Pivot

Tables – Excel 2016

Pivot Tables
This guide will review how to use Pivot Tables to summarise and analyse your data in Excel:
1. What are Pivot Tables used for?
2. Creating Pivot Tables
3. Rearranging Pivot Tables
4. Value Field Settings
5. Calculated Field
6. Calculated Item
7. Sorting Pivot Tables
8. Filtering in Pivot Tables
9. Using Slicers

What are Pivot Tables used for?

As part of the name suggests, a Pivot Table reorganises cell values and generates them in a tabular
form. This reorganisation is aimed at summarising and analysing data. That means we can use Pivot
Tables to get a better interpretation of our existing data in Excel.

Using a source data (Eg. Food2Go’s Delivery List),

You can create a PivotTable, where the Row Labels are the “Delivery District” categories, and the
column is the “Sum of Payment Value” (Recall the Summary List used in Module 4).

Using a Pivot Table, your source data remains unchanged while you work on your Pivot Table!

As can be seen, much of Pivot Table’s capabilities lie in the ease of cross-referencing and rotating
variables in a table, so that we can look at data from varied perspectives - which is what gives it the
name Pivot Table.

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Creating Pivot Tables
To create a Pivot Table, here are the steps we would have to take:

1. Select a data range as the source data for your Pivot Table.
2. Go to the Insert tab under Tables, select Pivot Tables. A Create PivotTable dialog box will appear.
3. You may choose to insert your Pivot Table in the Existing Worksheet with your source data, or by
default in a new worksheet.

4. When you are done, click OK. An empty Pivot Table and a PivotTable Fields panel will also appear.

The Choose fields to add to report contains the variables Excel has identified based on our source
data. The Drag fields between areas below are components of our Pivot Table, to which we can
add our variables.




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5. To add a variable to your Pivot Table, drag and drop the variable you want into the respective areas.
In our example, add Delivery District to Rows and Payment Value to Values.

As we fill our Pivot Table Fields, Excel will auto-generate the Pivot Table. There will also be a Grand
Total row to calculate the total for each column in the Pivot Table.

Rearranging Pivot Tables
Once we have generated our Pivot Table report, we can modify it by rearranging the variables within
our four areas in the Pivot Table Fields.
• You can do this using the drag-and-drop method:
o To change a variable from one category to another (Eg. from Rows to Column), simply
drag it from its existing category and drop it into your desired category.
o To remove a variable from a category, drag and drop it anywhere outside of the
category areas.
• Alternatively, you can click on an existing variable in the category area. A drop-down menu will
appear. Click on the option you want to rearrange the variable in your Pivot Table.

Your Pivot Table report will be updated automatically.

We can use Rows and Columns interchangeably, as the same Values will still be calculated, albeit
in a slightly different orientation and presentation format.






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Value Field Settings
By default, our Pivot Tables summarise source data in preset ways (which are commonly SUM or
COUNT). However, we can customise how we want our data to be summarised through the Value Field
Settings. Here’s how we can do this:

1. In the PivotTable Fields panel, click on a variable in a the Values category area. In our example,
select Sum of Payment Value. A drop-down menu will appear.
2. Select Value Field Settings. A Value Field Settings dialog box will appear.

3. You can change the Custom Name and choose how you want to Summarize value field By.
Alternatively, you can click on the Show Values As tab and select an option you want.
4. When you are done, click OK.

Your Pivot Table report should be updated automatically.

Calculated Field
When we generate a Pivot Table from our source data, Excel automatically identifies our Fields through
the headers we used in our data. But what if we would like to customise our own Fields or even
combine them? This is where the Calculated Field feature comes in useful.

Example

Let’s say we want to create a new field named “New Payment Value” that is $10 more than the
previous Payment Value.

1. Go to Analyze tab under Calculations group, click on Fields, Items, & Sets and select Calculated
Field… . An Insert Calculated Field dialog box will appear.

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2. Type in “New Payment Value” under the Name input box. Then, click in the Formula input box.
Next, click on “Payment Value” in the Field input box and type in “+10”.

3. When you are done, click OK.

You should see a new field “New Payment Value” added to the Pivot Table report and the PivotTable
Fields panel.


