Transform Data into Insights: A Beginners Guide to Excel PivotTables

PivotTables are arguably the most popular analysis tool in Microsoft Excel, used across industries to report on performance. This 90-minute beginner's guide to Excel PivotTables shows how to summarize large data sets in flexible ways and turn them into useful insights.

You'll learn to create a PivotTable and change its structure, filter and sort data, change calculations and show results as percentages. You'll group date fields to view different periods, refresh the table when the source data changes, format it for easy reading and drill down to the underlying records.

The session finishes with slicers, which make filtering a PivotTable simple for you and for anyone else who reads your report.

• Explain why PivotTables are so useful in Excel
• Analyze large data sets from different business perspectives
• Create a PivotTable to summarize data
• Use PivotTables to answer questions and spot patterns in the data
• Customize summaries by grouping data
• Format PivotTables so others can understand them easily

• Creating PivotTables and changing their structure
• Filtering and sorting PivotTable data
• Changing PivotTable calculations
• Showing pivoted data as percentages
• Refreshing a PivotTable after source data changes
• Grouping date fields to view different periods
• Formatting a PivotTable
• Drilling down to the source data
• Using slicers to filter a PivotTable

PivotTables help you sift through large data sets and focus on the details that matter, build several custom reports in a few steps and group data easily, saving time and supporting better business decisions.

This session suits business owners, executives, managers, accountants, CPAs, financial consultants, IT professionals, auditors, HR staff, bookkeepers, marketers and anyone who works with large amounts of data in Excel.

• Business Owners
• CEOs / CFOs / CTOs
• Managers
• Accountants
• CPAs
• Financial Consultants
• IT Professionals
• Auditors
• Human Resource Personnel
• Bookkeepers
• Marketers
• Anybody with large amounts of Data
• Anybody who uses Microsoft Access/Excel regularly, and wants to be more efficient and
• productive

Cathy Horwitz is a highly experienced Microsoft Office instructor, specializing in Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access. With over 30 years of expertise in both in-person and online training, she has helped thousands of professionals boost productivity, streamline workflows, and master essential Microsoft Office skills.

Cathy has been teaching Microsoft Office since its inception, offering tailored training programs that meet the unique needs of individuals and businesses. Her courses cover everything from Excel formulas, PivotTables, and automation with macros to Word document formatting, PowerPoint presentation design, and Outlook email management. Workshops from beginning level through advanced are available.

Known for her engaging, hands-on teaching style, Cathy incorporates real-world business scenarios to ensure students gain practical skills they can immediately apply. Whether you're looking for corporate training, individual coaching, or advanced Microsoft Office workshops, Cathy delivers results-driven instruction that enhances efficiency, problem-solving, and software proficiency.

When not teaching, Cathy enjoys gardening, shopping estate sales and refinishing mid-century furniture.