Hands-On Microsoft Access: A Practical Guide to Improving Your Access Skills

Creating Pivot Charts

Microsoft defines a pivot chart as a “practical interface that allows users to view comparisons, patterns, and trends in data in a visually appealing manner.” That might or might not be more useful than saying that a pivot chart is a lot like a pivot table, except that it's a chart.

Pivot charts and tables are closely entwined in some ways, yet separate in others. If you create a table in PivotTable view, you will see a graphical representation of it in PivotChart view. In fact, the data source for the chart is the pivot table. Any changes you make in PivotTable view will be reflected in PivotChart view, and vice versa.

On the other hand, for the most part, there's no need to bother with an underlying pivot table if your ...