The following step-by-step guide describes how to create a basic Pivot Table in Excel 2003. If you have a more recent version of Excel, go to the Create a Pivot Table page.
This example uses the spreadsheet below, which contains records of a company's sales figures during 2010:
A | B | C | D | E | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Date | Invoice Ref | Amount | Sales Rep. | Region |
2 | 05/01/2010 | 2010-0001 | $33,242 | Smith | North |
3 | 07/01/2010 | 2010-0002 | $41,234 | Barnes | South |
4 | 08/01/2010 | 2010-0003 | $3,255 | Brown | North |
5 | 12/01/2010 | 2010-0004 | $34,124 | Brown | North |
6 | 15/01/2010 | 2010-0005 | $4,312 | Smith | North |
7 | 19/01/2010 | 2010-0006 | $41,233 | Jones | South |
8 | 22/01/2010 | 2010-0007 | $10,313 | Smith | North |
9 | 30/01/2010 | 2010-0008 | $26,001 | Jones | South |
10 | 02/02/2010 | 2010-0009 | $34,234 | Barnes | South |
11 | . . . |
. . . |
. . . |
. . . |
. . . |
We will first create a very simple pivot table, which shows the total sales for each of the four sales reps in the above spreadsheet. To do this in Excel 2003:
Click any single cell within the data or select the entire range of data that you want to use in your Pivot Table.
(Note: If you click any single cell within the data range, Excel will select the whole of your current data range as the range to be used in your Pivot Table.)
From the drop-down menu at the top of your spreadsheet, select Data → PivotTable and PivotChart Report...
You will be presented with the window entitled 'PivotTable and PivotChart Wizard - Step 1 of 3' (shown on the rightabove).
Make sure the options
'Microsoft Office Excel list or database'
and
'PivotTable'
are selected and click Next.
You will now be presented with the dialog box entitled 'PivotTable and PivotChart Wizard - Step 2 of 3' (see rightabove).
Make sure that the selected range is the range that you want to use for your Pivot Table and click Next.
The final dialog box is entitled 'PivotTable and PivotChart Wizard - Step 3 of 3' (see rightabove).
This box contains an option asking if you want the Pivot Table to appear on a new worksheet or in an existing worksheet. This allows you to place your pivot table in a specified worksheet if you want to. Otherwise, select the default option New worksheet.
Click Finish.
Excel will now present you with an empty Pivot Table, and a 'Pivot Table Field List', which contains the data fields (note that these are the column headers from your data spreadsheet).
Drag the 'Sales Rep.' field into the area of the Pivot Table marked 'Drop Row Fields Here'.
Drag the 'Amount' field into the area of the Pivot Table marked 'Drop Data Items Here'.
You will be presented with the simple Pivot Table (see rightabove), which shows the total sales for each sales person.
If you want the sales to be displayed as a currency, this is done by formatting the cells containing these values. To do this:
Your final Pivot Table will be as shown in the table on the right above.