How to Insert a Pivot Table in Microsoft Excel

The following steps show how to insert a pivot table. A pivot table is an interactive table that can be used to analyze, organize, and summarize large amounts of data. Pivot tables make it easy to rearrange data, quickly displaying it in different ways. Before inserting a pivot table, make sure the data you want to analyze is in an organized table and that your data includes a header row, no empty rows or columns, and no subtotals.

This feature works the same in all modern versions of Microsoft Excel: 2010, 2013, and 2016.

1. Select any cell in the set of data you want to analyze.
2. On the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click the PivotTable command, then select PivotTable.
3. In the Create PivotTable dialog box, verify that Excel has selected the correct range, select where you want the pivot table to show up (you will almost always want to select New Worksheet), and click OK.
4. In the PivotTable Field List, which opens up on the right (left in Excel 2007/2010) of the worksheet in which your pivot table will be located, drag and drop fields from your data into the Report Filter (Page fields go here), Column Labels (Column fields go here), Row Labels (Row fields go here), and Values (Data fields go here) boxes.
   • In the image below, fields have been dragged into the boxes as the first step in creating a report.
5. Excel assumes you want to sum the values of the Data field (the field in the Values box). To perform a different calculation such as Count or Average:
   • Click the field name and select Value Field Settings.
   • Select the calculation you want to perform and click OK.
6. To change the format of the numbers in the pivot table:
   • Click the field name and select Value Field Settings.
   • Click Number Format.
   • In the Format Cells dialog box, select the number format category, the number of decimal places to show, and whether or not to display a comma (if applicable), then click OK.
   • In the Value Field Settings dialog box, click OK.