In DIRE Need of Assistance With a Seemingly Simple EXCEL Homework Problem

[Jonathan Tucker]

I'm having difficulty understanding a step in this Excel homework project. I've figured everything out up until this one step, and it just so happens that if I mess it up I will end up sacrificing 30 points (as the next steps depend on doing it correctly). Here are the instructions:

'Use the Data worksheet to create a PivotChart using the Performance field for both the AXIS (CATEGORY) and VALUES areas on a new sheet named Performance. Change the chart type to Pie.'

Selecting the performance values (Excellent, Good, etc) to create the PivotChart is what stumps me. One step later I'm asked to sort the data in the PivotTable (within the Performance worksheet) so that it displays the largest to smallest numbers BUT there are clearly no numbers to work with here. I know how to sort from largest to smallest, but if I am judging this correctly there needs to actually be numbers in the data selected to make that option pop up in the sort menu...

My question is: What am I doing wrong here? To me, these instructions make no sense. How can I be expected to sort numbers from largest to smallest when there are no numbers?

NOTE: THIS IS NOT MY HOMEWORK. I AM DOING THIS FOR MY SISTER BECAUSE SHE WON'T DO IT FOR HERSELF. I desperately need to get this figured out, by 10pm today preferably, or she's royally screwed and I will be blamed. I would appreciate any and all input... from anyone.

 

[irakrakow]

The Values should be Count of Performance instead of Performance. To change to Count of Performance, click the dropdown in the Values area, select Value Field Settings, and select Count. So Row Labels = Name, Column Labels = Performance, Values = Count of Performance. After that, you can select the headings and the data in the pivot table, do a Paste Special - Values, and paste it to a blank area somewhere in the sheet or create a new sheet. You can create a chart from the values.

 

[playaller]

When you create the pivot table the count is shown by default when the performance field is dragged to the Row Labels and Values areas. The count is counting the number of duplicate words. Not any numbers.

To create the pivot table as so follow below:

1. Click the F Column to highlight the entire column
2. Click on the Insert tab at the top of excel
3. Click Pivot Table
4. Select the Existing Worksheet tick mark
5. Click your cursor in the Location text box area below existing Worksheet tick mark.
6. Click on the PivotTable sheet
7. Click the cell where you want your pivot table to start showing
8. Press Ok
9. On the right hand side of excel you should see the pivot field list with the name Performance in the top box.
10. Check mark Performance or Drag it to the Row Labels area
11. Also drag that same word performance to the Values area

You're Done! The Table will display a duplicate count for each matching word in the column.

 

[Jonathan Tucker]

Thanks a lot irakrakow! This should have been explained in the instructions, since it isn't in my textbook and my professor has failed to explain it to me in clear words. Like I said, I'm doing this for someone else (and thus really have no prior knowledge to working with Excel), so just being able to pass the assignment made me real happy.

Thank you!

 

[Jonathan Tucker]

And thanks for those instructions playaller, they helped as well. I'm glad I joined this forum, its going to be useful to me in the future as I'm sure to run into even more excel problems.

Thanks!

 

[irakrakow]

And thanks for those instructions playaller, they helped as well. I'm glad I joined this forum, its going to be useful to me in the future as I'm sure to run into even more excel problems.

Thanks!

I agree! There are probably a hundred ways to solve that problem, and playaller's is a better solution than mine. It's great to be able to benefit from all those years of knowledge and experience. I don't think any one person or book can cover all of Excel. Even though I have over 20 years of Excel experience, it's at a superficial level. My goal is to gain a much deeper understanding of how this incredible program works.