Ravindra BagaleCourses & study guides

7. PivotTables and PivotCharts

7.2 Field Areas: Rows, Columns, Values and Filters

Area Holds Example
Rows Categories listed down City, Area
Columns Categories across Platform
Values Numbers to summarise Sum of Amount, Count of Order ID
Filters A filter for the whole pivot Status = Delivered

Worked example – City × Platform (mini dataset). Rows: City; Columns: Platform; Values: Amount.

City Amazon Now Blinkit Grand Total
Kolhapur 232 232
Nagpur 240 240
Nashik 360 360
Pune 110 434 544
Sambhaji Nagar 195 195
Solapur 1,299 1,299
Grand Total 537 2,333 2,870

Steps in Excel – layout options

  1. Design › Layout › Report Layout › Show in Tabular Form and Repeat All Item Labels – looks like a normal table (good for copying).
  2. Design › Layout › Grand Totals / Subtotals – on/off.
  3. Design › Layout › Blank Rows and PivotTable Styles for appearance.
  4. Right-click a value › Number Format… › apply the Indian rupee format (1.5) – it stays after refresh.
  5. Show empty cells as 0: PivotTable Analyze › PivotTable › Options › Layout & Format › For empty cells show: 0.

Ravindra Bagale's Tip

When formatting numbers in Values, many students select the cells and use Home › Number – and the format is lost on refresh. Use right-click on a value › Number Format or Value Field Settings › Number Format; then the format stays. Tabular Form + Repeat Labels make the pivot much easier to read.

Practice task

Build Area (rows) × Platform (columns) with Sum of Amount, Tabular Form, repeated labels, empty cells shown as 0 and Indian rupee format.