Excel: PivotTables for Beginners

Get a short and simple beginner's guide to Excel PivotTables. Follow along and learn how to create a basic PivotTable to analyze and present spreadsheet data.

PivotTables don't have to be scary! This powerful Excel feature cuts the time you spend on formulas in half. In this concise course, Excel trainer Dave Ludwig demystifies PivotTables and shows you how to get started using them to analyze your data. Dave begins by explaining two PivotTable basic building blocks: value fields and row fields. Then he shows you how to adjust a PivotTable by adding fields, filters, and formatting. Finally, Dave shows you how to use special filter buttons which are known as slicers, and he also demonstrates how to use timelines. At the end, he goes over the basics of refreshing and updating a PivotTable.

Introduction

• Excel PivotTables made easy
• Excel versions and exercise files

1. Basic PivotTable Concepts

• What is a PivotTable?
• Prepare your data
• A word about fields

2. Building a Basic PivotTable

• Start building a PivotTable
• Create the value field first
• Create row fields
• Create column fields
• Create filters
• Updating a PivotTable

Conclusion

• Next steps