When you have a long list of fields in an Excel 2003 pivot table, it can take a long time to drag them into the pivot table layout, using the PivotTable Wizard.

For a quicker way to add the fields, don't go into the Layout screen in Step 3 -- just click the Finish button.

Add Fields from the PivotTable Field List

When the PivotTable Wizard closes, you'll see a blank pivot table on the worksheet.

Note: If the PivotTable Field List isn't visible, click the Show Field List button on the PivotTable Toolbar.

To add the pivot fields:

1. Then, in the Field List, select one of the layout areas from the drop down list.
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2. In the Field List, double-click on each field that you want to add to the selected layout area.
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Repeat Steps 1 and 2, for all the layout areas, leaving the Data Area to fill in last.

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For a pivot table that’s based on a Microsoft Access query, you might need to find out which database and query were used as the source data.

In Excel, if you click the Change Data Source command, on the Ribbon's Options tab, you can see the connection name in the Change PivotTable Data Source dialog box. However, that bit of information isn't too useful -- it doesn't show you the name and path of the Access file, and you can't see which query was used to create the pivot table.

View the Connection Properties

To find the details on the source data's Access file and query, you can follow these steps:

• In the Excel file, select a cell in the pivot table
• On the Ribbon's Data tab, in the Connections group, click Properties.

• In the Connection Properties dialog box, click the Definition tab.
  • In the Connection File box, you can see the name and path of the database.
  • In the Command Text box is the name of the Access query.
• Click Cancel to close the Connection Properties dialog box.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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This example is based on the Work Orders workbook, used in my book, "Beginning PivotTables in Excel 2007." If you're working through the book, this video shows the steps outlined starting on page 46.

In the video, we create a pivot table that's based on a formatted Excel Table. Then, the Values field is changed from SUM to AVERAGE, and the numbers are formatted so they're easy to read and understand.

If there are other sections of "Beginning Pivot Tables in Excel 2007" that you'd like to see in a video, please let me know in the comments. Thanks!

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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.

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Sometimes it's quicker to use a keyboard shortcut, instead of the mouse, to accomplish a task in Excel. Here are some of the keyboard shortcuts for working with pivot tables in Excel 2007 and Excel 2003.

Excel 2003 Pivot Table Keyboard Shortcuts

Excel 2003 Pivot Table Keyboard Shortcuts

In Pivot Table

In Pivot Table Wizard

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You can group the dates in a pivot table in different increments, such as by year and quarter.

However, the grouping options are based on the calendar year, and there are no options for grouping pivot table dates by fiscal year. If you want to group the dates by your company’s fiscal year, which starts in July, there’s no built-in way to do that.

Fiscal Year Workaround

Because there’s no built-in option to group pivot table dates by fiscal year, you’ll have to use a workaround solution. In the pivot table source data, you can add a column with a formula that calculates the fiscal year, and then add that field to the pivot table.

For example, if your fiscal year starts in July, use the following formula to calculate the fiscal year, where the date is in cell A2:

=YEAR(A2)+(MONTH(A2)>=7)

The formula calculates the year of the date in cell A2. Then, it calculates the month of the date in cell A2, and checks to see if the month number is 7 or higher. If the month is less than 7, then zero will be added to the year, otherwise 1 will be added.

In the screenshot below, you can see the fiscal year formula for dates in June and July.

• The year for all the dates is 2010.
• For the June dates, the month is 6, which is less than 7. So, zero is added to the year, and the fiscal year is 2010.
• For the July dates, the month is 7, so 1 is added to the year, and the fiscal year is 2011.

Fiscal Quarter Workaround

If you also want to group the pivot table dates by the fiscal quarter, you can add another column to the pivot table source data. Use this formula to calculate the fiscal quarter, if the fiscal year starts in July.

=CHOOSE(MONTH(A2),3,3,3,4,4,4,1,1,1,2,2,2)

The Choose formula calculates the month of the date in cell A2. Based on the month number, the formula selects the appropriate fiscal quarter number from the numbers that follow. For example, if the month is June, the month number is 6. In the Choose formula, the sixth number is 4, so June is in fiscal quarter 4.

In the screenshot below, you can see the fiscal quarterformula for dates in June and July.

• For the June dates, the month is 6, and the sixth month in the Choose formula is 4, so June is in fiscal quarter 4.
• For the July dates, the month is 7, and the seventh month in the Choose formula is 1, so July is in fiscal quarter 1.

Add the Fiscal Dates to the Pivot Table

If you had grouped year and quarter dates in the pivot table, ungroup them and remove them.

Refresh the pivot table, and add the fiscal year and fiscal quarter fields to the Row Labels area.

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For more information on Pivot Tables, please see the Pivot Table Tutorials on the Contextures Website.

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If there’s a date field in your Excel pivot table, you can use it to focus on a specific date, or a selected date range. To filter the dates, you can use the following filter types:

• Date checkboxes
• Date range entry
• Dynamic date range selection

Using Date Checkboxes

If a date field is in the Row Labels area of the pivot table, do the following to show or hide specific dates.

1. Click the drop down arrow on the Row Labels heading
2. Select the Field name from the drop down list of Row Labels fields
3. In the list of dates, add check marks to show dates, or remove check marks to hide dates.
4. Click OK

Clear a Date Filter

To remove a date filter from a pivot table field:

1. Click the drop down arrow on the Row Labels heading
2. Select the Field name from the drop down list of Row Labels fields
3. Click Clear Filter From [date field name]

Filter for a Specific Date Range

If a date field is in the Row Labels area of the pivot table, do the following to show a specific date range.

1. Click the drop down arrow on the Row Labels heading
2. Select the Field name from the drop down list of Row Labels fields
3. Click Date Filters, then click Between...

   
    

4. In the Between dialog box, type a start and end date, or select them from the pop up calendars.
5. Click OK.

Filter for a Dynamic Date Range

A Dynamic Date Range is one that changes automatically, as time moves forward. For example, Tomorrow, which will represent a different date, every day that you open the pivot table file.

If a date field is in the Row Labels area of the pivot table, do the following to show data from the current month, as a dynamic date range.

1. Click the drop down arrow on the Row Labels heading
2. Select the Field name from the drop down list of Row Labels fields
3. Click Date Filters, then click This Month

Date Filters in the Pivot Table Report Filters

Unfortunately, the Date Range filters and Dynamic Date filters aren’t available in the Pivot Table Report Filters area. If you move a date field to the Report Filters area, only the Checkbox filter type is available.

If you move a filtered date field from the Row Labels area to the Report Filters area, any filtering will be discarded, unless the checkboxes were used to select specific dates.

Watch the Pivot Table Date Filters Video

To see the steps in action, please watch this short video on Pivot Table Date Filters.

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For more information on Pivot Tables, please see the Pivot Table Tutorials on the Contextures Website.

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