Introduction. If you have a copy of my Pivot Power Premium add-in, it has a command to change the headings for all the value fields in a pivot table, or just the selected fields. I have a pivot table with balances for each month. The Amount field is configured to Sum: The reason I know this is if I do COUNT, it will count the rows. Why you NEED to know about Pivot Tables. This will show the sum of the amount spent based on Task and compare it with the Estimation for that task. I think the user had been using QuickBooks and so expects something in the period-to-period comparisons that are such a powerful feature of QuickBooks but not really native to other systems. Pivot Table Types. I have a created a pivot table to sum data on three columns. Refresh all of your Pivot Tables with one click. Reason No. As you have seen in the previous section when you drag and drop an item in the Value field, it automatically shows the sum of the value. Pivot tables make it easy to quickly sum values in various ways. The issue is that my balances are already cumulative, so when I drill up to the Year, quarter, it's summing the balances and I don't want them to sum. How do I get the Pivot table to see the data that IS numeric , as numeric. One of the most common questions I see on my free 3-part video series on pivot tables & dashboards is, “Why does the pivot table default to Count instead of Sum when I add a field to the values area?”. To display the values in the rows of the pivot table, follow the steps. Usually you can only show numbers in a pivot table values area, even if you add a text field there.By default, Excel shows a count for text data, and a sum for numerical data. if I do Count (Numbers Only), it will not count. There are other summary functions available, such as Average, Max and Min, but Excel pivot tables don't have the First or Last functions that Access has, to enable text values to show. Go to Pivot Tables Tools > Design, click on Report Layout, and select “Show in Tabular Form”. If you check that box, Excel creates an OLAP-based pivot table, instead of a Normal pivot table. Why the Pivot Table values show as Count instead of Sum. Watch in full screen HD or on Youtube.. Why does the Pivot Table Default to Count? When you have a pivot table that counts instead of sums, it is caused by one of three reasons. The summarization has now changed from Sum to Count Pivot Table. Pivot Table Tools. 1: There Are One or More Blank Cells in the Column Excel expects your numeric data to be 100% numeric. Now when you start creating a pivot table; Drag Dates into Columns; Add the first field – Sales into Values; Then add the second field – Expenses into Values; You’ll see that “Σ” Values field in columns area; Just drag that in rows and you are done! Do not show summary rows in pivot table I am using a PivotTable to show month-to-month comparisons of accounting data. Right-click on the Pivot Table and select Summarize Value By > Count. if you create a pivot table in newer versions of Excel, there is a check box for "Add this data to the Data Model". They are numeric , but the Pivot table will not see them as numbers, hence will not sum them. The pivot table shown is based on two fields: Color and Amount.The Color field is configured as a row field, and the Amount field is a value field, as seen below:. In the Find What box, type “Sum of” (do not add a space at the end) Leave the Replace With box empty; Click Replace All, to change all the headings. In the example shown, a pivot table is used to sum amounts by color. Delete obsolete items from your Pivot Tables blog post or watch the YOUTUBE video.. Maybe Excel was following the path back to the first sheet to determine formatting for the pivot table? A pivot table created from a well-formed dataset will automatically sum the numeric fields. However, my pivot table of the second sheet would not sum the numbers. In any event, I was able to use the VALUE() function on the cells in the second sheet to convert everything from text to number which fixed it. Click on Subtotals and select “Do Not Show Subtotals”. If you DO NOT check that box, Excel creates an Normal pivot table; SourceName Property. Fields. Go back to your Pivot Table and hit Refresh; That’s it; So to recap, ensure your columns of data are not blanks or contain text and Excel will default your Pivot to SUM!