Comments for Excel Pivot Tables

Comment on Sorting Pivot Table Report Fields by Debra Dalgleish

Debra Dalgleish — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:38:21 +0000

@Doug, oh, I’ve lost count of the blogs, and thanks for asking.

The Contextures website and blog are still the main focus, and this Pivot Table blog lets people find articles on that topic more easily.
Excel Theatre is where I post the daily Excel tweet collections, and Spreadsheet Day is for celebrating all kinds of spreadsheets.
My Debra D’s Blog is for stuff that doesn’t quite fit anywhere else!

Comment on Sorting Pivot Table Report Fields by Doug Glancy

Doug Glancy — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:37:22 +0000

Debra, just how many blogs do you have? I just got here from a great Pivot Table FAQ page I’d never seen before, which had an interesting tip for changing a pivot chart without changing the table.

The other day I found your blog about blogging, with the useful CodeColorer post.

It’s like an entire Contextures queendom!

Comment on Add Pivot Table Wizard in Excel 2007 by Debra Dalgleish

Debra Dalgleish — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:23:24 +0000

@JENNIE, thanks for the links, and there is a search tool for the Ribbon too, from the Microsoft Office labs:

http://blog.contextures.com/archives/2011/06/27/quickly-find-excel-ribbon-commands/

Comment on Add Pivot Table Wizard in Excel 2007 by JENNIE

JENNIE — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:28:20 +0000

You’re welcome Debra. Where I work there is also a mixture of 2003, 2007 users. Those that have not used anything else take to it immediately which I guess is only natural. I bought the 2010 version after trying the Beta version and really enjoyed some of the new features.

I can relate to the ‘struggle with remembering where the old 2003 commands are’. The ability to customize the ribbon in Access 2010 was a plus for me, then I started to do the same in Excel. When I needed to use 2007 for work I found a couple of good links on the Microsoft site:

Reference: locations of Excel 2003 commands in Excel 2007
Interactive – Excel 2003 to Excel 2007 command reference guide

Another site: Chandoo.org I have found useful – search for
Master Excel 2007 Ribbon with this Free Learning Guide

Comment on Keep Formatting in Excel 2007 Pivot Table by Terri

Terri — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:24:32 +0000

In one of my pivot tables I can’t even get the formatting to hold on previously formatted cells. It works in other files, but for this file if I remove a field and then put it back in, it loses the format. I’ve checked every option I can find, including all those above, and nothing works. I recently converted to Excel 2010, but I think this is a 2007 file. Any ideas?

Comment on Pivot Table Error: Excel Field Names Not Valid by Debra Dalgleish

Debra Dalgleish — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:31:43 +0000

@Debbie, you’re welcome! Thanks for letting me know that it helped you solve the problem.

Comment on Pivot Table Error: Excel Field Names Not Valid by Debbie

Debbie — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:53:22 +0000

Thank you for this help – I was going to pull my hair out !!n I realised that indeed one of my columns had dropped it’s title (or perhaps it got deleted in error…) in any case you kept me sane.

Comment on Add Pivot Table Wizard in Excel 2007 by Debra Dalgleish

Debra Dalgleish — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:49:54 +0000

@Iain, I’m not with Microsoft, and can relate to the problems that you’re having with the transition to Excel 2007. I’m supporting customers in Excel 2003, as well as Excel 2007 and 2010, so it’s a constant struggle to remember where the commands are. At least the Ribbon can be easily customized in Excel 2010, so that helps somewhat.

I posted a reply to your comment yesterday, but it seems to have disappeared into the ethernet, or I accidentally deleted it during my daily spam cleanup. Sorry about that.

Comment on Add Pivot Table Wizard in Excel 2007 by Iain

Iain — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:12:19 +0000

I think the reply to @JENNIEE rather makes my point, and without wishing to appear as if I’m whining, it is ‘interesting’ that a post from someone who says they like/are getting used to Office 2007 gets a response, yet a comment from someone saying that having used Office from long before it was Office (I go back to Word 1 PC, Word Mac 3) and find the changes, dropping of things from menus, no compatibility mode etc. is making the software more difficult to use gets, no comment at all…as if willfully ignored.

I think it was Bill who said something along the lines of; “Your greatest critic is your greatest asset” (we used to have it painted on the wall at a place I worked). He also apparently said; “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”

Sage words Bill, it’s what got you to where MS are now, but from my standpoint, it now seems very much as if people only want to hear the good news. The sad story is I know *no one* who has liked Office 2007. And I work in software and so deal with people with a lot of use and experience, and to a man/women, they have *all* disliked it. And if those making decision at MS continue to ignore this kind of feedback, the problems that behest Vista and to an extend Win7 will continue.

I remember Vista being touted to me as the great breakthrough. We were even due to have Steve B come talk to us about it, but then look at how it turned out. So please Debra, take the feedback as constructive input, simply being told everything is grand will indeed seduce you into thinking you can’t lose.

Comment on Add Pivot Table Wizard in Excel 2007 by Debra Dalgleish

Debra Dalgleish — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:57:00 +0000

@JENNIE, thanks for the book suggestion, and for sharing your experience on upgrading to Excel 2010.