Excel 2024: Make Pivot Tables Expandable Using Ctrl+T


May 15, 2024 - by

Excel 2024: Make Pivot Tables Expandable Using Ctrl+T

If you choose all of columns A:J and you later want to add more records below the data, it takes only a simple Refresh to add the new data instead of having to find the Change Data Source icon. In the past, this made sense. But today, Change Data Source is right next to the Refresh button and not hard to find. Plus, there is a workaround in the Ctrl+T table.

When you choose your data set and select Format as Table by using Ctrl+T, the pivot table source will grow as the table grows. You can even do this retroactively, after the pivot table exists.

This figure below shows a data set and a pivot table. The pivot table source is A1:C16.

A pivot table in E2:F6 is using a data source in A1:C16. The source data is not formatted as a table yet.
A pivot table in E2:F6 is using a data source in A1:C16. The source data is not formatted as a table yet.

Say that you want to be able to easily add new data below the pivot table, as shown below. Select one cell in the data and press Ctrl+T. Make sure that My Table Has Headers is checked in the Create Table dialog and click OK.

continue reading »

More Reading


Excel 2024: Specify Defaults for All Future Pivot Tables

Excel 2024: Specify Defaults for All Future Pivot Tables »

May 13, 2024 - by Bill Jelen


It took me six years, but I finally convinced the Excel team that a lot of people prefer Tabular layout for pivot tables to the Compact layout that became the default layout in Excel 2007. If you have Office 365, you now have the ability to specify pivot table defaults.

Excel 2024: Find the True Top Five in a Pivot Table

Excel 2024: Find the True Top Five in a Pivot Table »

May 10, 2024 - by Bill Jelen


Pivot tables offer a Top 10 filter. It is cool. It is flexible. But I hate it, and I will tell you why.

Excel 2024: Change the Calculation in a Pivot Table

Excel 2024: Change the Calculation in a Pivot Table »

May 8, 2024 - by Bill Jelen


Pivot tables offer a myriad of calculations in the Field Settings dialog box. Here is a faster way to change a calculation.

read more articles »

Featured Products


Cool Excel Sh*t

March 2021

Cool Excel Sh*t is designed with the Excel guru in mind, introducing advanced, creative solutions and hacks for the software's most challenging problems.


Power BI for the Excel Data Analyst

July 2022

A step-by-step guide on how to use Power BI. Written with Excel fans in mind, but with every Power BI student at its heart.


MrExcel 2024 Igniting Excel

February 2024

This is the 7th edition of MrExcel XL. Updates for 2024 include: Remove Filter Items Using Search Box, The Consolas Font Makes it Easy to Tell Zero from the Letter O, Display Online Pictures In a Cell Using a Formula, Place Pictures In Cell From Local Computer, Using Artificial Intelligence with Copilot for Excel, and more...


Master Your Data with Power Query in Excel and Power BI

August 2021

Despite the moniker "data monkey," we information workers are often more like data magicians. Our data seldom enters our world in a ready-to-consume format; it can take hours of cleaning, filtering, and reshaping to get things ready to go. Power Query will make this process faster the first time and reduce it to a single button click every subsequent time.


see more products »