Can you imagine trying to use Excel Subtotals to summarize a long column sales – listed by date? What would you subtotal?  At every change in date?

This would be a nightmare! This would produce a useless report!

Pivot Tables, on the other hand, can provide a summary of dates by month, quarter, and year with just a few mouse clicks!

In this video lesson I show you how to produce that summary. The Pivot Table will transform a long list of data into information that you can use to analyze trends.

Here are the steps to follow in this lesson:

1. Create a Pivot Table using all of the default settings. Drag the “Date” field into the ROW area and the “Sales” field into the DATA area of the Template.
2. With 1 cell in the “Date” row selected, choose “Group & Show Detail, Group.” Select Year, Quarter and Month and click OK.
3. You now have 3 ROWS in your Pivot Table – Year, Quarter & Month. Drag the Year field from the ROW up to the COLUMN area. Hide on of the “Grand Totals.”
4. Click the Pivot Chart icon to create a Pivot Chart on a new worksheet. Filter the data fields.
5. Move the Year field back to the Row area. Ungroup the fields to return to the starting point.
6. To Group by WEEK: Choose “Group & Show Detail, Group” and select DAY. Then select 7 for the number of days in the week.

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Additional Pivot Table Resources

Pivot Table Training Resources

I have published a 90 minute focused video tutorial for Pivot Tables. It is available for each version of Excel -2010, 2007, and 2003. You can purchase it as either a DVD-ROM that I will ship to you or as a Downloadable version that you can work with immediately.

In addition to the 90 minutes of video instruction on Pivot Tables, the package includes:

• The Excel Practice Files that I used while filming the video tutorial – so that you can practice your new skills using the same files that are on the video.

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• A Step-by-step Instructional Guide that you can print out – so that you can use it to take notes as you watch my video tutorial.

Related Video Lessons

• Introduction to Pivot Tables
• Hide & Show Details in Pivot Tables
• Create a Calculated Field in Pivot Tables
• Change the Quarterly Summary to a Fiscal Year in Pivot Tables
• Take a Video Tour of My DVD – “The 50 Best Tips for Excel 2007”