Troubleshoot PivotTable lists

If you can view but not interact with a PivotTable list, you might not have the Microsoft Office Web Components installed or the appropriate Microsoft Office 2003 license. Be sure the components are installed and that you have a valid license.

The designer of the PivotTable list has restricted access to the PivotTable list tools, in order to prevent making changes in the browser. Contact the designer for assistance.

The Web page might have been designed using an older version of the Microsoft Office Web Components. Help for previous versions is not installed with Office 2003. You can download Help for previous versions of the components from the Microsoft Office Web site.

The field might already be displayed You cannot display the same field in more than one area.

The source data might limit how you can use fields Source data from On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) databases provides sets of fields for different levels of detail. Within a set of fields, you can hide levels of detail, but you cannot separate out fields in the set for display in different areas. To find out whether the source data in your PivotTable list is from an OLAP database, contact the designer of the PivotTable list.

Moving fields might be restricted The person who created the PivotTable list might have turned off the ability to move fields. Contact the designer of the PivotTable list for more information.

If you need to move fields, you can export a copy of the PivotTable list to Microsoft Excel. In the Excel PivotTable report, you won't be restricted from moving fields, and you can display a field in the filter (page) area and the data area simultaneously. However, Excel PivotTable reports have the same restrictions if you have OLAP source data. For information about moving fields in a PivotTable report, and for information about OLAP source data, see Excel Help.

If the PivotTable list takes a long time to calculate, you can make several changes to the layout at one time and then retrieve the data when you are finished making changes.

1. When the Office logo cube is spinning, press ESC to cancel the calculation. The PivotTable list then displays only the names of the fields.
2. Change the layout, adding and moving as many fields as you want.
3. To retrieve and calculate the data for the new layout, click Refresh on the toolbar in the PivotTable list.

When you click a control on the Web page other than a Microsoft Office Web Component, or when you minimize and then restore the browser window, the Commands and Options dialog box and the field list might be hidden.

To redisplay the dialog box or field list, click the PivotTable list so that it is reactivated.

Some PivotTable lists can't be refreshed PivotTable lists that were published from Microsoft Excel worksheet data, Excel Web queries, and Excel text queries can't be refreshed. In these cases, the original Excel workbook must be refreshed and the PivotTable list republished. Contact the designer of the PivotTable list to find out what type of source data the list has and, if the source data is one of the above types, whether the PivotTable list can be republished to provide an updated version.

The source database might be unavailable If the PivotTable list is based on source data from a database on a network, the database server might be unavailable, or you might not have access to the server. For example, you might not be connected to the network, or you might need access privileges or a password to connect to the server. Contact the designer of the PivotTable list to find out what type of source data and which database the list uses. Contact the database administrator if you're having trouble connecting to the server.

Microsoft Office might not support the source database If the source data is from a database that's not supported by Microsoft Office, you might need to install Office-compatible support software from the database vendor. Contact the designer of the PivotTable list to find out whether the source database is supported by Office and, if the database is not supported, what software the designer used to create it.

The source database might have changed Occasionally, changes to the way a database is organized on the server might prevent you from refreshing a PivotTable list. For example, if the source data is from an On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) database and the database is rebuilt with changes to the available data, a new PivotTable list might have to be created. Contact the designer of the PivotTable list for more information.

The Web page you are viewing was designed so that when you refresh one PivotTable list, the other PivotTable lists are also refreshed.

For information about the way the PivotTable lists are linked, contact the designer of the Web page.

The source database might be unavailable If the PivotTable list is based on source data from a database on a network, the database server might be unavailable, or the network or your connection to the network might have become unavailable. Contact the server or network administrator to check whether the server and network are available.

You might not have the permissions you need You might be able to connect to the database, but you might not have permissions to run the query for the PivotTable list. Contact the database administrator to find out about permissions.

Check the filtering in the PivotTable list Occasionally, a PivotTable list might be filtered to display specific items, and changes to the source database might eliminate one of those items, causing the query to fail. If this is the case, turn off filtering to display all items, and then click Refresh on the toolbar in the PivotTable list to run the query.

Filtering might be restricted The person who created the PivotTable list might have turned off the ability to change how fields are filtered. For more information, contact the designer of the PivotTable list.

If you need to filter the data, you can export a copy of the PivotTable list to Microsoft Excel. In the Excel PivotTable report, you won't be restricted from filtering fields. For information about filtering data in a PivotTable report, see Excel Help.

Filtering that is based on part of the data in a cell, a feature which is available for forms and datasheets in Microsoft Access, is not available for PivotTable lists. If you need partial-cell filtering, contact the person who created the PivotTable list to find out where the source data came from. You might be able to view this data in a form or datasheet directly in Access, which supports partial-cell filtering.

