Create & use pivot tables

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You can use pivot tables to:

• Narrow down a large data set.
• See relationships between data points .

For example, you could use a pivot table to analyze which salesperson produced the most revenue for a specific month.

Add or edit pivot tables

1. On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
2. Select the cells with source data you want to use. Important: Each column needs a header.
3. In the menu at the top, click Insert Pivot table. Click the pivot table sheet, if it’s not already open.
4. In the side panel, next to "Rows" or "Columns," click Add, then choose a value.
   • Sometimes, you'll see recommended pivot tables based on the data you choose. To add a pivot table, under "Suggested," choose a pivot table.
   • High confidence pivot table suggestions will be automatically inserted upon pivot table creation.
   • To turn off pivot table suggestions:
     1. At the top, click Tools Suggestion controls.
     2. Turn off Enable Pivot table suggestions.
5. In the side panel, next to "Values," click Add, then choose the value you want to see over your rows or columns.
6. You can change how your data is listed, sorted, summarized, or filtered. Next to what you want to change, click the Down Arrow .

Change or remove data

1. On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
2. Click the pop-up Edit button underneath the pivot table.
3. In the side panel, change or remove fields:
   • To move a field , drag it to another category.
   • To remove a field, click Remove .
   • To change the range of data used for your pivot table, click Select data range .
   • To clear all fields, click Clear all.

Note: The pivot table refreshes any time you change the source data cells it’s drawn from.

See cell details

You can look at the source data rows for a cell in a pivot table.

1. On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
2. Click the pop-up Edit button underneath the pivot table.
3. Double-click the cell you want to look at in more detail.
4. You'll see a new sheet with the cell’s source data.

Add calculated fields with SUM or a custom formula

Adding calculated fields allows you to create new metrics directly within a pivot table. This feature has a structured formula editor, column insertion menus, function insertion menus, and real-time formula validation before saving.

1. On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
2. Click the pop-up Edit button underneath the pivot table.
3. In the side panel, next to "Values," click Add click Calculated field. A structured formula editor appears to assist in writing and validating formulas with column and function insertion menus.
   • Calculate a value with SUM: Enter the column you would like to summarize or directly select under the Columns tab.
     1. If the formula syntax is valid, you’ll see a green checkmark in the bottom right of the input box.
     2. If the formula syntax is not valid, you’ll see a red exclamation mark and need to select another column to summarize.
   • Custom formula:
     1. In the Pivot table editor, next to Values, click Add Calculated field.
        1. Add a name for your calculated field and enter your formula in the editor field or select a function from the Functions tab.
           1. Optional: You can also select a column from the Columns tab to help with formula writing.
     2. Under the input box, next to “Summarize by,” choose Custom.
4. On the bottom right, click Add and the new column will appear.

Tip: To write custom formulas, you can use:

• Other columns, for example, =sum(Price)/counta(Product) where "Price" and "Product" are fields in the pivot table or an underlying table (available with Connected Sheets.)
• Google Sheets functions.

Important: If you use field values with spaces, make sure to use quotations around them in your custom formula. For example: ="h sdf".

Example

Make a copy

 

Related articles

• Customize a pivot table
• GETPIVOTDATA function

 

To learn about Spreadsheets, Databases, and Query Languages, click the button below:

Tutorial: Intro to Spreadsheets, Databases, and Query Languages