Microsoft® Excel 2007: create a PivotTable

PivotTables are a great way to summarize a large amount of data to glean some meaning from it. The name PivotTable comes from being able to pivot the data in PivotTable view. In this demonstration, you'll see how PivotTables work.

In Excel, click the Insert tab.

Click the PivotTable button.

Excel automatically selects the entire range. However, you can modify it, if necessary.

Choose where to place the PivotTable. New Worksheet is most common.

Click OK.

Select a field.

The PivotTable appears. Now you need to populate it with data fields, which appear in the field list on the right.

Drag it onto the PivotTable grid, to one of the defined areas.

Repeat the process to populate the other placeholders with data fields.

Next, let's look at some of the things you can do with the data in a PivotTable.

To filter by a field, open its drop-down list.

Select the value by which to filter.

Click OK.

To move a field to a different placeholder, drag it to a different section in the field list.

The table now displays data only for the filtered criterion (in this case, the Central region).

You might need to resize the pane to see the field in its new location.

To reorder fields within a placeholder, drag them up or down.

To sort by a field, open its drop-down list.

Select one of the sort orders.

To create a chart out of the data, click the PivotChart button.

Click OK.

Select a chart type.

To see the chart more clearly, close the task pane.

In this demonstration, you learned how to create a PivotTable and work with the interface. Now you understand the benefit (and power) of this unique Excel feature.