Excel users often find themselves needing to create a summary of several tables with the same structure. Excel offers a very specialized tool for this type of task, which is the pivot table. This article aims to define and explain the usefulness of pivot tables, and then show you how you can easily create one.
What is a pivot table?
It is a summary report of two or more tables intended for comparison, summarization, exploration, analysis, and interpretation of the data resulting from these tables. It allows you to quickly extract templates and trends contained within a large dataset. It helps make informed decisions about a critical situation in your business, for example. The pivot table report allows you to perform several operations such as:
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- Easily manage large amounts of data;
- Compile numerical data and create subtotals, reorganize data into subgroups, perform calculations and appropriate formulas;
- Swap columns for rows or vice versa by dragging;
- Provide concise and well-organized reports.
How to create a pivot table?
To create a pivot table, you can proceed as follows:
- Click on a cell in the Excel table that contains fields as columns and records as rows. No cell should be empty;
- Select “pivot table report” from the Data menu; then fill in the fields in the following dialog box to define the data source and the type of report (table or charts).
- Enter or select the range of data to be processed;
- Select where you want to save your report;
- Click “finish” then “layout” to build your pivot table report by dragging the field buttons onto your chart. The “data” fields display the results of a field, “column” displays each value of a field in its own column, “row” shows the values of a field in its row, and “page” allows you to sort the table value according to the values of a field;
- You can finally customize the report using the formatting options.
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