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Pivot Tables Explained in Plain English With AI

Pivot tables sum, count and group data. AI can walk you through them.

Step by step

  1. Prepare your data.
  2. Insert a pivot table.
  3. Choose rows and values.
  4. Filter.
  5. Check the totals.

What to expect

Expect step-by-step directions and tips for avoiding common errors.

Mistakes to avoid

Do not use data with blank headers. Avoid merged cells. Check totals.

A good next step

Practice on a small sample sheet.

A worked example

A treasurer has a long sheet of member payments. AI explains how to insert a pivot table, drag the month to rows and amount to values. Within minutes she sees totals by month and notices the summer dip.

A prompt you can copy

Type this into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini

I have a sheet with columns date, category and amount. Walk me through creating a pivot table in Excel that shows total amount by category and by month.

Good to know. Check totals against the original data.

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Common questions

Google Sheets?

Yes similar.

Refresh?

Update when data changes.

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