If your pivot table is based on a large data source, it might respond very slowly when you add fields or move fields to a different area of the pivot table.

To improve performance, try the following tips:

• Remove any pivot table styles and any other formatting, such as conditional formatting that you applied to the pivot table.
• Calculated items can negatively impact the speed of updating. If possible, remove any fields that contain calculated items, or delete the calculated items from the fields.

Defer Layout Update

If you plan to add or move more than one field, you can use the Defer Layout Update option. When this feature is enabled, the fields are all added or moved, and then the pivot table is recalculated once. If this box is not checked, the pivot table is recalculated after each field is added or moved.

To defer the layout updates:

• Add a check mark to the Defer Layout Update box in the PivotTable Field List.

• Move or all all the fields that you want to adjust
• Click the Update button, to the right of the Defer Layout Update check box.
• When you're finished changing the layout, remove the check mark from the Defer Layout Update check box.

Note: Some features, such as filtering and grouping, are not available when Defer Layout Update is activated.

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If there are several pivot tables in your workbook, you might want to refresh all of them at the same time instead of refreshing each pivot table individually.

To refresh all the pivot tables in the active workbook at the same time, display the External Data toolbar, and click the Refresh All button.

Note: Using the Refresh All command will also refresh all external data ranges in the active workbook, and affects both visible and hidden worksheets.

Display the External Data Toolbar

1. Click the View menu
2. Click Toolbars, then click External Data

Add the Refresh All Button to the PivotTable Toolbar

Instead of displaying the External Data toolbar, you can add the Refresh All button to the PivotTable toolbar:

1. Select a cell in a pivot table, then click the Toolbar Options arrow at the end of the PivotTable toolbar.
2. Click Add or Remove Buttons
3. Click Pivot Table.
4. Click Refresh All to select it (a checkmark will appear beside each selected button).
5. Click outside the list to close it.

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For more information on pivot tables, see the Pivot Table Topics on my Contextures web site.

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You might have to make changes to a workbook that contains a pivot table. If someone else created that workbook, you may not be sure where to find the Excel table that was used as the pivot table's source data. In some workbooks there can be several Excel tables, and it's not immediately obvious which table was used.

How To Locate the Source Data

To locate the source data, follow these steps:

1. Select any cell in the pivot table.

2. On the Ribbon, under the PivotTable Tools tab, click the Options tab.

3. In the Data group, click the top section of the Change Data Source command.

In the Change PivotTable Data Source dialog box, you can see the the source table or range in the Table/Range box. This may be a worksheet reference, such as

• Sales_North!$A$1:$O$500

or a table name, such as

• Sales_East

On the worksheet, behind the dialog box, you can see the source range, surrounded by a moving border.

4. Click OK, to close the dialog box.

Unhide a Sheet

Usually the source range will be visible, and surrounded by a moving border. If the source range isn't activated, it may be on a hidden worksheet. You can follow these steps to unhide a sheet:

1. On the Ribbon, click the Home tab

2. In the Cells group, click Format.

2. In the Visibility section, click Hide & Unhide, and then click the Unhide Sheet command.

3. In the list, select the sheet that you want to make visible, and click OK.

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For more information on pivot tables, see the Pivot Table Topics on my Contextures web site.

In Excel 2003, if your pivot table source data changes frequently, you might want to ensure that the pivot table is updated as soon as the file opens.

You can set a pivot table option to refresh the pivot table automatically:

1. Right-click a cell in the pivot table, and choose Table Options.
2. Under Data options, add a checkmark to Refresh on open.
   
3. Click OK to close the PivotTable Options dialog box.

Tip: To stop a long refresh, as the file opens press the Esc key.

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For more information on pivot tables, see the Pivot Table Topics on my Contextures web site.

In Excel 2003, you protected a worksheet, and in the list of options, added a checkmark to allow all users of the worksheet to use PivotTable reports.

However, you can’t create a new pivot table, or refresh a pivot table on the worksheet because some buttons on the PivotTable toolbar are disabled.

When you protect a worksheet and allow use of PivotTable reports, you can work with existing PivotTable reports. You can’t create a new PivotTable report on the protected sheet, or refresh existing pivot tables.

To refresh the pivot table, you can temporarily unprotect the worksheet, refresh the pivot table, then protect the sheet. You can do this manually, or record a macro, then run that macro to refresh the pivot table.

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For more information on pivot tables, see the PivotTable Topics on my Contextures web site.