What's the most common reason why my pivot table won't work?

Answer 1

Also, check the formatting of your data. For example, if you have a column for Product#, it might be formatted as text instead as a number. This is common with imported data where the numbers start with leading zeros. Always check the data to make sure it is formatted properly for the proper function to be applied. In this case, Excel would apply the count function instead of the sum function. 

Answer 2

I'm not sure what your situation is, but sometimes the answer is as simple as it needs "refresh" command.  If you have  changed the data since creating Pivot Table, or if you didn't have data (but only the column headings) when you created Pivot Table, then the Pivot Table will not reflect the data until you Refresh.

Answer 3

Pivot Tables behave better when the data is organized in the tabular format.  You might think your data is arranged as tabular, but it might not be.  

 

The tabular format looks like this:

Item         Month   Amount

Red Item    Jan         $5
Red Item    Feb         $6
Red Item    Mar         $7

 

Not this:

 

Item            Jan    Feb   Mar

Red Item      $5     $6    $7

 

 

 

Answer 4

Another one is to make sure you are actually selecting all the data that you want,  or that you don't select data that you don't want such as total rows.  That one has caught me a few times - I will have a total row at the bottom then decide to run a pivot and accidentally include that total row.  That will really throw off your numbers (by a least a factor of 2).  The automatic select does a good job of trying to figure out what you want, but it isn't perfect - see the other answers about blanks rows/columns.

Answer 5

From my experience, the present of blank space in either column or row will result in error.  Prior to using Pivot table, do some data clean up by removing blank space, excluding data that are incomplete, etc.  Lastly, you must save the worksheet that you are working on.  Worksheet downloaded from internet or other sources will not work until you save it and it is not read only.

Answer 6

Hi Harris,

 

You must have a blank row all the way around your table otherwise excel cannot start the pivot table dialog. 

Thanks,

 

Marty

Answer 7

Another reason could be if you select specific data but didn't select the whole sheet while creating the pivot table. In this case, when new data is out of the old parameters, your pivot wouldn't be valid. 

Answer 8

One of your headings may be blank (i.e., nothing in the cell), in which case Excel won't allow you to create a pivot table.  To work around it, just put a letter like, "a" in the blank cell, so there's a heading name in every cell of your row headings.