Excel 2013 Pivot Table Data Crunching

15. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. GetPivotData

In This Chapter

Turning Off the Evil GetPivotData Problem

Using GetPivotData to Solve Pivot Table Annoyances

This chapter shows you a technique that solves many annoying pivot table problems. If you have been using pivot tables for a while, you might have run into the following problems:

• Formatting tends to be destroyed when you refresh your pivot table. Numeric formats are lost. Column widths go away.

• There is no easy way to build an asymmetric pivot table. Named sets are one way, but they are only available in a pivot table model, not in a regular pivot cache pivot table.

• Excel cannot remember a template. If you frequently have to re-create a pivot table, you must redo the groupings, calculated fields, ...