Question: I am trying to create a report from Excel data that was exported from a web application that has date fields and values in which I can get an average of values for the various days of the week. How can I do that?
Answer: If your data contains a date field, you can display the day of the week using one of the date formatting styles, but a pivot table does not allow you to group by days of the week. However, you can create a new column for your your data which creates a text field from the date field - i.e. =text(A2, “dddd”). Then copy that formula down the column (shortcut to copy is double clicking on the dragging handle) and be sure to add a column heading. Then save your file before creating a pivot table. You can now add that field in the pivot table and you can change value field settings (in the values section) from sum to average.
Learn more about pivot tables and other time-saving Excel features by attending Kim’s Favorite Excel Tips session on 3/6/14 at 9 -10 a.m. in 2020 Bennett Hall. No registration is required.
