Excel PivotTables Recipe Book - Introduction

Introduction
E
xcel’s pivot tables are a powerful tool for analyzing data. With only a few minutes of
work, a new user can create an attractively formatted table that summarizes thousands
of rows of data. This book assumes that you know the basics of Excel and pivot tables,
and provides troubleshooting tips and techniques, as well as programming examples.
Who This Book Is For
This book is for anyone who uses pivot tables, and who reads the manual only when all
else fails. It’s designed to help you understand the advanced features and options that are
available, as you need them. Experiment with pivot tables, and if you get stuck, search for
the problem in this book. With luck, you’ll find a solution, a workaround, or, occasionally,
confirmation that pivot tables can’t do what you want them to do.
How This Book Is Structured
Chapters 1 to 12 contain manual solutions to common pivot table problems, and alert
you to the situations where no known solution exists. Chapter 13 has sample code for
those who prefer a programming solution to their pivot table problems. The following is
a brief summary of the material contained in each chapter.
• Chapter 1, “Creating a Pivot Table”: Topics include issues you should consider
when planning a pivot table and preparing the source data; problems that occur
when connecting to the source data; and understanding the pivot table options
that are available.
• Chapter 2, “Sorting and Grouping Pivot Table Data”: You’ll learn how data sorts in
a pivot table, as well as how to create custom sort orders, show top items only, and
group and ungroup numbers, dates, and text.
• Chapter 3, “Calculations in a Pivot Table”: This chapter discusses using the sum-
mary functions and custom calculations, creating calculated items and calculated
fields to expand the built-in capabilities, modifying formulas, and adjusting the
solve order.
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• Chapter 4, “Formatting a Pivot Table”: You’ll learn about autoformatting a pivot

table, applying and retaining formatting, creating custom number formats, and
showing and hiding totals and subtotals.
• Chapter 5, “Extracting Pivot Table Data”: Topics include using the Drill to Details
feature to extract underlying records, using the GetPivotData worksheet function
to return pivot table data, turning off the GetPivotData feature, and creating pivot
table copies with the Show Pages feature.
• Chapter 6, “Modifying a Pivot Table”: This chapter covers changing the pivot table
layout, modifying field and item captions, clearing old items from the field drop-
downs, adding comments to data cells, and customizing the PivotTable toolbar.
• Chapter 7, “Updating a Pivot Table”: Topics include refreshing the pivot table,
refreshing automatically, reconnecting to the source data, changing the source
data, and creating a dynamic source data range.
• Chapter 8, “Securing a Pivot Table”: This chapter discusses preventing users from
changing the pivot table layout, connecting to a password-protected data source,
using security features, and addressing privacy issues.
• Chapter 9, “Pivot Table Limits and Performance”: This chapter covers understanding
limits to pivot table field size, addressing memory issues, maximizing performance,
and reducing file size.
• Chapter 10, “Publishing a Pivot Table”: This chapter explains how to prepare a pivot
table for publishing on a web page, with or without interactivity.
• Chapter 11, “Printing a Pivot Table”: Topics include printing headings on every page,
repeating row and column labels, adjusting the print area, and using the Report
Manager to simplify printing.
• Chapter 12, “Pivot Charts”: This chapter covers restoring lost formatting, creating
normal charts from pivot tables, stepping through the Chart Wizard when creat-
ing a pivot chart, and modifying a pivot chart layout.
• Chapter 13, “Programming a Pivot Table”: You’ll learn how to record and use macros,
and edit recorded code. This chapter includes sample code for modifying and
printing pivot tables and clearing old items from pivot field dropdown lists, and it
discusses refreshing pivot tables on protected sheets, preventing layout changes,

reformatting a pivot chart, and changing the pivot cache.
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Prerequisites
The solutions in this book are written for Microsoft Excel 2003. Most will work in Excel
2002, but may not adapt to earlier versions. A working knowledge of Excel is assumed, as
well as familiarity with pivot table basics. Sample code is provided in Chapter 13, and
some programming experience may be required to adjust the code to conform to your
workbook setup.
For an introduction to pivot tables, see A Complete Guide to PivotTables: A Visual
Approach, by Paul Cornell (Apress, 2005).
Downloading the Code
Sample workbooks and code are available for download from the Apress website.
Contacting the Author
The author can be contacted at Visit her Contextures web-
site at www.contextures.com.
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CONTENTS
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