What Are PivotTables Good For

PivotTables can produce summary information from a table of information. Imagine you have a table of data that contains names, addresses, ages, occupations, phone numbers, and zip codes. With a PivotTable, you very easily and quickly can find out:

• How many people have the same name
• How many people share the same zip code
• How many people have the same occupation

You also can receive such information as:

• A list of people with the same occupation
• A list of addresses with the same zip code

If your data needs slicing, dicing, and reporting, PivotTables will be a critical part of your toolkit.

Why Use PivotTables When Spreadsheets Already Offer So Much Analysis Capability?

Perhaps the biggest advantage to using PivotTables is the fact that you can generate and extract meaningful information from a large table of data within a matter of minutes and without using up a lot of computer memory. In many cases, you could get the same results from a table of data by using Excel's built-in functions, but that would take more time and use far more memory.

Another advantage to using PivotTables is that if you want some new information, you can simply drag-and-drop (pivot). In addition, you can opt to have your information update each time you open the workbook or you can right-click and select the Refresh option to refresh at will.