Enhancing PivotTables

When creating a PivotTable, the data used to create the table remains as it is in the workbook—unchanged. A separate table is produced after creation where the data is manipulated to make it more understandable to the reader. There are a few things you should know before creating a PivotTable, in order to get the workbook data ready to get the most out of PivotTable reports.

The first point is that data needs to be organized vertically and contain column headings. The second point is to ensure that no blank rows are present in the data and that there are no additional descriptive notes or text in any of the cells or any additional formulas to the side or underneath the data. Another recommendation is that you format the data as a table before creating a table. The only reason for this is that any new data rows added to the table are included automatically in the range, adding them to the already defined dataset.

Let's get our data ready...