Got a convoluted budget sheet? Excel’s PivotTable tool can clean it up in a snap as it filters, sorts, and groups your data. You can get a list of expenses on the left side of your screen and a beautiful PivotTable on the right—all based on what’s already in your sheet.
The easiest way to churn out one of these babies is to go to Insert > Recommended PivotTables and browse through the options Excel suggests. If you see one you like, select the table to see it in the main window. Once everything looks good, just hit OK and the PivotTable will automatically populate into your spreadsheet.
And for the more tech-savvy: Drag and drop any field into the rows box to change the PivotTable window. (You can do the same for the columns box, too.) To remove any field, just drag the field from the box it’s in and drop it back into the field list in the PivotTable window.
Or try updating the filter field by dragging and dropping a field into the filter box. Soon you’ll be doing these in your sleep!
