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Analyzing Data with Pivot Tables 35
FIGURE 35.20
The formulas in column F reference cells in the pivot table.
Column F contains formulas and this column is not part of the pivot table. These formulas calculate the
expense-to-income ratio for each year. I created these formulas by pointing to the cells. You may expect to
see this formula in cell F5:
=D5/C5
In fact, the formula in cell F5 is
=GETPIVOTDATA(“Sum of Expenses”,$A$3,”Year”,2004)/GETPIVOTDATA(“Sum of
Income”,$A$3,”Year”,2004)
When you use the pointing technique to create a formula that references a cell in a pivot table, Excel
replaces those simple cell references with a much more complicated GETPIVOTDATA function. If you type
the cell references manually (rather than pointing to them), Excel does not use the GETPIVOTDATA
function.
The reason? Using the GETPIVOTDATA function helps ensure that the formula will continue to reference
the intended cells if the pivot table changed. Figure 35.21 shows the pivot table after expanding the years to
show the month detail. As you can see, the formulas in column F still show the correct result, even though
the references cells are in a different location. Had I used simple cell references, the formula would return
incorrect results after expanding the years.
Using the GETPIVOTDATA function has one caveat: the data that it retrieves must be visible.
If you modify the pivot table so that the value returned by GETPIVOTDATA is no longer visible,
the formula returns an error.
CAUTION
TIP
If, for some reason, you want to prevent Excel from using the GETPIVOTDATA function when
you point to pivot table cells when creating a formula, access the Excel Options dialog box,
select the Formulas tab, and remove the check mark from Use GETPIVOTDATA Function For PivotTable
References.
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