Excel 2000 in a Nutshell

Name

Data → PivotTable and PivotChart Report

Synopsis

If you are new to Excel you have probably never heard the term PivotTable or PivotChart. Actually even if you have used Excel in the past, chances are you probably never explored these useful data analysis tools. PivotTables and PivotCharts are features that were developed by Microsoft to provide a more dynamic method for examining database data.

So what exactly is a PivotTable? A PivotTable allows you to create a dynamic summary of data that is either contained in an Excel list or an External database. You can summarize large amounts of data within a dynamic table, as shown in Figure 9-29. You can dynamically select the data that displays in the chart by selecting a different value in a field. For example, sales totals are displayed for all months, and you can view figures for a specific month by selecting the Down Arrow button next to the Month field and highlighting the desired month. When this selection is made the table is updated to reflect the totals for that month.

Figure 9-29. Sample PivotTable

PivotCharts have the same characteristics as PivotTables. The values displayed in the chart can be updated dynamically simply be selecting a different value for one of the fields. Figure 9-30 shows a PivotChart that represents the same data as shown in the PivotTable.

Figure 9-30. Sample PivotChart

As mentioned earlier, PivotTables ...