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Best Pivot Table Design Tips to Impress Anyone

Kenji Explains · 2,310 words · 11 min read

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​ -​ Field Names Tip

0:00let's be honest excel's default pivot

0:02tables don't look great their number

0:05formatting color choice and header text

0:08it's rather questionable but if you

0:10follow these eight pivot table design

0:12tips you'll go from ugly pivot tables

0:15like this to something much more

0:17impressive like this so let's get into

0:20it starting with number one which is

0:22field names and let's first go over the

0:24data set that we'll be working with

0:26which is this one right here that you

0:28can download for free in the video

0:30description so let's first insert a

0:32pivot table by going to the insert Tab

0:35and just clicking on pivot tables we'll

0:38hit on okay there and here's my Pivot

0:40tables fields on the side which you can

0:42actually move around from here let's

0:44suppose that I want to have the products

0:46so I'm just going to go and select the

0:48products under my rows and then let's

0:50say that I want to have my Revenue my

0:53expenses and my profit under the values

0:57and you'll notice that for all of these

0:59we start to get the sum of sign at the

1:01very beginning on all three of them

1:03which is rather annoying now if we want

1:05to remove this you might think of just

1:07writing Revenue over it but as soon as

1:10we do you'll notice that it says that

1:12pivot table field name already exists

1:15that's because we already have it in

1:16here as Revenue so we're not going to be

1:18able to do that now a work around to get

1:21rid of that sum of across all of them in

1:24the table is simply to hit on controll H

1:28that's actually defined and replace

1:29Place pop up so what do we want to find

1:32just some of and we want to replace it

1:35with nothing and we'll hit replace all

1:38as we want to get rid of it for all of

1:40these so we'll hit replace all hit okay

1:44and hit close and now the reason we've

1:46been able to do that is because if we

1:48double click inside of it you'll notice

1:50that it's added an extra space so that

1:53makes it all work all right that's the

​ - Text & Column Format

1:55first STP done and now let's work on the

1:57second one which is the text and column

2:00format suppose we want to format these

2:02numbers in the table we might select

2:04them all with control shift down control

2:06shift right and just hit on control1

2:10that's going to show the formatting

2:11cells popup so we'll go to number here

2:14and let's say we want a separator for

2:16the commas and we don't want any decimal

2:19places so we'll hit on okay let's also

2:22say that we want to make these somewhat

2:24wider so we can see them a bit better

2:26and we also want to align this top part

2:28so all of these head we want to align

2:30them to the right so let's say that

2:32we're happy with this and now we import

2:35a few more rows of data so we would just

2:37go over to the pivot table analyze and

2:40hit on refresh in case we added more

2:42rows so just hit refresh there but

2:45you'll notice that it all goes back to

2:46the default format which is quite

2:48annoying as you had done all the

2:50formatting tips there now to prevent

2:52this from happening you just want to go

2:54inside of the pivot table right click

2:57and go to pivot table options towards

2:59the bottom botom from here at the very

3:01bottom you'll find that there's the

3:03autoit column wids which let's say that

3:05we don't want and there's also the

3:07preserve sell formatting which we do

3:09want that's going to keep the same

3:11number format and so forth so we'll hit

3:14on okay there let me fast forward how I

3:16do those changes

3:18again all right we're at the same spot

3:20as before and now this time when we hit

3:23on pivot table analyze and click on

3:25refresh you'll notice that it doesn't

3:27actually change the formatting which is

3:29we want it moving to number three and

​ - Layout Tips

3:32here we have some layout tips so over

3:35here you'll notice that I've rearranged

3:36the pivot table to add a few more values

3:39so you can see here what that layout

3:41looks like if you want to copy it feel

3:43free to pause this video so you'll

3:45notice that the table does look quite

3:47overwhelming as there's so much data so

3:50one quick tip here would be to just

3:52select anywhere inside the table under

3:54design we're going to go ahead and add

3:57some blank rows between these total

4:00so insert blank line after each item

4:03click on that now you can see we have a

4:05bit more breathing room then you might

4:08consider if you want to have these Grand

4:10totals on the side and on the bottom or

4:12not if you want to remove them you can

4:14just click inside Grand totals and just

4:17turn them off and again you can turn

4:19them back on fairly easily lastly here

4:23we have the subtotals which you can find

4:25at the top of each of these sections you

4:27can actually change this to the Bottom

4:29by going inside subtotals and say show

4:32subtotals at bottom of group sometimes

4:35this makes more sense and is easier to

4:38read in number four we've got removing

4:40the filters as of now you might have

4:43noticed we have some of these drop downs

4:45which are bit disrupting if we want to

4:47get rid of them we can just go to pivot

4:49table analyze and all the way to the

4:52side we can click on the plus and minus

4:55buttons as well as the field headers the

4:58plus and minus is going to be for these

4:59buttons right here like next to the

5:01Amazon or the Foot Locker so just

5:04deselect that and we'll exit out of that

5:06option and then the field headers is

5:08going to be that top part so we get rid

5:11of those two right there I can take them

5:13back on so you see where they are

5:16finally if you're showing the whole

5:17Excel file you might want to get rid of

5:19the fields list which is all of this

5:21data to manipulate so right now it just

5:24looks like a normal table and not a

5:26pivot table with the fields list there

5:28according to for

5:30almost 90% of Excel files have errors in

5:34them now if you don't want to fall into

5:36that category and get in trouble with

5:38your manager you can consider taking our

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6:22evaluation and more all right back to

