Let's create a pivot table using the table above. Here's a better example because it shows you what a pivot table can do with your data. You can add a filter for any category: First Name, Last Name, or Phone number (in the case of our table). We can also use the filter we created at the top to select a phone number to find out who it belongs to. Now we can see how many phone numbers we had for each person. Here's what we've done in the Field list on the right: You can always drag and drop to a different section if you want. Your pivot table will appear in your spreadsheet as you do this. Just drag and drop from the top part of the field list to the bottom part and place it in a category: Filters, Columns, Rows, and Values. If you look at your Pivot Table Field list on the right, you can drag and drop from the 'Choose Fields to Add to Report' section down to the 'Drag Fields Between Areas Below' section. This is what you should now see on your screen: The name field in our table would be arbitrary. In ours, that's the salaries.Īrbitrary fields are fields that are neither data or category. In ours, we grouped category fields by department and position.ĭata fields are fields that contain data that you can add, subtract, multiply, or divide. This is a list of all fields in your table.Ĭategory fields are fields that you can group. On the right, you'll see the Field list open up. To do this, select the table, then go to the Insert tab and click Pivot table. We want a pivot table showing us how many phone numbers are on file for each employee. In tables, columns are fields and rows are records. The best way to learn about a pivot table is to see how to create one.

Tutorial on pivot tables in excel 2013