Summarise a spreadsheet with a pivot table

Use this guide when you have a list of transactions or records and keep being asked questions like 'how much per month?' or 'which customer spends most?'. You need the data in Excel or Google Sheets with one row per record and a heading on every column.

Step by step

1. Get the source data into shape

   Make sure the data is one continuous block: one header row, one record per row, no blank rows or columns, no merged cells and no subtotal lines mixed in. Each column should hold one type of thing, so dates are real dates and amounts are numbers rather than text with a £ sign typed in. In Excel, click inside the data and press Ctrl+T to turn it into a Table, so new rows are picked up automatically later.