Pivot Table Tips

Pivot tables one of the most useful feature in excel , ill share some useful tips which might be beneficial to you

1. Reduce File size: As your source data increases your file size also increase, usually pivot table saves the source data, so you will have 2 copies of your source data. you can turn off "save source data with file" which is located in "pivot table design"=>"Options"=>"Data". If this option is turned off , your file will have only one source data & thus size will be reduced significantly (up to 40%), it wont make difference on small files. Please note: if you turn off this option you will need to refresh your pivot table when you open the file or enable "Refresh data when opening the file"

2. Retrieve source data: If accidentally you deleted source data, you can retrieve it by double clicking on any field in the grand total row but ensure you dont have any filters enabled, it will generate your source data, note: this option works only if "save source data" is on

3. Drill to specific field: Sometimes you want only specific data (more details ), so you can just double click on the value in pivot table & you will get a new sheet with source data filtered to these values only, for example if i have values for march month & i want to know more details just double click on the march value to get new sheet with the data filtered only to march value