Conquer the learning curve for Excel 2007’s PivotTables
by Kara Soos
Application:
Microsoft Excel 2007
Operating System:
Microsoft Windows
Excel 2007 can look like Greek to old-school power users — and PivotTables are intimidating even in previous Excel versions. Add 2007’s new features and layout to the mix, and you’ll probably give up on PivotTables altogether. But before you abandon them, check out our introduction to creating PivotTables in Excel 2007 and get up to speed on some of the notable changes and improvements.
To work with PivotTables in Excel 2007, we’ll:
• Create a skeletal PivotTable from our source data.
• Populate the PivotTable with our data in seconds.
• Apply number formatting to a PivotTable field’s data values.
• Review some of the improvements to PivotTables in Excel 2007.
Data analysis gets a huge boost from the flexibility PivotTables offer. Excel 2007’s PivotTables have new and improved features based on customer feedback, according to Microsoft. While the PivotTable layout may look foreign to a user who’s accustomed to previous versions, it isn’t too difficult once you spend a few minutes with it. We’ll create a PivotTable in Excel 2007 step by step and point out the differences from previous versions. Then, we’ll give you a brief overview of the new features you should take advantage of to make your PivotTable analysis easier than ever.
A:
Using this simplified dataset, we’ll create a PivotTable that will help us analyze our data on the fly.
Build the foundation for a PivotTable
You’ll notice right away that there’s a lot less rigmarole to make a PivotTable in Excel 2007. Say goodbye to the seemingly endless PivotTable And PivotChart Wizard. Instead, Excel 2007 displays one dialog box. Here’s a rundown of how the process works.
To create a PivotTable:
1. Select any cell within your PivotTable’s source data.
2. Click on the Insert ribbon and, in the Tables area, click on the PivotTable button and choose PivotTable from the resulting menu, as shown in Figure B.
B:<
