Excel Pivot tables make data analysis and visualization easy. With the help of these advanced pivot table skills, you can create powerful data analytics and reports.
Table of Contents
#1 - One Slicer, Two Pivots
Slicers are visual filters. You can filter a pivot table or chart by adding a slicer on any field. Do you know that you can link slicer to more than one pivot table? Yes, this advanced usage of slicers makes it handy to update multiple reports with one click.
To link multiple pivot tables to same slicer:
- Right click on the slicer and select “Report connections”
- Check pivot tables that you want to connect.
- Done.
You can use the same approach to link multiple pivot tables with a timeline too.
Here is a video tutorial explaining this trick.
#2 - Distinct Count
We can easily get count, sum, average and median from our data with Pivot Tables. But what about distinct counts? You can use data model feature of Pivot tables to get distinct count.
To get distinct count in pivot tables:
- Select your data and go to insert pivot table screen.
- On that screen, enable “Add to data model” option.
- Click ok to insert pivot table.
- Add the field you want to distinct count to the value field area of the pivot table.
- Go to value field settings and select summarize by “Distinct count”
Here is a video explaining the process.
#3 - Value and Percent in same Pivot
Let’s say you are looking at a pivot report detailing total sales by region. You want to know how much each region’s sales are as a percent of total sales too. That is you want both value and percent in the same report?
Simple, just add the sales field to values area again and this time use “show value as” feature to display number as % of column total.
Here is a video explaining this trick.
#4 - Layout Tricks
By default pivot tables are in compact layout. But you can change the layout, appearance and position of fields to create completely new reports. In this video tip, I will show you several powerful layout ideas to try next time you are making a pivot table.
#5 - Two Tables, One Pivot
We can all create pivot reports from single tables or ranges of data. What if you need to create a pivot from data that is in two or more tables? You can use “Data Model” feature of Excel to connect multiple tables and create pivots from them. This technique opens up doors for advanced data analysis with ease.
To create pivot reports from multiple tables,
- Set up your data as tables. If the data is in ranges, simply create tables from them using CTRL+T or Insert > Table option. [Related: Introduction to Excel Tables]
- Set up relationships to create data model: Imagine one table of your data as Sales information and other table has Customer information. You can link them up. To set up the relationship, just go to Data ribbon and click on relationship button. [Related: Introduction to Excel Relationships]
- Insert a pivot table: Go ahead and insert a pivot table from any of your tables. Make sure check the “Add to data model” option at the bottom of insert pivot screen.
- Create pivots from multiple tables. Now you can mash-up fields from any table to create complex business reports easily.
Here is a video summarizing the whole process with few demoes.
#6 - Two Files, One Pivot
You already know how to make a pivot from data in one file. How about creating a pivot with data from multiple files? You can use Excel Power Query to connect to multiple files and fetch the data. We can then load this data in to “Data model” and create pivot tables from it easily.
To make pivot tables from data in multiple files:
- Use “Get & Transform data” option in Excel data ribbon to connect to your source data files. These can be either spreadsheets or database tables or web pages etc.
- Load data in to data model from Power Query so that Excel can access this data.
- Insert Pivot Table from the data model
[Related: Introduction to Power Query]
Watch this video to understand how to make pivots from multiple files.
#7 - Top 10 Filter
By default Pivot Tables will show all of your data. What if you want to limit the information to just top 10 records. For example, you want to see which of the sales persons are top 10 in a given region? You can use value filters to easily set up such conditions.
To set up top 10 value filter:
- Create your pivot table so that all data shows up.
- Go to filter on the row (or column label) area. Select Value filter > top 10
- Set up the criteria for filtering. You can switch to “Bottom” to see bottom 10 values too.
Here is a video explaining the process of top 10 filtering.
#8 - Measures & DAX with Power Pivot
Excel Data Model is not just for connecting multiple tables and pivoting them. Here is a secret: You can use data model to create power pivot reports too. You can apply extra calculations with DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) syntax. These calculations are called measures.
[Related: What is Power Pivot?]
Here is a quick lesson on DAX & Measures for Excel.
#9 - Grouping Data
Let’s say you have Sales data at daily level, but you want to see totals (or averages) by month. You can use grouping feature of Excel pivot tables to quickly aggregate data to monthly or quarterly or yearly level.
