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Introducing Pivot Tables 34
Exceptions exist, however, and you may find Excel’s pivot table feature useful even for databases that don’t
contain actual numerical data fields. Chapter 35 has an example of a pivot table created from non-numeric
data.
Figure 34.4 shows an example of an Excel range that is not appropriate for a pivot table. This range contains
descriptive information about each value, but it’s not set up as a table. In fact, this range resembles a pivot
table summary.
FIGURE 34.4
This range is not appropriate for a pivot table.
Creating a Pivot Table
In this section, I describe the basic steps required to create a pivot table, using the bank account data.
Creating a pivot table is an interactive process. It’s not at all uncommon to experiment with various layouts
until you find one that you’re satisfied with.
Specifying the data
If your data is in a worksheet range, select any cell in that range and then choose Insert ➪ Tables ➪
PivotTable, which displays the dialog box shown in Figure 34.5.
Excel attempts to guess the range, based on the location of the active cell. If you’re creating a pivot table
from an external data source, you need to select that option and then click Choose Connection to specify
the data source.
If you’re creating a pivot table from data in a worksheet, it’s a good idea to first create a table
TIP
for the range (by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table). Then, if you expand the table by adding
new rows of data, Excel will refresh the pivot table without the need to manually indicate the new data range.
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