pivot table setup

Public Schedule Face-to-Face & Online Instructor-Led Training - View dates & book

Forum home » Delegate support and help forum » Microsoft Excel Training and help » Pivot Table Setup & Default Formats

Pivot Table Setup & Default Formats

resolvedResolved · Medium Priority · Version 2007

Francis has attended:
Excel Advanced course
Outlook Advanced course

Pivot Table Setup & Default Formats

How do you change the default setting for calculation type and cell format for results reported in a pivot table?

For example, when I drag fields into the bottom right box of the pivot table field list wizard 'Values' it always defaults to 'Count' and 'general' format. I would like the default to be 'sum' and number format with no decimal places and comma separator. The data source is number format so I am not sure why it defaults to Count instead of Sum. I can change this manually but it is tedious when experimenting with different reports.

Thanks,

Francis

RE: Pivot Table Setup & Default Formats

Hi Francis, thanks for your query. According to this:

http://www.contextures.com/xlfaqPivot.html #DefaultSUM

...you can't change the default settings for the data fields. "If a field contains blank cells, or cells with text, it will default to COUNT. Otherwise, it will SUM. There's a feature that changes all the data fields to SUM, in my PivotPower add-in, that you can download and install."

Try checking the formatting of your source data. The fact that Excel is defaulting to Count makes me suspect the data itself needs reformatting. Cut and paste the data unformatted into a new worksheet, reformat as numbers, then create a Pivot Table from that. Let me know how you get on.

All the best,

Anthony

Mon 14 Dec 2009: Automatically marked as resolved.

 

Training courses

 

Training information:

See also:

Welcome. Please choose your application (eg. Excel) and then post your question.

Our Microsoft Qualified trainers will then respond within 24 hours (working days).

Frequently Asked Questions
What does 'Resolved' mean?

Any suggestions, questions or comments? Please post in the Improve the forum thread.


 

Excel tip:

Sum Up All the Values in A Column

If you want to quickly calculate the Summed values of all cells in a column in Excel 2003 normally you would use the SUM formula. (eg if you wanted to calculate the values in Column C rows 10 to 25) the formula would be:

=SUM(C10:C25)

However, if you keep adding values to column C you would keep having to modify the above SUM formula which can get quite annoying.

To get around this you can sum all the values in a column using the following formula:

=SUM(COLUMN:COLUMN)

Which, in our example, would be:

=SUM(C:C)

NOTE You cannot place this formula in column C, or else Excel 2003 will show a circular reference error.

The formula must be placed in any other column, EXCEPT the one being calculated.

View all Excel hints and tips


Server loaded in 0.09 secs.