6:25the video in number five we've got

​ - Blank Cells

6:27adjusting blank cells so if we take a

6:30look at the pivot table that we're

6:31working on you notice that we have a lot

6:34of blanks now it's not very clear if

6:36this is a blank because there's an error

6:38or because it's simply a zero to find

6:41out we can just double click inside of

6:43them and notice here that we don't have

6:46any transactions which basically implies

6:48that there's no um values in there while

6:51in this one you'll see that we have a

6:53ton of data which basically means that

6:55it all looks correct but maybe it makes

6:57more sense to add a zero in there as

6:59opposed to leaving it blank so we can

7:02just go to right click and then under

7:05pivot table options towards the bottom

7:08here you'll find that we can either add

7:10something when there's an error but in

7:12this case we don't have any errors or

7:15for empty cells we can just show a zero

7:18there and hit on okay hopefully this

7:21makes things a bit more clear for our

7:23team number six let's work on making a

​ - Templates

7:26template for the pivot table Design This

7:29makes a a lot of sense for a company if

7:31you want to follow their color palette

7:33so over here the first thing that we

7:35want to do is under the design tab go to

7:38this drop down and just select a color

7:41that's similar to the one that U your

7:43company has let's say in my case it's

7:45this one right here I'm just going to

7:47click on that from there at the top once

7:50you have it selected go to right click

7:53and click on

7:55duplicate now this is the template that

7:58we'll use so let's say we call this one

8:00career principles which is the name of

8:03my company and we want to make certain

8:06changes for example let's suppose that

8:08the Amazon total for Locker total and so

8:11forth we want in a yellow color we will

8:13go ahead and find the sub total row

8:16which is this one right here and go to

8:19format under filler is where we want to

8:22change things pattern color and I'm just

8:25going to go for a recent yellow color

8:27that I already had there and now under

8:29the font we also want to make sure that

8:31this color is black instead of white

8:34there hit on okay and okay again now if

8:38we go inside you'll notice there's no

8:40changes but once we go to the drop down

8:43we now have the custom up top which is

8:45our template if we click on it you'll

8:47see here that we start to see how it's

8:49changed with that yellow header so

8:52there's really a lot of customization

8:53that can be done here in number seven we

​ - Adding Dates Tips

8:56have adding dates and there's a few ways

8:58to go about this but in a scenario like

9:01this one where we already have a lot of

9:03data if we go ahead and add the dates

9:06like on inside of the rows you'll notice

9:08that it just gets too messy as there's

9:10too much information let's get rid of

9:12that for now I'm just going to drag drag

9:14that out so all of the date fields I'm

9:17dragging out there and instead a better

9:19way is to actually go to the pivot table

9:22UNL Tab and just click on insert a

9:25timeline click on the date there and hit

9:28on okay now you'll see that we have this

9:31timeline to the side which is fully

9:33Dynamic we can change the months like so

9:36we can even change this into a quarter

9:39on a quarterly basis like so and even by

9:43year another way that we could have done

9:45it instead of adding it in the rows

9:47there is just selecting the dates and

9:49putting it as a filter up top the

9:52problem is this one's not as easy to

9:54spot so for someone that doesn't really

9:56know how to use things the timeline

9:58probably makes more sense finally in

10:01number eight we have adding visual

​ - Visual Support

10:03support and this makes the most sense

10:05for comparison purposes for example in a

10:09table like this one over here where we

10:11have the column under the region the

10:14values as a profit and the row as the

10:16retailer it's difficult to see exactly

10:19which number is high and which one is

10:21low so one way to go about this is just

10:23select the inside area so this part

10:26right there and go to conditional

10:28formatting under data bars because this

10:31is profit let's say we go for green as

10:34that's positive generally and we can see

10:36there that the and inside of the West

10:38the West gear is really the one that's

10:40standing out as the best retailer in

10:43that western region and the best overall

10:45for us awesome now before you leave

10:48there is one final bonus feature that

10:50you probably didn't know let's suppose

10:52that we want to send this to our manager

10:54so instead of just copying and pasting

​ - Bonus Feature!

10:57it which does come with some

10:58difficulties there's actually a better

11:00way which you'll see why now so we can

11:03go over to this camera icon if you don't

11:06find it just go inside of this dropdown

11:09under more

11:11commands under popular commands up over

11:14here you want to click on all commands

11:17and just search for the camera so it's

11:19going to be camera just type it in there

11:21once you find it just click on ADD and

11:24click on okay in my case I don't need to

11:27as I already have it but but now all you

11:30want to do is select the area you're

11:32interested in which is going to be this

11:34entire table just click on the camera

11:37icon now if we click anywhere else we've

11:40basically pasted that but what's nice

11:43here is that we can easily resize it

11:45because it works just like an image now

11:48you might wonder what if the data

11:50changes well if we change the label here

11:52to Southwest for example just for us to

11:55see what happens you'll notice that that

11:57visual also updates Auto automatically

12:00so it's a fully Dynamic image that can

12:02be resized to fit your presentation now

12:05that you understand how to make pivot

12:07tables look nicer check out this video

12:09to make beautiful Excel charts or take

12:12our Excel course over here hit the like

12:15and that subscribe and I'll catch you in

12:17the next one

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