While grouping is a powerful feature of Excel pivot tables, it is not universal. If you have a data model driven pivot, then you have limited grouping choices available (dates can be grouped, but other fields won’t work).
In this trick, I will share two techniques for setting up grouping in Pivot tables to address these concerns.
#9.1 - Grouping Data without Data Model
If your pivot tables are not from data model, you can group any fields.
- Dates can be grouped in to days / months / quarters / years
- Numbers can be grouped by chunks
- Text can be grouped by selecting items on the report
Here is a video detailing grouping options for non-data-model pivots.
#9.2 - Grouping Data WITH Data Model
If your pivot tables are part of data model, then you have limited grouping choices. In Excel 365 / 2019,
- You can group by dates
In all other versions of Excel
- You cannot group by on any field.
The best option for all versions of Excel is to create additional tables and link them up in the data model to mimic grouping behavior. This can be done easily with the help of Power Query.
In this video, I will show you few options to generate groupings from data using Power Query.
#10 - Conditional Formatting for Pivots
You may already know about Excel Conditional Formatting. But do you know that similar rules can be applied to Pivot Tables too?
Yes, conditional formatting for pivots can make them pretty and presentable. My favorite types of CF for Pivots are,
- Heatmaps (colorscales)
- Databars
- Icons
It is very easy to add conditional formatting to a pivot report. Just follow below steps.
- Select any cell with value field for which you want to apply conditional formatting.
- From Home > Conditional Formatting, apply the format you want.
- Initially, the rule will be applied only to the selected cell, But Excel will show a prompt giving choices to change the region. Select the last option (unless you want CF for grand-totals too).
Here is a video explaining some conditional formatting tricks for Pivot Tables.
#11 - Interactive Pivot Charts
You can turn any Pivot Table into a chart easily. With the power of Slicers and Timelines, you can quickly create interactive charts in Excel. Such charts provide intuitive and awesome experience to your users.
To create an interactive pivot chart:
- Create a regular pivot chart (you can add one from a pivot table or create a pivot chart directly from your data)
- Add a slicer or timeline
- Now the chart will change every-time you interact with the slicer.
Here is a video explaining how to create and use interactive pivot charts.
#12 - Dashboard with Pivot Tables
Dashboards provide complete overview of a business in one view. However, they are usually complex and tricky to create. But we can use Power Query Excel Data Model, Measures, Pivot Tables, Slicers and Pivot Charts to create business dashboards quickly.
Here is a call center dashboard built using all the advanced pivot table tricks you have seen so far.
How to create a dashboard with Pivot Tables
- Identity information goals for your dashboard and list them down.
- Create a mock-up (rough sketch) of your dashboard on paper or paint.
- Gather all the necessary data and set up data model (use Power Query if needed)
- Calculate the numbers using Pivot Tables (and simple formulas if needed)
- Insert a worksheet for the dashboard and place items on it by linking them to the pivot tables.
- Add necessary charts, conditional formats
- Insert slicers / timelines as needed.
- Include key messages + alerts as needed.
- Format everything.
While this process may look simple, it requires a fair bit of thought and execution. I created a detailed video explaining the steps and construction for our call center dashboard. Please watch it below to understand everything.
Resources + Next Steps
Downloads
Please click here to download the files for advanced pivot tables page. In the download (zipped file), you will find 4 workbooks:
- For non-data-model pivot table tricks – adv. pivot table tricks – 1
- For data model pivot table tricks + dashboard – adv. pivot table tricks – 2
- Refer to the two files in “Data for Power Query” folder for sample data.
Resources for more Pivot Table goodness
Pivot Tables make data analysis and reporting easy. In this page, I have covered a heap of techniques. But if you are hungry for more, check out below pages too.
Beginner:
- Pivot Table from multiple tables – Data Model & Relationships
- Number and Percentages in same Pivot
- 5 Pivot tables to try when you have too much data
- Sub-totals but only on one level
- Distinct count in Excel Pivot Tables
- How to use Report Filters
Intermediate & Advanced Users:
- All you need to know about Slicers
- Introduction to GETPIVOTDATA
- Getting started with Power Pivot – Percentage of something calculation example
Recommended Websites & Books:
These are my favorite places to learn more about Pivot Tables.
