Pivot Tables
T.C.
Registered, Tutor Posts: 1,430 Beyond epic contributor ๐งโโ๏ธ
Can someone please explain a common use of pivot tables. I use excel spreadsheets with the usual functions, sort and filters etc, but don't really know when to use these. I have tried them, but can't find a "need" for them. Opinions appreciated.
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I know how to do pivot tables but in practice I have never found a need for them in my experience0
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I hardly ever use them, I don't know why, think I prefer solving problems with my own formulas.
An example where they come in handy; say you have 10 staff working on a few projects. And you've exported the info from your project accounting software, you could use a pivot table to display how many hours each staff member has worked on each project, nothing special but its displayed in table format so easy to compare etc etc..0 -
I use them to produce an aged analysis of my debtors. Very useful as the column headers is the dating range and the row headers are comments I use to categorise the debt.
Alternatively, I use them to make sure my figures are correct when I do my reconciliation. It takes out duplicate reference numbers and gives me the correct total for each ref, so for example, in a long list of references and cash values, there could be the same reference in there a couple of times with different values, so ยฃ100, ยฃ50 and another ยฃ50. When I do a vlookup to pull the data to my workings page, it would just pull one the first value it comes to for that ref, so ยฃ100. Using a pivot, it brings the sum of values for that ref, so ยฃ200. It can also be used to show how many occurances of that ref there are using a count function, this way you can quickly check for duplicates.
I love pivots.0 -
Thanks everyone. Now I can practice with them!0
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They are a good report tool if you want to create sales leads from your sales ledger or sales spreadsheets... etc0
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Can anyone recommend an online tutor for pivot tables?0
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Can anyone recommend an online tutor for pivot tables?
This is for Excel 2007
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/CR010047968.aspx
or direct to pivot tables -
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/pivot-table-assistant-EM010278224.aspx?CTT=1
or as PGM said, google.com and see what you can find...
Good luck.
JC~ An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest ~Benjamin Franklin0 -
Thank you!0
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Another is on You Tube
As some of the spreadsheet students missed classes last Jan/Feb, they used the YouTube films to see how to complete them.
I've seen pivot tables tested on the on-line exams.Sandy
sandy@sandyhood.com
www.sandyhood.com0 -
