Pivot tables are powerful. Use these 6 tricks to save time when working with them.
1 - Double click to see details
Ever wondered what numbers add up to the total in a pivot table value area? Simply double click to investigate. Excel will show all underlying values.
Extra tip: Don’t forget to delete such detail worksheets as they can create duplicate data.
2 - Format value fields quickly
The default value field formatting is useless. Often, we need to change the values to currency or accounting formats. You can do this quickly by right clicking on the values instead of going to Value Field Settings > Number Formats route.
See this image to understand the process.
🙏 Thanks to Srinivas who taught me this trick on my YouTube channel (link)
3 - Include filtered items in subtotals
Let’s say you have a pivot table with Sales by product & region. You filter out some products. The grand totals change. This can be inaccurate.
If you want to to include filtered items in the totals you can use the option in “Subtotals” menu in ribbon. Oh wait a sec, that is grayed out 🤔🤔🤔
Turns out you can ungray it. All you need is to use data model. Click on “Add to data model” in the insert pivot screen you are able to use this feature.
🙏 Thanks to Ryan who taught me this tip on my YouTube channel (link)
4 - Consistent pivot charts with a simple trick
Let’s say you have a pivot chart linked to a slicer showing sales by product in selected region. As you don’t sell all products in all regions, the chart looks jumpy with inconsistent axis.
Something like this:
You can make the axis consistent by formatting the row label to show “items with no data”. To do this, select the row labels area of the pivot, right click and go to “Field settings”. Now from display area, enable “Items with no data” option.
Your chart looks much better.
5 - Repeat row labels
Tabular form is my favorite layout for pivot. It looks clear and easy on eyes.
Do you know that you can enable “Repeat item labels” option to make the tabular layout even better.
Bonus tip: When you repeat item labels, you can use Pivot Tables in other formulas (like SUMIFS) easily.
6 - Multiple pages with Report Filters
You got a handy little pivot report that details the performance of a region. Now you want to make similar reports for rest of the 16 regions too.
You can use Report Filters to quickly create all versions of this report in one click. Here is a demo of how report filters work.
Pivot Table Tricks - Video
If you want to view all these tricks + my new haircut, check out below video. You can also watch this on my YouTube channel here.
More Pivot Table goodness
Work with data often? Then learn Pivot tables you must.
Check out below pages to pick up valuable pivoting skills.
Got some tricks? Teach me...
You can teach an old dog new tricks. If you know a cool & useful Pivot Table trick, post it in comments. I am eager to learn from you.
21 Responses to “How to Filter Odd or Even Rows only? [Quick Tips]”
Infact, instead of using =ISEVEN(B3), how about to use =ISEVEN(ROW())
So it takes away any chance of wrong referencing.
I like Daily Dose of Excel
I like it.
Just a heads up, you do need to have the Analysis ToolPak add-in activated to use the ISEVEN / ISODD functions. An alternative to ISEVEN would be:
=MOD(ROW(),2)=0
rather than use a formula, couldn't you enter "true" in first cell and "false" in the second and drag it down and than filter on true or false.
Just for clarification, is Ashish looking to filter by even or odd Characters or rows?
so many functions to learn!
Nice support by chandoo and team as a helpdesk. Give us more to learn and make us awesome. Always be helpful.......
In case you want to delete instead of filter,
IF your data is in Sheet1 column A
Put this in Sheet2 column A and drag down
=OFFSET(Sheet1!A$1,(ROWS($1:1)-1)*2,,)
(This is to delete even rows)
To delete odd rows :
=OFFSET(Sheet1!A$2,(ROWS($1:1)-1)*2,,)
If your numbered cells did not correspond to rows, the answer would be even simpler:
=MOD([cell address],2), then filter by 0 to see evens or 1 to see odds.
I sometimes do this using an even simpler method. I add a new column called "Sign" and put the value of 1 in the first row, say cell C2 if C1 contains the header. Then in C3 I put the formula =-1 * C2, which I copy and paste into the rest of the rows (so C4 has =-1 * C3 and so forth). Now I can just apply a filter and pick either +1 or -1 to see half the rows.
Another way, which works if I want three possibilities: in C2 I put the value 1, in C3 I put the value 2, in C4 I put the value 3, then in C5 I put the formula =C2 then I copy C5 and paste into all the remaining rows (so C6 gets =C3, C7 gets =C4, etc.). Now I can apply a filter and pick the value 1, 2, or 3 to see a third of the rows.
Extending this approach to more than 3 cases is left as an exercise for the reader.
Another way =MOD(ROW();2). In this case, must to choose betwen 1 and 0.
[...] How to Filter Even or Odd rows only [...]
very different style Odd or Even Rows very easy way to visit this site
http://www.handycss.com/tips/odd-or-even-rows/
Thanks for the tip, it worked like magic, saved having to delete row by row in my database.
Thanks!
Thankssssssssssssssss
Hi Chandoo- First of all thanks for the trick. It helped me a lot. Here I have one more challenge. Having filtered the data based on odd. I want to paste data in another sheet adjacent to it. How can I do that?
For Example-
A 1 odd
B 3 odd
C 4 even
D 6 even
I have fileted the above data for odd and want to copy the "This is odd number" text in adjacent/next sheet here. How can I do that. After doing this my data should look like this
A 1 odd This is odd number
B 3 odd This is odd number
C 4 even
D 6 even
Hi! Could you please help me find a formula to filter by language?
Thank you!
Chandoo SIR,
I HAVE A DATA IN EXCEL ROWS LIKE BELOW IS THERE ANY FORMULA OR A WAY WHERE I CAN INSTRUCT I CAN MAKE CHANGES , MEANS I WANT TO WRITE ONLY , THE FIG IS FRESH, BUT IN BELOW ROW IT WILL AUTOMATICALLY TAKE THE SOME WORDS FROM FIGS AND MAKE IN PLURAL FORM , WHILE USING '' ARE'' LIKE BELOW
The fig is fresh - row 1
Figs are fresh - row 2
The Pomegranate is red - row 3
Pomegranates are red - row 4
=IF(EVEN(A1)=A1,"EVEN - do something","ODD - do something else") with iferron (for blank Cell)