Pivot table is a powerful tool for calculating, summarizing and analyzing data. It can help you understand the contrast, patterns and trends in the data.
Pivot table is one of the most powerful features of "Microsoft Excel". It can help you quickly view the same set of data from different angles. With a pivot table, you can find answers to a series of questions without creating complex formulas and organizing their results. In the following data table, the daily working mileage of truck drivers.
Of course, you can use a series of formulas to calculate Susan's total driving mileage, or to determine which area has the most mileage. But a pivot table can give you the answers to these two questions in a simpler way-and many other questions.
Create a pivot table with one click
To create a pivot table, you must first put the data in the table without leaving blank rows or columns. You can create a pivot table manually (this gives professional users more room for manipulation), but the easiest way is to let "Excel" automatically complete the creation work. Select the data table, then click "Insert"> "Suggested PivotTable" in the toolbar. "Excel" will sort out a clear and easy-to-understand table in the new worksheet based on the source data. This is the default pivot table created based on the data above:
The West has the most mileage, which is clear at a glance. But how do you find the mileage Susan traveled? This is the beauty of the pivot table.
Click anywhere in the pivot table, "Excel" will open a panel on the right, including "field name" "filter" "row" "column" and "value" and other areas.
In the field name area, check "Driver" (driver), you can see all drivers in the pivot table. In the "row" area, drag "Driver" to the top of "Date". This will make "Driver" in each row the primary item and "Date" the secondary item.
The updated pivot table can already answer the two questions just now: Not only can you see that "West" has the most mileage, but you can also see that Susan drove 215 miles. In order to make the table more clear, you can uncheck "Date" in the "Field Name" area:
This is just a very simple example, but you have discovered the power of this feature, right?
Remember, the PivotTable does not change your source data, so you can adjust the layout at will without worrying about breaking anything. If you add data to the source table, "Excel" will automatically update in the pivot table.
Data slicer
Want to quickly adjust the data viewed in the pivot table? This will use the data slicer. Click anywhere in the PivotTable, click "Slicer" in "Insert", and you will see a dialog box showing all the enabled "Field Names" in the table.
Check one or more fields, and a corresponding "slicer" will appear in each field, where you can view specific data with one click. For example, here is our data in the "Region" slicer. Tap any region to filter out the data related to it.
Using pivot tables and data slicers, even complex data can be analyzed easily.