Websites:
- Excel Pivot Tables page on Contextures
- 101 Advanced Pivot Table tips on HowtoExcel
- 50 things you can do with Pivot Tables from MyExcelOnline
Books:
- Excel Pivot Table data crunching by Bill Jelen
- MS Excel Data Analysis and Business Modeling by Wayne Winston
- Excel Bible by J Walkenbach
Next Steps
If you found these examples and tips on Advanced Pivot Tables useful, you will love my online Excel Training Program. In this comprehensive, step-by-step course, you will learn below topics:
- Power Query for data management
- Tables & formatting
- Formulas for data analysis
- Relationships & Pivots
- Charting & Advanced story telling
- Time saving tips & tricks
- Pro user techniques
- Dashboard Reporting
If all of this sounds exciting, please check out Excel School program page for more information & sign up today.
41 Responses to “Calculate Elapsed Time in Excel [Quick Tips]”
Hi Chandoo,
To calculate time lapses in excel I usually use the DATEDIF function. Even though is undocumented by MS there is a great explanation of its use in Chip Pearson's site :
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/datedif.aspx
Is pretty easy to use and has great flexibility.
See you and keep Excelling!!!
Another great article, I will be linking to it on my blog.
Oliver:
Yes, I think that DATEDIFF do it better.
Great post! This a fantastic tutorial on calculating elapsed time in Excel that could be helpful even to a novice user. Keep up the useful tips!
Also, the Office community on Facebook could really benefit from you knowledge! Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/office
Cheers,
Andy
MSFT Office Outreach Team
hi, Chandoo !!!
for elapsed time , we can use this unique formula either for hours, minutes or seconds : NOW()-A1)
but using respective special number formats
for hours : [h] ==> 46553
for minutes : [m] ==>2793212
for seconds : [s] ==> 167592763
We can also use mean duration for years (orbital period of the Earth around the Sun : i-e tropical year) which is : 365.25 days
and mean duration for month : 365.25/12 days
be Excelent !!!!
@Oliver... Thanks for the pointer to datediff(). I will update the post with information about this as well.
@Glen... thanks for the linklove 🙂
@Andy... Welcome. Thanks for telling us about the office community on FB.
@Modeste ... that is very cool. I will remember these formatting codes for an upcoming article on number formatting codes 🙂
Great tip Chandoo! I use the formula to calculate years elapsed all the time. It can seriously help save a ton of time with calculations. Also, NETWORKDAYS is one that helps and can seriously impress a boss. Keep up the great work here!
No problem! I will definitely be directing people with tough Excel questions to your blog. Keep up the great posts!
Andy
MSFT Office Outreach Team
Hi,
always great posts and a good way to start my day
but regarding the elapsed time calculations: have you never noticed that there is a result difference between using =TODAY()-A1 and using =NETWORKDAYS(A1,TODAY())?
try it for A1= a Monday such as 21sep09 and "today" is e.g. a Thursday; you get 3 or 4 respectively as a result, depending on the formula used; this is because formula =networkdays() always includes both the startdate and the end date and not only the time between these 2.
This is easily corrected/compensated bij always adding a -1 to the =networkdays() formula because the majority of us will count startday as day 0 and then the result will be consistent across the different formulas.
However, you then get into trouble if you calculate the networkdays for a date further in the past and where either the start or end date falls in a weekend.
just thought to point this out as to me these formula's are not interchangeable just like that!
have a great day!
Paul
=DATEDIF([DOJ],TODAY(),"Y") & " Y, " & DATEDIF([DOJ],TODAY(),"YM") & " M, " & DATEDIF([DOJ],TODAY(),"MD") & " D"
This will fix your 30 Days problem
I calculated the time diff between two date+ times by subtracting 2 cells & custom formatted it to "d hh:mm" format.
E.g.
Cell A1 04-Jan-12 6:00 PM
Cell A2 05-Jan-12 4:45 PM
Cell A3 0 22:45 (formula: =A1-A2)
Wat shud i do 2 not display the "zero" values i.e. no. of days in this case is zero hence the cell shud display " 22: 45" and not "0: 22: 45".
@Amol
Try the Custom Format code:
[
<1] hh:mm ; [>=1] d “d” hh:mmHi Chandoo,
If possible to compute the interval of time and date in one column.
In column C I would like to compute the total days and hours . What formula ? Please help
Example.
