Controlling the Design of a PivotTable

After setting up the framework for your PivotTable, you can use the tools in the Design group of the PivotTable tab of the Ribbon to choose where to display subtotals and grand totals, choose among the PivotTable layouts that Excel offers, and decide whether to insert blank rows between items to make the PivotTable more readable.

The Design group contains four pop-up menus:

• Subtotals. In this pop-up menu, click to place a check mark next to the Show at Bottom item if you want to place the subtotals at the bottom of each group (on a line marked Totals). If you prefer to have the subtotals appear at the top of the group, on the same line as the group's label, click to place a check mark next to the Show at Top item instead. Placing a check mark next to one item removes the check mark from the other item—they're alternatives, even though the interface doesn't make this obvious.
• Totals. In this pop-up menu, click to place a check mark next to the Show for Rows item if you want to show totals for rows. Click to place a check mark next to the Show for Columns item if you want to show totals for columns. If you don't want the totals, click to remove the check mark. These two items work independently—they're not alternatives.
• Layout. In this pop-up menu, click to place a check mark next to the layout you want: Compact Layout (the default, shown at the top of Figure 12–14), Outline Layout (shown in the middle of Figure 12–14), or Tabular Layout (shown at the bottom of Figure 12–14).

Figure 12–14. You can choose among three layouts for your PivotTables. Compact Layout (left) is good for presenting data in a small space. Outline Layout (right) and Tabular Layout (bottom) take up more space but make the data easier to read.

• Blanks.In this pop-up menu, place a check mark next to the item called Insert Blank Line After Each Item if you want to have a blank line appear after each item in the PivotTable. Blank lines make the PivotTable take up much more space but can make it far easier to read. If you don't want blank lines, click to place a check mark next to the item called Remove Blank Line After Each Item. (These two controls are opposites; placing a check mark next to one removes the check mark from the other.)