold, and the grand total -- 97 -- which matches the worksheet maximum.

Min Summary Function

The Min summary function shows the minimum value from the underlying values in the Values area. The result is the same as using the MIN function on the worksheet to calculate the minimum of the values.

In the screen shot below, you can see the source data for a small pivot table, and the minimum quantity, using the worksheet's MIN function, is 8.

With a pivot table, you can quickly see the minimum for each product that was sold, and the grand total -- 8 -- which matches the worksheet minimum.

In both the worksheet and the pivot table, the blank cell is ignored when calculating the minimum amount.

___________

___________

When you add a numeric data field to the Values area in a pivot table, the summary function defaults to either Sum or Count. You can change that field to use one of the other summary functions, such as Average.

The Average Function

The Average function in a pivot table works like the AVERAGE function on the worksheet to calculate the average (mean) of the values. It totals all the underlying values in the Values area, and divides by the number of values. 

You can use the Average function to compare amounts, such as order sizes, student grades, and project times, across a large number of instances.

Blanks and Zeros

Just as they are on the worksheet, blank cells are ignored when calculating the pivot table averages, but zero cells are included.

In the data source shown below, cell C7 is blank. That blank cell is not included in either the worksheet average (C12),

or in the pivot table average, shown below.

Hidden Zeros

If you have formatted the worksheet to hide zero values, remember that those zero values will be included in the averages, even if the cells appear blank.

In the two data sources shown below, the overall average is different. Zeros are hidden on the worksheet, and cell F7 contains a zero. Cell C7 is blank.

If you create pivot tables from these two data sources, the pivot table Average function would include the hidden zeros, just as the worksheet Average does.

Format the Results

When you use the Average summary function, the results will probably show a strange mixture of decimal places, as shown in the pivot table at the left, in the screen shot below.

Format the field to have a consistent number of decimal places (as in the pivot table at the right, above), so the numbers are easy to compare.

____________

When you add a field to a pivot table's Values area, Count is the default summary function, if the field contains nonnumeric or blank cells. (If the field's data are all numbers, Sum is the default function.)

The Count function's name is slightly confusing, because it's like the COUNTA worksheet function, not the COUNT worksheet function.

The pivot table Count function counts:

• text
• numbers
• errors

Blank cells are not counted.

Watch What You Count

If you're using the Count function in a pivot table, be careful which field you use for the count. For example, in the pivot table source  data shown below, cell C7, in the Qty column, is blank.

if you want to count the order for Pens, and use the Qty field, the blank cell (C7) would not be counted. The number of orders for Pens would show as 1. Instead, you could add the Product field to the Values area, and the Pens orders would show a count of 2.

In the pivot tables shown below, the one on the left uses Qty in the Values field, and the pivot table on the right uses Product in the Values field.

__________

You can create a calculated field in a pivot table, to perform calculations based on the Sum of a pivot table field. For example, this formula would calculate a bonus based on the total number of units sold for each product. If 60 or more were sold, then the salesperson would receive a 3% bonus on the sales amount for those products.

=IF(Units>= 60,Total* 3%,0)

In the pivot table shown below, Andrews sold 150 binders, and earned a bonus of 22.46 on that product. Gill only sold 10 pens, so there is no bonus earned for that.

The headings in the pivot table have been changed:

• Sum of Total --> Sales
• Sum of Units --> Units Sold
• Sum of Bonus -->Bonus Amt

Calculated Field Totals

After creating the Bonus calculated field, you might expect to see a sum of the bonus amounts, in the subtotal and grand total rows. However, the calculated field uses the same calculation in the subtotal and grand total rows, instead of showing a sum.

In this pivot table, Gill had two bonus amounts -- 11.98 and 5.38, for a total of 17.36. However, the subtotal for Gill shows a bonus amount of 26.21, which is too high.

The grand total for a calculated field performs the same calculation that’s defined in the calculated field. So, for Gill, instead of summing the bonus amounts, it calculates 3% of Gill's total sales -- 874 * 3% = 26.21

Calculate Outside the Pivot Table

Unfortunately, there's no setting that you can change in the pivot table, to sum the calculated fields, instead of using the calculated field formula on the totals.

As a workaround, you could use formulas outside the pivot table to extract the bonus amounts, and sum those amounts.

• To create blank cell in the product column, the report layout was changed to Outline Form.
• To create salesperson groups, in cell F5, the formula is: =--(B5="")+F4
  • (Note: there are 2 minus signs after the equal sign in the above formula)
• In cell G5: =IF(B5<>"",E5,0)
• The bonus calculation in cell H5 is:
  =IF(A5="Grand Total",SUM(G:G),IF(B5="",SUMIF(F:F,F5,G:G),G5))

Then, hide the pivot table column that contains the Bonus calculations, so only the column with the correct subtotals and grand total is visible.

Download the Sample File

To work with the data in this example, and create the calculated field, you can download the Calculated Field Bonus sample file. The file is in Excel 2007 format, and zipped.

_____________

When you add a field to the Values area of an Excel Pivot Table, it automatically shows the Sum or Count for all the items in that field. Here we can see the total labor cost for each Service Type.

If you add more than one field to the Row Labels or Column Labels area of the Pivot Table, a subtotal is automatically created for each field except the last one (the Inner Field). The subtotal, by default, uses the same summary function as the Value field.

In our example, the District field has been added to the Row Labels area. Service Type is now an Outer Field, and has a subtotal for each service. District is the Inner Field, and does not have subtotals.

Change the Subtotal Summary Function

Instead of using the default summary function for subtotals, you can select a different function. To change the setting:

1. Right-click a label for the field in which you want to change the subtotal. In this example, right-click cell B3, which has the Install label.
2. In the pop-up menu, click Field Settings
3. In the Field Settings dialog box, click the Subtotals & Filters tab
4. Under Subtotals, click Custom
5. In the list of Summary Functions, click one or more function names
6. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Subtotals on Inner Fields

For the Inner Field in the Row Labels or Column Labels area, the default subtotals are not displayed. So, in the pivot table shown above, there's no subtotal for the District field.

However, if you create Custom Subtotals for an Inner Field, those subtotals appear at the end of the Pivot Table. In this example, Custom subtotals for Count and Max were created for the District field. You can see the District subtotals at the bottom of the Pivot Table, just above the Grand Total.

More Info on Pivot Table Subtotals

You can read more about pivot table subtotals, and the steps for changing them, on the Contextures website: Excel Pivot Table Subtotals.

Watch the Pivot Table Subtotals Video

To see the steps for changing the pivot table subtotals, and creating multiple subtotals, you can watch this short video.

___________

When you add multiple fields to the Row Labels area in a pivot table, subtotals automatically appear for the outer fields. In the pivot table shown below, Region and City fields are in the Row Labels area. Two fields are in the Values area: Sum of Quantity shows the total quantity for each city, and Sum of TotalPrice shows the total sales amount.

Region Subtotal is Shown

A subtotal row is at the bottom of each region. It shows the total quantity and total sales for each region. You can add another row of subtotals for each region, to show the average quantity and sales. 

Add More Subtotals

You can change the field settings for the Region field and it will show more subtotal rows:

1. Right-click one of the Region row labels, and click Field Settings.

   

2. In the Field Settings dialog box, click the Subtotals & Filters tab.

   

3. In the Subtotals section, click Custom. Note: When you select Custom, the Automatic subtotal is removed.
4. In the list of functions, click Sum and Average – the functions you want to use as subtotals. 

   

5. Click OK, to close the Field Settings dialog box

Note: When you select multiple Custom subtotals, the subtotals are displayed at the bottom of the group, even if you set the option to show subtotals at the top of the group.

_________________