Column A Column B
2/13/12 3:30 AM 2/14/12 12:00 AM
In referenc to Elapsed time in months
To calculate the elapsed time in months, we can use the formula =(NOW()-A1)/30. This returns the value in 30 day months.
I use to apply formula =ROUND((TODAY()-A1)/30,0). Today, I faced a peculiar situation, A1 has date 01-Mar-2009, and today being 01-Mar-2012, it should be 36 months, but it is showing 37 months!!
Any suggestions to avoid such errors?
Regards,
Prasad DN
All I want to do is add up a series of times and receive a reply that gives me a total. What I used to do was subtrace the end time from the start time and format the result as [hh]:mm but this doesn't seem to work anymore. How has Bill Gates confounded me?
@Pete
I use Excel 2010 and it still works
The times must be entered as times in the format hh:mm:ss or hh:mm without seconds
Adding up times is as simple as =Sum(Range) or =Sum(A2:A10)
then using a Custom Number format as you have mentioned [h]:mm
If this isn't working, 2 ideas
1. Check your times are times and not text
2. Can you share your data or file with us?
My hospital tracks times from patient arrival to various procedures or treatments. When those times cross over midnight, the regular formulas (2nd time minus first time) don’t work because the result is negative and Excel (2007) won’t show a negative number in time format.
I couldn’t find a solution here (chandoo.org) but found one elsewhere that worked and it’s very simple. I would like to share it.
Assuming 1st time in A1 (column for patient arrival time) (11:00 PM), and 2nd time in B1 (column for x-ray given) (12:30 AM)). Should be 1:30 elapsed time.
=B1-A1+(B1<A1) [This comparison is the key to the solution.]
=12:30 AM – 11:00 PM + (12:30 AM < 11:00 PM)
=0.0208 – 0.9583 + (True)
=-0.9375 + (1) [This is the key! If it is false, Excel adds 0. If it’s true, Excel adds 1 and that is what corrects the negative number. Now Excel can interpret the number as a time.]
=0.0625
Converted to hh:mm = 1:30
I wrapped this formula inside an IFERROR one to alert my data entry person if she messed up and applied it to lots of different columns and it has worked wonderfully. No more complaints from the data entry person who just plugs in times from medical charts.
Very interesting solution. Thank you so much for sharing it with all of us.
HI,
I am working on a Xl application..
I want to capture time between two clicks.
Ex, in my application during run somewhere I press OK button and then I click Cancel.. I want to measure time between these two clicks... Is it possible??
Pls help on this...
@shashidhar
The answer is Yes
You will have to add an appropriate VBA event to start and stop a timer.
There are techniques which can time to the millisecond so maybe look those up on the net
WOW!!!!!! I truly love your excel time format program! WHOOOO! I am very interested in how the time formats "update" (manually on a physical keyboard) that "updates" the time into its respective decimal time formats, such as:
YYYY.yyyy, HH.hhh, etc...
How do those formulas or equations work if not in Excel mode? Example: TI calculators, Word, or any other computer language programming? Just wanted to see how it works. E-mail me at Ultra64848689Ti@gmail.com.
Thanks again for an EXCELLENT Excel program into decimal time formats!
Here's an idea: how about creating an APP for iOS and Android? Just wanted to point that out. =-D
Regarding the elapsed time in months:
I made this function to determine the time elapsed since a date using the number of days in each respective month. It's a simple subtraction and I think it works very well:((Year Today-Year A1)*12++(Month Today - Month A1)+(Day Today/Days in Month Today)-Days A1/Days in month A1)
Here's the function:
=((YEAR(TODAY())-YEAR(A1))*12)+(MONTH(TODAY())-MONTH(A1))+(DAY(TODAY())/DAY(DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),MONTH(TODAY())+1,0))-DAY(A1)/DAY(DATE(YEAR(A1),MONTH(A1)+1,0)))
Have a Merry Christmas everyone!!
I need the ability to calculate how much progress we have made between two dates and I want to represent that as a percentage.
I am thinking this would be a combination of today, networkdays & dividing the days elapsed vs the total days. Then it should be as easy as formatting my cell. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
@Christian
Your correct
dates are just numbers and so you can use simple math to derive the percentage
=(Date Now-Start Date)/(End date-Start date)
that will give you a number between 0 and 1
which you can format as a %'age
is there a way out to calculate the productivity for an employee
The day start is at 08:00 and day end is 20:00
The start date / time is recorded and end date / time is recorded
I want to calculate the timelapse taking into consideration the day begin and dayend time.
