This is a guest post by Vijay, our in-house VBA Expert.
Suresh sent an email with interesting problem.
There is one data entry sheet where all the data needs will be entered, however once done we want the data to be stored separately in multiple sheets designated by the Employee code.
In this article we will learn how to use VBA to help in resolving the problem Suresh was facing at work.
We will do this using VBA and the below procedure illustrates how this was done.
Sub copyPasteData()
Dim strSourceSheet As String
Dim strDestinationSheet As String
Dim lastRow As Long
strSourceSheet = "Data entry"
Sheets(strSourceSheet).Visible = True
Sheets(strSourceSheet).Select
Range("C2").Select
Do While ActiveCell.Value <> ""
strDestinationSheet = ActiveCell.Value
ActiveCell.Offset(0, -2).Resize(1, ActiveCell.CurrentRegion.Columns.Count).Select
Selection.Copy
Sheets(strDestinationSheet).Visible = True
Sheets(strDestinationSheet).Select
lastRow = LastRowInOneColumn("A")
Cells(lastRow + 1, 1).Select
Selection.PasteSpecial xlPasteValues
Application.CutCopyMode = False
Sheets(strSourceSheet).Select
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 2).Select
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
Loop
End Sub
Let’s understand the code
We start by defining 2 variables which will hold the Source and destinations sheet names, source will be one sheet only however there will be multiple destinations sheets.
A simple Do While loop is utilized to complete this data transfer from one sheet to the others.
However the most interesting line in the code is :
ActiveCell.Offset(0, -2).Resize(1, ActiveCell.CurrentRegion.Columns.Count).Select
Since we start our work on Column C in the loop, we need to ensure the data from Column A and B is also selected to be copied and pasted on the relevant sheets, this is accomplished using the above line.
Once we have selected the entire data set on the current row, we copy the same and select the relevant sheet and then paste the data as values on the same.
At the end of the code once we switch back to the Source sheet, we need to ensure that we select Column C again. The reason for that is, when we select the entire data set we activate the first column and we need to come back to column C for our loop and the rest of the code to work.
Download Excel File
Click here to download the file & save it on your system and use it to understand this technique.
More on VBA & Macros
If you want to learn more about using VBA to automate reporting & email tasks, read these:
- Automatically Generate Report Variations using Excel
- What is VBA & Macros? Introduction
- Excel VBA Example Macros
- VBA tutorial videos
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If you want to learn how to develop applications like these and more, please consider joining our VBA Classes. It is a step-by-step program designed to teach you all concepts of VBA so that you can automate & simplify your work.
21 Responses to “Distinct count in Excel pivot tables”
The distinct count option works well but I have found that if I have a date field and want to group by year, month, etc. that option seems to be disabled. I need to do both, distinct count and group by year/month.
Example data; sales orders with item quantities with dates.
Challenge; sum the item quantities, count the distinct orders and group by month. How do I do this?
Perhaps that's not possible due to the grouping?
@Al... When you use data model based pivots, you cannot group values manually anymore. Why not use Excel 2016's default date grouping option? In this case we have just a few dates, so Excel is not grouping them, but if you have an year's worth of data, when you make the pivot with date in the row label area, Excel automatically groups them. If you have fewer dates or want to use your own grouping, just create a table with all dates, add columns with month, week, year etc. Then connect this table (these types of tables are usually called as calendar tables) to your data on date field as a relationship. Now you can create reports by month, quarter etc easily.
Is this the only way to do it in 2013? I find it rather cumbersome to have to create another data table listing dates with the another column for MONTH() and YEAR() to be able to summarise data for senior level...
I know people find adding calendar tables cumbersome, but it is a best practice and let's you add more layers of analysis quite easily. For example, adding analysis by weekday vs. weekend or by financial quarter or YTD calculations (you would need either Power Pivot DAX or some very carefully setup pivot table value field settings)
I had absolutely no idea this was possible. Very useful, nice work!
Doesn't work for 2010 version though (or at least not my works version)
Hi ,
The post has the following in it :
These instructions work only in Excel 2016, Office 365 and Excel 2013.
when i have 2 different Pivot tables, one without the enabled “Add this data to data model” option, and the other one with it enabled.. is there anyway i can link slicers between them?
if the answer is NO,, what to do ?
Quick note, the “Add this data to data model” option is not available for the Mac version.
perhaps outside scope of this article but I have found when I attempt to create a pivot table from an external data source (connection to a sql view) the "Add this data to data model" becomes greyed out. Anybody experienced and found a solution so I can start getting distinct count in my pivot tables?
Is there a way to still add a calculated field when using distinct count?
I found I can't change the date source after tick the " add this data to the data model", can you help to adv how to change the date source in such case?
Is there a way to update the source once you have added to the data model? I receive a new spreadsheet weekly and would like to update the connection so my tables pull from the new source.
Hi Crhis, I like how you have hulk (superhero) as your avatar. Do you know that there is a superhero in Excel too? It's Power Query. You can use it to solve your problem in a simple click. Here an intro if you need some guidance.
Powerful Introduction to Power Query
A big Thank you. It worked.
Hi, have survey data that I need to analyze but the challenge is that my key fields are showing horizontally. I tried to transpose the fields using Power Query, but unfortunately the new fields are returning same values on a pivot table despite using distinct values
How I can a do a pivot table with discount conts in some columns and then generate shor report filter pages. pls it drives crazy
Hi. Why grand total pivot of distinct count is 13? shouldn't it be 67?
Great Answer! Saved me lots of time!
Thank you!!!
Worked awesome! Thanks!!
Hi Chandoo,
I am using pivot tables for distinct count and now I need to update them with new set of data. But when I update the source data, all the columns and formatting of Pivot table disappears and I need to build it from Scratch.
Is there a possibility that I can update the source data with new rows added and also retain my pivot tables?