Excel Pivot Tables Recipe Book

This book, by Debra Dalgleish, provides pivot table troubleshooting tips and techniques, and programming examples, for pivot tables in Excel 2003.

It is the first of three pivot table books that Debra wrote for the technical publishing company, Apress.

NOTE: Because the content is out of date, these books are no longer available on the Apress site, or on Amazon.

 

Overview

Excel Pivot Tables Recipe Book: A Problem-Solution Approach assumes that you know the basics of Excel and pivot tables, and provides troubleshooting tips and techniques, and programming examples.

This book is for anyone who uses Excel pivot tables, and who only reads the manual 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 Excel 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.

Chapter List

1. Creating a Pivot Table: Issues to consider when planning an Excel 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.
2. Sorting and Grouping Pivot Table Data: Understanding how data sorts in an Excel pivot table, creating custom sort orders, showing top items only, grouping and ungrouping numbers, dates and text.
3. Calculations in a Pivot Table: Using the summary functions and custom calculations, creating calculated items and calculated fields to expand the built-in capabilities, modifying formulas, and adjusting the solve order.
4. Formatting a Pivot Table: Autoformatting a pivot table, applying and retaining formatting, creating custom number formats, showing and hiding totals and subtotals.
5. Extracting Pivot Table Data: Using the Drill to Details feature to extract underlying records, using the GetPivotData worksheet function to extract Excel pivot table data, turning off the GetPivotData feature, creating pivot table copies with the Show Pages feature.
6. Modifying a Pivot Table: Changing the pivot table layout, modifying field and item captions, clearing old items from the field dropdowns, adding comments to data cells, customizing the PivotTable toolbar.
7. Updating a Pivot Table: Refreshing the pivot table, refreshing automatically, reconnecting to the source data, changing the source data, creating a dynamic source data range.
8. Securing a Pivot Table: Preventing users from changing the pivot table layout, connecting to a password protected data source, using security features, addressing privacy issues.
9. Pivot Table Limits and Performance: Understanding limits to pivot table field size, addressing memory issues, maximizing performance, reducing file size.
10. Publishing a Pivot Table: Preparing an Excel pivot table for publishing on a web page, with or without interactivity.
11. Printing a Pivot Table: Printing headings on every page, repeating row and column labels, adjusting the print area, using the Report Manager to simplify printing.
12. Pivot Charts: Restoring lost formatting, creating normal charts from pivot tables, stepping through the Chart Wizard
13. Programming a Pivot Table: Recording and using macros, automating Excel pivot table creation, printing, and modification. Sample code for clearing old items from pivot field dropdown lists, refreshing all pivot tables, preventing layout changes, reformatting a pivot chart, changing the pivot cache.

Related Pages

FAQs - Pivot Tables

Pivot Table Introduction

Grouping Data

Summary Functions

Clear Old Items in Pivot Table