What's different after you export a PivotTable list from a Web page to Excel

Microsoft Office Excel 2003

Access to commands    In Excel, you access commands and features from the PivotTable toolbar instead of the toolbar in the PivotTable list. Many commands have different names in Excel. To find the Excel command you want, ask the Office Assistant.

Data fields    Excel PivotTable reports have data fields instead of total fields.

Page fields    In PivotTable reports, filter fields are called page fields.

ShowFeature differences

Layouts    A PivotTable list on a Web page can simultaneously display summarized data and underlying detail records. Excel PivotTable reports cannot display both simultaneously, and as a result, some PivotTable list layouts cannot be exported to Excel. However, Excel PivotTable reports allow indented layouts that aren't available for PivotTable lists on the Web.

Showing and hiding detail    Items in PivotTable lists on the Web display Plus box to show detail and Minus box to hide detail. In Excel PivotTable reports, you can show and hide detail by double-clicking items, using the field drop-down arrows, or clicking Show Detail Button image and Hide Detail Button image on the PivotTable toolbar.

Sort order    When you initially bind data to a PivotTable list on a Web page, items in the PivotTable list are displayed in the order in which they are received from the source data. Depending on the type of source data, items may initially be sorted in ascending order in an Excel PivotTable report.

Filtering    In PivotTable lists on the Web, when you filter the lower levels of items, your filtering remains in effect when these fields aren't displayed. In Excel PivotTable reports, these filter settings aren't retained, but you can refilter the lower levels when you display them.

Formatting    In a PivotTable list on a Web page, formatting applies only to selected parts of the list, not to cells. You can select and format fields, items, and totals with character and cell formats. In an Excel PivotTable report, you can format cells or selected parts of the report, and you can change what's displayed for errors and empty cells.

Refresh    PivotTable lists on the Web are always refreshed when you initially open them in the browser. Excel PivotTable reports are usually refreshed only when you click Refresh Data Button image, but you can set them to be refreshed when you open the file and at timed intervals.

Help    Help for PivotTable lists on the Web is provided as a list of topics that you can search. In Excel, the Office Assistant is available to provide help.

ShowPivotTable list features that Excel does not have

Displaying detail    In a PivotTable list on a Web page, you can display all of the available source data in list format, without summarizing any of the data. When data is summarized, the list can show full underlying detail for any item if the detail is available from the source data. In Excel PivotTable reports, you can display the underlying detail, if available from the source data, for only one cell in the data area at a time, and Excel puts this data on a separate worksheet.

Editing detail data    Excel PivotTable reports do not have this feature. A PivotTable report in Excel can display only data that's present in the underlying source list or database.

Calculated fields in the detail area    Because an Excel PivotTable report has no equivalent for the detail area of a PivotTable list on the Web, calculated fields located in the detail area aren't exported to Excel.

Filter by selection    In PivotTable lists on the Web, you can filter the data to match a selected cell. In Excel PivotTable reports, you can filter data only by showing and hiding items.

Filtering for top and bottom items    Although Excel also has this feature, some top or bottom filters from PivotTable lists on Web pages can't be displayed in Excel.

Grouping items by text type    Excel doesn't have the ability to group items by text, such as grouping all the items that start with the same letter. Groups of this type aren't displayed in Excel.

Grouping date items by week    Excel PivotTable reports don't allow items to be grouped by week. Items grouped by week in a PivotTable list on a Web page are displayed in Excel grouped by month.

OLAP property fields    Excel can display property fields within a PivotTable report, but does not display them as ScreenTips when you rest the pointer over an item. PivotTable lists have some display and filtering options available through Web scripts that Excel does not provide, and as a result, some property fields displayed on a Web page don't appear when the PivotTable list is exported to Excel.

Setting report size    A PivotTable list on a Web page fills a window of a certain size within the Web page. Excel PivotTable reports, contained on an Excel worksheet, use as many cells on the worksheet as are necessary to display the data.

Hyperlinks    Excel PivotTable reports don't support hyperlinks. Only the text of the hyperlinks from PivotTable lists appears in Excel.

Charts    If a Web page has both a PivotTable list and an associated chart, you cannot export both the list and the chart to Excel and have them continue to be linked together in Excel. However, you can export the PivotTable list to Excel and then create a new Excel PivotChart report based on it.