Expand indicators might be turned off If you don't see the boxes to the left of items of data in row and column fields, make sure the expand indicators are turned on.

Items might not be available When an item of data is at the lowest level of detail available from the source data, the item does not have the box beside it, even when you turn on the expand indicators.

The source data might not include detail data Some types of source data, such as source data from On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) databases, do not have detail records available for display. To find out whether the source data in your PivotTable list is from an OLAP database and to find out the amount of detail available, contact the designer of the PivotTable list.

Displaying details might be restricted If the commands to turn on the expand indicators and display details are unavailable, the designer of the PivotTable list might have turned off the ability to display items or details. Contact the designer for more information.

If you need to view the detail data, you can export a copy of the PivotTable list to Microsoft Excel. In the Excel PivotTable report, you won't be restricted from displaying details. For information about displaying details in a PivotTable report, see Excel Help.

Use a larger font The font size settings in your browser don't affect the size of text in a PivotTable list. To make small, hard-to-read text larger, you can change the font sizes for elements within a PivotTable list.

Use contrasting colors The color settings in your browser don't affect the colors in a PivotTable list. To intensify text so that it stands out from its background, you can set the font color and then set a contrasting background color for each element in the PivotTable list.

When you export a copy of a PivotTable list to Excel, you can zoom to magnify the data. For information about working with Excel PivotTable reports, see Excel Help.

Use the scroll bars in the browser. The designer of the PivotTable list designed the list so that when you change the layout, the list expands or shrinks to use as much space on the Web page as is needed to display the data. To see the additional data, use the browser's scroll bars to scroll through the entire Web page.

You canceled calculation of the PivotTable list, or calculation stopped before it was complete. To display the data, click Refresh on the toolbar in the PivotTable list.

Make sure data is not hidden If you want to print data that's hidden by filtering, display the data before you print. To print detail data, display details before you print.

Check whether the PivotTable list is displayed in a fixed area PivotTable lists can expand and shrink on the Web page to use as much space as is needed to display the data, or they can be displayed in an area of a fixed size, depending on how the designer of the PivotTable list designed the list. If the PivotTable list is displayed in a fixed area, only the currently displayed area is printed.

Scroll through the entire PivotTable list When you print a PivotTable list that expands and shrinks as needed to display the data, only data that you have scrolled to in your current browser session is printed. Use the scroll bars to scroll to the top and bottom of the PivotTable list before you print the Web page.

For more control over how the data is printed, including the ability to print a long list and to set page breaks, you can export a copy of the PivotTable list to Microsoft Excel. For information about printing from Excel, see Excel Help.

When you copy data in a PivotTable list to the Clipboard and paste it into Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word, only visible rows and columns are copied. Any data that you have hidden or filtered out is not copied.

Before you copy data, turn off filtering to show all data in the PivotTable list, and display the detail data that you want copied.

To avoid having to show all the data first, you can export, rather than copy, the PivotTable list. When you export a copy of a PivotTable list to Excel, all of the data is automatically included, with the same filtering in effect. You have the same access to additional fields in the source data that you do in a PivotTable list, and you can change the filtering in Excel. From Excel, you can then copy data to Word or other programs. For information, see Help in Excel.

When a number is too wide to fit in a cell, the PivotTable list displays number signs instead of the number. You can fix this in any of the following ways:

• Make the column wider so that the entire number fits.
• Make the font smaller if you don't want to widen the column.
• Change the number format to one that takes less space.

Add total fields For a chart to reflect data in a PivotTable list, you must add at least one total field to the PivotTable list.

Move fields to the row and column areas The row and column fields in a PivotTable list provide the category and series data in your chart. If all of the fields are in the detail area of the PivotTable list, for example, the chart has no categories and series to plot. From the detail area or field list, move at least one field to the row area or the column area.

The programs that are available by clicking the Edit button in the Web browser depend on how the page was published.

If clicking the Edit button in your Web browser opens a program that you do not want to use, quit the program, start the program you want to use, and then open the Web page from that program.

Asterisks (*) appear next to captions of the total fields in the following cases:

• When you set the option to include all items in totals, asterisks appear next to the caption of the total fields to indicate that the totals include any hidden items in addition to the displayed items.
• In Excel PivotTable reports that are based on source data from On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) databases, the calculations for subtotal and grand total values always include the values for all items in the field, both displayed and hidden. Excel provides an option to turn off display of these asterisks.

In the PivotTable list, regardless of whether it's based on source data from an OLAP database, if you want to omit data that is hidden by filtering from subtotals and grand totals, you can set an option to include only displayed data. This option also hides the asterisks.