Hi, I'm new to pivot tables and I have a question about row field order.
Whenever I drag and drop my data, which in this case consists of company
names, onto the row field part of the pivot table, the names are
automatically alphabetized. Is there any way to change this so that the
order remains the same as that of the worksheet from which the data is being
pulled? I have tried looking through the pivot table options and menus, but
so far I haven't found anything that's worked.

Thanks in advance for any information.

Go to the point at which you want to insert date and type in just the main
piece of data (?company name). (Make sure you get it exactly right or you
will mess up the pivot table.) The data relating to that information will
then be re-ordered. Once you have done this the order will stay the same
when you update the pivot table. New entries will appear at the bottom of
the pivot table and will have to be re-ordered as I have described.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

"FJ" wrote in message
...
Hi, I'm new to pivot tables and I have a question about row field order.
Whenever I drag and drop my data, which in this case consists of company
names, onto the row field part of the pivot table, the names are
automatically alphabetized. Is there any way to change this so that the
order remains the same as that of the worksheet from which the data is
being
pulled? I have tried looking through the pivot table options and menus,
but
so far I haven't found anything that's worked.

Thanks in advance for any information.

Hi, Bill, thanks for your response. I tried what you suggested but I
couldn't get it to work. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant. I tried
retyping the word "Company" over the "Company" field name in the existing
pivot table but nothing happened. Then I tried recreating the pivot table
and tried typing the word "Company" onto the blank table but that didn't
work, either. Like I said, maybe I misunderstood your instructions. Also,
I'm using Excel 2003. I'm not sure if that makes a difference.



"Bill Ridgeway" wrote:

Go to the point at which you want to insert date and type in just the main
piece of data (?company name). (Make sure you get it exactly right or you
will mess up the pivot table.) The data relating to that information will
then be re-ordered. Once you have done this the order will stay the same
when you update the pivot table. New entries will appear at the bottom of
the pivot table and will have to be re-ordered as I have described.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

"FJ" wrote in message
...
Hi, I'm new to pivot tables and I have a question about row field order.
Whenever I drag and drop my data, which in this case consists of company
names, onto the row field part of the pivot table, the names are
automatically alphabetized. Is there any way to change this so that the
order remains the same as that of the worksheet from which the data is
being
pulled? I have tried looking through the pivot table options and menus,
but
so far I haven't found anything that's worked.

Thanks in advance for any information.

FJ
Yes, I think you have misunderstood and you may have corrupted the pivot
table. It may be best to start again but why not use what you have
(corrupted or not) to practice? You have more then one column in the pivot
table? One is a list of company name which, I presume, you want in a
certain order.

Option 1- sorting
Place the cursor on any one of the company names and sort in the normal way

Option 2- my way
Place the cursor on a company name. Type in (EXACTLY) the name of another
company. The pivot table will move the company name and related data in
other columns to that position. You will need to do this a number of time
depending on how you want to re-organise the pivot table. New entries (when
the source data changes) will appear at the bottom of the list and will need
to be re-ordered. The pivot table will stay in this order. It's quite
simple once you have the technique.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

"FJ" wrote in message
...
Hi, Bill, thanks for your response. I tried what you suggested but I
couldn't get it to work. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant. I tried
retyping the word "Company" over the "Company" field name in the existing
pivot table but nothing happened. Then I tried recreating the pivot table
and tried typing the word "Company" onto the blank table but that didn't
work, either. Like I said, maybe I misunderstood your instructions.
Also,
I'm using Excel 2003. I'm not sure if that makes a difference.



"Bill Ridgeway" wrote:

Go to the point at which you want to insert date and type in just the
main
piece of data (?company name). (Make sure you get it exactly right or
you
will mess up the pivot table.) The data relating to that information
will
then be re-ordered. Once you have done this the order will stay the same
when you update the pivot table. New entries will appear at the bottom
of
the pivot table and will have to be re-ordered as I have described.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

"FJ" wrote in message
...
Hi, I'm new to pivot tables and I have a question about row field
order.
Whenever I drag and drop my data, which in this case consists of
company
names, onto the row field part of the pivot table, the names are
automatically alphabetized. Is there any way to change this so that
the
order remains the same as that of the worksheet from which the data is
being
pulled? I have tried looking through the pivot table options and
menus,
but
so far I haven't found anything that's worked.

Thanks in advance for any information.

