How to Master Excel 2007 Pivot Tables

1. Open or create an Excel spreadsheet. The sheet needs to contain 20 or more rows of data plus column headings, which are required to create pivot tables.
2. Select the data you want to include in your pivot table. Either highlight the data before creating the pivot table or select the data during the pivot table creation process (See Step 3.)
3. Select the “Tables” group and choose “Insert.”
4. Select “PivotTable” and select “PivotTable” again.
5. Follow the prompts to create a pivot table. If you want to use data from an external source, choose “Use an external data source.”The default is to use data from the existing spreadsheet. Type in the cell range you want to include (not needed if you highlighted data beforehand) and finish the pivot table wizard to create a pivot table along with a provided field list based upon the range you chose.
6. Drag field names to the corresponding sections in the field list to organize the data you want summarized. The four main areas include Report Filter, Column Label, Row Label and Values.
7. Check each field name you want added to the pivot table. If you did not drag a field name to an area name, right-click the field and choose the area you want to add it to.
8. Practice adding fields to different areas of the pivot table to master the purpose of each area and how a pivot table is laid out.
9. Go to the “View” menu in the pivot table field list to change how the pivot table field list is viewed.
10. Change the way data are summarized by right-clicking a field heading or section in the pivot table and choosing “Field Options.” This includes changing various calculations such as average, count and sum.