If the work begins and ends the same day, a simple formula b1-a1 would compute the productivity.
But if the process remains incomplete and is carried over to the next day, then timelines to be computed accordingly
to clarify,
if start time of an activity is 03/15/2015 18:00 hrs and end time is 03/16/2015 11:00 hrs, then the resultant formula should be 5 hrs (ie 18:00 to 20:00 hrs on day1 + 08:00 to 11:00 hrs on day2) ie 2+3
please guide.
Venkatesh, try (b1-a1)-0.5
This will subtract the fixed amount of time between shifts, 12 hours. If the time between shifts varies, then you could reference other cells that contain the variables.
Please help. when I use the networking days formula I get a date (2-may-00) I want actual number of days. I managing projects and I need to know how many days have passed since we received a project to the current date. Please help Thanks
@Aria: Just format the cell as general or number. that will fix the problem.
You rock! I looked at 17 other sites and they all did not work. Yours did. Thanks!
Hi folks ...
calculating age in years , months and days
=text(now()-a1,"yy")&" y " &text(now()-a1,"mm")-1 &" m "&text(now()-a1,"dd") & " d"
Hi, the Elapsed time in days [ =TODAY()-A1 ] works great however, if I do not have a date in A1, it shows 42157. Anyway to get it to display 0 or a Null value?
@Dan
=If(A1="",0,TODAY()-A1)
I get #NAME? and the formula does not work.
Hi Chandoo,
This might be a challenge - I am looking to calculate elapsed time between two columns
Start date Complete date
9/9/2015 7:21 10/2/2015 11:01
I need to take into account the following:
1) The employee works 7:00-3:15 pm each day
2) Std Work hours are 7hrs 45 min each day
3) Need to take into account all holidays in between start and end date
4) Work week is Mon through Friday.
Can you help?
Thanks!
Hi, i have a certain name (wilium) in column A and against this name i have 2 option, 1 Done and 2 Inprogress. i want that i count done again wilium and count inprogress against wilium separately. which formula will work for it??
Hi, i have a certain name (wilium) in column A and against this name i have 2 option, 1 Done and 2 Inprogress in column C. i want that i count done again wilium and count inprogress against wilium separately. which formula will work for it??
Year, month, day results for DoB.
The formulas I have found on the net and the datedif function do not work. This is what I came up with using a Microsoft support paper dated April 1997 with some modifications:
IF(OR(A2>$A$1,ISBLANK(A2)),"",IF(YEAR($A$1)=YEAR(A2),0,IF(MONTH($A$1)>=MONTH(A2),YEAR($A$1)-YEAR(A2),YEAR($A$1)-YEAR(A2)-1))&" years "&MONTH($A$1)-MONTH(A2)+IF(AND(MONTH($A$1)<=MONTH(A2),DAY($A$1)<DAY(A2)),11,IF(AND(MONTH($A$1)=DAY(A2)),12,IF(AND(MONTH($A$1)>MONTH(A2),DAY($A$1)=DAY(A2),ABS(DAY($A$1)-DAY(A2)),DAY(EOMONTH(A2,0))-DAY(A2)+DAY($A$1))&" days")
Check it out...
Hi, Augustin
what about :
calculating age in years , months and days
=YEAR(NOW()-DoB)-1900 & " y " & MONTH(NOW()-DoB)-1 & " m " & DAY(NOW()-DoB) & " d"
Hi Chandoo,
I am looking for help with the elapse time formula. I have a recruitment tracking sheet where we track the number of days the positions are opened, and when they are finally closed.
The opened positions will have a running turnaround time (TAT) formula and I am using this formula:
=NETWORKDAYS (start_date, TODAY (), Holidays2018)
Now, without disrupting the running TAT formula, how do I then get the TAT to stop when we have a final end date? All the information below is row:
- start_date --> Cell A
- TODAY () --> cell B
- end_date --> Cell C
Hope you are able to help. Thanks!
Interesting question. Try this:
Thank you for this helpful article. I was trying for days now to figure it out. Now the only issue I have is that if I do not have a value inputed for =TODAY()-[@[Date Precured]] Date Precured then it shows 44055. How can I get it to leave it blank if there is no data? Thanks again!!!