i have been using pivot tables for data analysis. i am
running into a problem, however, because i have more than
256 columns in my dataset, and excel only allows that many
columns on a worksheet.

to get around this limitation i am trying to use multiple
consolidation ranges as the data source for my pivot
table. i am having trouble getting this to work.

am i misuderstanding the purpose of multiple consolidation
ranges? i have 350 items in my dataset, and perhaps 1500
columns i would like to examine for each item. can't i
just lay all these columns out across multiple worksheets,
then use multiple consolidation ranges to bring them all
into my pivot table?

i have tried to do something like this but keep failing
and am confused about the results.

do i have to use a .cub file or something like that to do
what i want to do?