Calculated Item
Just like we can customise our Pivot Table Fields and even combine them through Calculated Field, we
can do the same for our Items with the help of Calculated Item. Calculated item allows you perform
calculations within


Example

Let’s say we want to combine the North Districts together into one variable. That is, combining the
Delivery Districts for North, Northeast and Northwest.

To do this,
1. In your Pivot Table report, click on any cell in the column of the field you want to calculate.
In our example, click on any cell under the Delivery District column.
2. Select the Fields, Items & Sets command and click on Calculated Item… . A Insert Calculated Item
in “Delivery District”.

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3. Type in “North Districts” under Name. Then, fill in the Formula input box:
= North + Northeast + Northwest

to combine these 3 Delivery District variables.

4. When you are done, click OK.

You should see a new field “North Districts” added to the Pivot Table report and the PivotTable Fields
panel.


You cannot delete a field. However, you can filter your Row Labels column to hide a field
you do not want to see.






















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Sorting Pivot Tables
Just like sorting in a normal table in Excel, we can also sort the data generated in our Pivot Table report.

Example
Let’s sort our Row Labels in the Pivot Table report in ascending alphabetical order.
1. Click on the downward-facing arrow in the header cell for Row Labels. A drop-down menu will
appear.
2. Click on the option Sort A to Z.

In the Pivot Table report, you should see the column for Row Labels sorted in ascending alphabetical
order.

Alternatively, you can use the drag and drop method to sort the variables in the Pivot Table report.

Example
Let’s move the variable “North” from the first to the last row in the Pivot Table report.
1. Hover your cursor at the border of the variable you want to move, until a four-arrowed cross
appears.
In our example, it is the variable “North”.

2. Drag your cursor over to the dividing line where we wish to insert our variable “North”. You should
see a flat-ended green line.

3. Release your cursor to drop your variable here.

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Filtering in Pivot Tables
Just like filtering a normal table in Excel, we can also filter the data generated in our Pivot Table report.
This time, we will make use of the Filter area in the PivotTable Fields panel.

Example
Let’s Filter our Pivot Table by the variable Delivery Type, and include only “Firey Hot Japanese Curry”.

1. Drag and drop the variable into the Filters Area. In our example, it is the variable Delivery Type.

2. You will see a filter option appearing 2 rows above your Pivot Table report.

3. Click on the downward-facing arrow. A selection box will appear. Select “Firey Hot Japanese Curry”
and click OK.

Your Pivot Table report should be filtered to include only the Delivery Type for “Firey Hot Japanese
Curry”.

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Report Filter Pages
Besides using Filters, we also create Report Filter Pages in Excel. It creates individual worksheets, each
containing a Pivot Table report filtered according to each item in the Pivot Table Filter menu. This is
useful when you need to perform analyses on each individual category of a variable.

Example
Let’s create Report Filter Pages for each Delivery District instead, and change our row field to Delivery
Type.

1. On the Analyze tab under the Pivot Table group, click on the downward-facing arrow next to
Options. In the drop-down menu, select Show Report Filter Pages. A Show Report Filter Pages
dialog box will appear.

2. In the input box for Show all report filter pages of, you will see the variable(s) you have added in
the PivotTable Fields under the Filters area . Select the variable(s) you want to create Report Filter
Pages on. In our example, select Delivery District and click OK.

You should see worksheets created for each Delivery District in your Excel workbook.

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Using Slicers
Slicers were introduced in Excel 2013 and are available in subsequent versions of Excel.

Using slicer is a faster way to filter your Tables, PivotTable and PivotChart. With easy to use buttons in
a slicer menu, you can easily filter your data, as opposed regular filtering of clicking the individual filter
arrows.

Example

Let’s insert slicers, or filter, our Pivot Table based on Delivery District.

1. On the Analyze tab under the Filter group, select the Insert Slicer command. An Insert Slicers dialog
box will show up.
2. Tick the variables we want to perform your filter. In our example, tick “Delivery District”.

3. When you are done, click OK. You should see a slicer menu for
Delivery District appearing in your worksheet with the buttons
for each category.

By default, all the buttons on the menu should be selected. You
can select one or more buttons to view the filtered data
containing only the buttons you have selected.

You will see 2 icons at the top-right corner of your slicer menu:
• To select multiple items, click on the icon on the left.
• To clear your filters, click on the icon on the right.

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