What are Pivot Table Fields and How to Change Them

PivotTable fields are shown on the right side after creating/selecting a pivot table. They dictate what fields from the selected data set will be added to the report. In order to add these fields to the report, simply click and drag them from the field’s menu to the desired location.

PivotTable fields.

Dragging a field to the row section will list out all the different values into rows.

Dragging a field into the value section will show the corresponding value to each row. The total SqFt to each state is used as an example below.

PivotTable values.

Dragging a field in the Column section will list out all values in the chosen column field. In this case, we now have the SqFt broken out by state (Rows area) and bedrooms (columns area).

PivotTable columns.

Dragging a field in the Filters area will allow for chosen fields to be filtered easily. This pops up above the Pivot Table and is found in cell B1:C1 below.

PivotTable filters field.

In this example, we choose YearBuilt as our filter and we need to filter for 2020, 2010, and 2000. In order to do so, we click on the arrow found in cell C1 and check the box for “Select Multiple Items” before selecting the desired data.

How to use PivotTable filters field to filter chosen field.

This is our result.

PivotTable with filter field used.

summary

  • There are four PivotTable field areas
  • These fields are used every time a new Pivot is made
  • Being familiar with PivotTable fields are essential to becoming efficient with Pivot Tables
  • Pivot Table fields are the building blocks of PivotTables