When looking at a big table of analysis (or data), it would make our life simpler if the selected cell’s column and row are highlighted, so that we can instantly compare and get a sense of things. Like this:
Who doesn’t like a little highlighting. So lets learn how to do highlighting today.
Step 1: Identify the area for highlighting
This is simple, unless you are AUI (analyzing under influence). Lets assume that we are dealing with a range of cells in B4:I14
Step 2: Use 2 cells to capture the selected row & column details
Outside our highlight range, lets set aside 2 cells (E17 & E18 in this case) for keeping the details of which row & column needs to be highlighted.
We can call these cells selRow & selCol.
Step 3: Unleash the VBA magic
- Right click on the sheet name & choose ‘view code’.
- Choose Worksheet & Selection Change from the drop-downs.
- Excel would add a blank
Worksheet_SelectionChange()sub - Write the below lines of code.
[selRow] = Target.Row[selCol] = Target.Column
- Done. So much simpler than using floo network or transmogrifying muggles.
Step 4: Add conditional formatting to highlight selected cell’s row & column
Now that we know which row & column should be highlighted, it is a simple matter of switching on Excel’s highlighting charm – Conditional Formatting.
Select the entire range (B4:I14) and go to conditional formatting > new rule
Select the rule type as Use a formula… and use a below rules.
=ROW(B4) = selRow- Apply formatting
- Repeat the steps & this time use the rule
=COLUMN(B4) = selCol
Step 5: Show off.
Incorporate this technique in to your dashboard or weekly report. Watch the socks knocked off your boss’. Bask in the glory. Repeat and enjoy.
Bonus Tip: Use similar technique to enhance user inputs
You can use similar idea to conditionally show messages on your worksheets. See this demo.
I am not telling you how to do this. But I know you are awesome enough to figure this out.
Download Example File
Click here to download example file & understand how to use this technique.
Do you use highlighting techniques in your reports & analysis?
I always use conditional formatting & light-weight VBA to enhance my dashboards and analysis. Especially conditional formatting is almost a magical way to make stunning reports & show off things that are important.
What about you? Do you use these techniques often? what is your experience like? Please share your tips & ideas using comments. I am all ears.
Transmogrify your boring work to awesome – Check out!
- Interactive sales chart using Excel
- Show details on demand using simple VBA
- Highlight points in scatter & line charts
- Display alert symbols in dashboards to grab attention
- Highlight top 10 values using conditional formatting
Also see introduction to conditional formatting & VBA to understand to get the basics right.
For more potent magic, please consider joining our Online VBA Classes. You are going to leave everyone spellbound.
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?