Hi, Bill, thanks for your response. I think I see what you mean now. Option
2 can definitely give me what I want, and will work fine for smaller pivot
tables that don't have many rows. The problem comes if the pivot table is
very large. It would be very time consuming to retype each name to get them
in the same order as the original worksheet. I thought maybe there was an
option hidden somewhere that could be checked or unchecked that would allow
me to generate the pivot table with the rows in the same order as the data on
the original worksheet. I guess there isn't, but I was hoping. Thanks again
for your help. :)



"Bill Ridgeway" wrote:

FJ
Yes, I think you have misunderstood and you may have corrupted the pivot
table. It may be best to start again but why not use what you have
(corrupted or not) to practice? You have more then one column in the pivot
table? One is a list of company name which, I presume, you want in a
certain order.

Option 1- sorting
Place the cursor on any one of the company names and sort in the normal way

Option 2- my way
Place the cursor on a company name. Type in (EXACTLY) the name of another
company. The pivot table will move the company name and related data in
other columns to that position. You will need to do this a number of time
depending on how you want to re-organise the pivot table. New entries (when
the source data changes) will appear at the bottom of the list and will need
to be re-ordered. The pivot table will stay in this order. It's quite
simple once you have the technique.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

"FJ" wrote in message
...
Hi, Bill, thanks for your response. I tried what you suggested but I
couldn't get it to work. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant. I tried
retyping the word "Company" over the "Company" field name in the existing
pivot table but nothing happened. Then I tried recreating the pivot table
and tried typing the word "Company" onto the blank table but that didn't
work, either. Like I said, maybe I misunderstood your instructions.
Also,
I'm using Excel 2003. I'm not sure if that makes a difference.



"Bill Ridgeway" wrote:

Go to the point at which you want to insert date and type in just the
main
piece of data (?company name). (Make sure you get it exactly right or
you
will mess up the pivot table.) The data relating to that information
will
then be re-ordered. Once you have done this the order will stay the same
when you update the pivot table. New entries will appear at the bottom
of
the pivot table and will have to be re-ordered as I have described.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

"FJ" wrote in message
...
Hi, I'm new to pivot tables and I have a question about row field
order.
Whenever I drag and drop my data, which in this case consists of
company
names, onto the row field part of the pivot table, the names are
automatically alphabetized. Is there any way to change this so that
the
order remains the same as that of the worksheet from which the data is
being
pulled? I have tried looking through the pivot table options and
menus,
but
so far I haven't found anything that's worked.

Thanks in advance for any information.

Even on a large pivot table you would have to re-order it only once and when
there are new entries so, after the initial effort, maintenance should be
minimal. I can see that if it changes substantially this would be rather a
chore. I am not aware of a facility as you suggest. That doesn't mean that
there isn't one.

A further suggestion is to have a worksheet which takes all the data
directly from the pivot table. This could have an additional helper column
with a number to indicate the preferred order. (This should be in
increments of, say, 10 to facilitate new entries). This helper column could
be used as a sort key. Once again it would require some initial effort but
afterwards would require a few extra lines and entering the sort key. I'm
not sure if this would fit the bill but is offered just in case.

Perhaps someone else could suggest a better way?

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

"FJ" wrote in message
...
Hi, Bill, thanks for your response. I think I see what you mean now.
Option
2 can definitely give me what I want, and will work fine for smaller pivot
tables that don't have many rows. The problem comes if the pivot table is
very large. It would be very time consuming to retype each name to get
them
in the same order as the original worksheet. I thought maybe there was an
option hidden somewhere that could be checked or unchecked that would
allow
me to generate the pivot table with the rows in the same order as the data
on
the original worksheet. I guess there isn't, but I was hoping. Thanks
again
for your help. :)



"Bill Ridgeway" wrote:

FJ
Yes, I think you have misunderstood and you may have corrupted the pivot
table. It may be best to start again but why not use what you have
(corrupted or not) to practice? You have more then one column in the
pivot
table? One is a list of company name which, I presume, you want in a
certain order.

Option 1- sorting
Place the cursor on any one of the company names and sort in the normal
way

Option 2- my way
Place the cursor on a company name. Type in (EXACTLY) the name of
another
company. The pivot table will move the company name and related data in
other columns to that position. You will need to do this a number of
time
depending on how you want to re-organise the pivot table. New entries
(when
the source data changes) will appear at the bottom of the list and will
need
to be re-ordered. The pivot table will stay in this order. It's quite
simple once you have the technique.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

"FJ" wrote in message
...
Hi, Bill, thanks for your response. I tried what you suggested but I
couldn't get it to work. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant. I
tried
retyping the word "Company" over the "Company" field name in the
existing
pivot table but nothing happened. Then I tried recreating the pivot
table
and tried typing the word "Company" onto the blank table but that
didn't
work, either. Like I said, maybe I misunderstood your instructions.
Also,
I'm using Excel 2003. I'm not sure if that makes a difference.



"Bill Ridgeway" wrote:

Go to the point at which you want to insert date and type in just the
main
piece of data (?company name). (Make sure you get it exactly right or
you
will mess up the pivot table.) The data relating to that information
will
then be re-ordered. Once you have done this the order will stay the
same
when you update the pivot table. New entries will appear at the
bottom
of
the pivot table and will have to be re-ordered as I have described.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

"FJ" wrote in message
...
Hi, I'm new to pivot tables and I have a question about row field
order.
Whenever I drag and drop my data, which in this case consists of
company
names, onto the row field part of the pivot table, the names are
automatically alphabetized. Is there any way to change this so that
the
order remains the same as that of the worksheet from which the data
is
being
pulled? I have tried looking through the pivot table options and
menus,
but
so far I haven't found anything that's worked.

Thanks in advance for any information.

Hi, Bill, thanks once again for your response. I think that having another
worksheet and taking the data from the pivot table might be a good
workaround. I'm very new to pivot tables so I'm really not sure about all of
their features, limitations, etc. yet. I'm still trying to get used to them.

Anyway, thank you for all your help and suggestions. :)



"Bill Ridgeway" wrote:

Even on a large pivot table you would have to re-order it only once and when
there are new entries so, after the initial effort, maintenance should be
minimal. I can see that if it changes substantially this would be rather a
chore. I am not aware of a facility as you suggest. That doesn't mean that
there isn't one.

A further suggestion is to have a worksheet which takes all the data
directly from the pivot table. This could have an additional helper column
with a number to indicate the preferred order. (This should be in
increments of, say, 10 to facilitate new entries). This helper column could
be used as a sort key. Once again it would require some initial effort but
afterwards would require a few extra lines and entering the sort key. I'm
not sure if this would fit the bill but is offered just in case.

Perhaps someone else could suggest a better way?

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

"FJ" wrote in message
...
Hi, Bill, thanks for your response. I think I see what you mean now.
Option
2 can definitely give me what I want, and will work fine for smaller pivot
tables that don't have many rows. The problem comes if the pivot table is
very large. It would be very time consuming to retype each name to get
them
in the same order as the original worksheet. I thought maybe there was an
option hidden somewhere that could be checked or unchecked that would
allow
me to generate the pivot table with the rows in the same order as the data
on
the original worksheet. I guess there isn't, but I was hoping. Thanks
again
for your help. :)



"Bill Ridgeway" wrote:

FJ
Yes, I think you have misunderstood and you may have corrupted the pivot
table. It may be best to start again but why not use what you have
(corrupted or not) to practice? You have more then one column in the
pivot
table? One is a list of company name which, I presume, you want in a
certain order.

Option 1- sorting
Place the cursor on any one of the company names and sort in the normal
way

Option 2- my way
Place the cursor on a company name. Type in (EXACTLY) the name of
another
company. The pivot table will move the company name and related data in
other columns to that position. You will need to do this a number of
time
depending on how you want to re-organise the pivot table. New entries
(when
the source data changes) will appear at the bottom of the list and will
need
to be re-ordered. The pivot table will stay in this order. It's quite
simple once you have the technique.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

"FJ" wrote in message
...
Hi, Bill, thanks for your response. I tried what you suggested but I
couldn't get it to work. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant. I
tried
retyping the word "Company" over the "Company" field name in the
existing
pivot table but nothing happened. Then I tried recreating the pivot
table
and tried typing the word "Company" onto the blank table but that
didn't
work, either. Like I said, maybe I misunderstood your instructions.
Also,
I'm using Excel 2003. I'm not sure if that makes a difference.



"Bill Ridgeway" wrote:

Go to the point at which you want to insert date and type in just the
main
piece of data (?company name). (Make sure you get it exactly right or
you
will mess up the pivot table.) The data relating to that information
will
then be re-ordered. Once you have done this the order will stay the
same
when you update the pivot table. New entries will appear at the
bottom
of
the pivot table and will have to be re-ordered as I have described.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

"FJ" wrote in message
...
Hi, I'm new to pivot tables and I have a question about row field
order.
Whenever I drag and drop my data, which in this case consists of
company
names, onto the row field part of the pivot table, the names are
automatically alphabetized. Is there any way to change this so that
the
order remains the same as that of the worksheet from which the data
is
being
pulled? I have tried looking through the pivot table options and
menus,
but
so far I haven't found anything that's worked.

Thanks in advance for any information.